Investing

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is a believer in passive investment strategies, based on her latest financial disclosure.
Financial experts say that means she’s not gaming the system through stock ownership.
Here’s what else we can learn from her portfolio.

US Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris delivers keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s Grand Boulé event at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 24, 2024. 
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

Financial experts describe Vice President Kamala Harris’ investment style in one word: Boring.
For a woman seeking the highest office in the U.S., it also means she is relatively free of financial conflicts.

In her role as vice president, Harris filed a public financial disclosure report for 2023, which was signed in May. It reveals she favors passively managed index funds in her investment portfolio.
“For me, it was quite refreshing that it appears to be very passive,” said Dustin Thackeray, a chartered financial analyst and chief investment officer at Crewe Advisors in Salt Lake City, who reviewed Harris’ disclosure.
“She’s definitely not attempting to trade on any inside type of information,” Thackeray said.
Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida, who also reviewed Harris’ financial disclosure, said it makes her “heart sing” to see Harris investing in low-cost passive investment strategies.
“To me, she has the cleanest portfolio you’ll see in a politician,” said McClanahan, who is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.

“She owns a bunch of index funds; there’s no way she that she can game the system,” McClanahan said.
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Harris’ disclosure comes as members of Congress are debating whether elected leadership should be restricted on the kinds of investments they can own.
A group of senators is pushing for a bill that would prohibit members of Congress — as well as their spouses and dependents — from buying certain investments like individual stocks, as opposed to diversified investment funds or Treasury securities. While a Senate panel voted this week to approve the bill, it’s unclear whether it will eventually become law.
In addition to Harris’ favoring of passive investments, the disclosure also reveals more about her financial circumstances that may hold lessons for other investors, according to experts who reviewed the document.

Too many funds

Harris lists eight different funds she’s invested in as part of two separate 457(b) deferred compensation plans from her time working in California, in addition to participation in certain defined benefit pension plans.
At the same time, her husband, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, lists more than 30 fund investments that are mostly passively managed.
Notably, the disclosure only lists certain asset ranges for each fund, rather than specific amounts invested.
Experts who reviewed Harris’ document said the couple could cut down on the number of funds they own, and therefore reduce any overlapping exposure.
“She’s very well diversified, maybe even more than necessary, owning many funds with similar holdings, just in different weightings,” said Barry Glassman, a certified financial planner and founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services.
Glassman is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

McClanahan also said the couple could reduce the number of funds they own.
“They could consolidate, keep it simpler,” she said.
The portfolio includes allocations to foreign equities and fixed income funds, said Thackeray, who has been encouraging his own clients to consider more foreign investment exposure. There may be less expensive opportunities outside the U.S., he said, where investments have become more expensive in recent years.
While Harris’ disclosure lists a lot of buy and sell transactions over the year, mostly for lower dollar ranges, that may just be the result of quarterly rebalancing activity, Thackeray said.
How much impact those transactions have on the couple’s tax bill depends on whether those trades are happening inside or outside of their retirement accounts.
It’s unclear whether Harris and Emhoff work with a financial advisor. Harris’ office declined to comment.

Cash on the sidelines

Harris and Emhoff also reveal cash holdings that may add up to around $850,000 or more, depending on the exact balances based on the ranges given.
Having such a large cash pool as a safety net is common among his clients today, Thackeray said.
“The good thing about cash balances today is that they are actually making an investment return, where they hadn’t for many, many years prior to higher rates,” Thackeray said.

Yet because it is up to investors to shop around for the best rates, it’s not a guarantee that Harris and Emhoff are earning the best returns possible.
“I hope all that cash in the bank is earning attractive interest,” Glassman said.

Adjustable-rate mortgage

Harris lists a 2020 mortgage at a 2.625% rate for a personal residence ranging between more than $1 million to $5 million.
But the catch is it is a 7-year adjustable-rate mortgage, which means that low rate won’t last. Adjustable-rate mortgages typically offer an initial fixed interest rate that expires after a certain period of time, and then changes annually.
Since 2020, mortgage rates have increased substantially, which means the couple missed their chance to lock in a low rate for a longer term.
McClanahan said she urged everyone to lock in the record low mortgage rates that were available back then.
“Personally, I would have locked in a longer-term mortgage at that time,” Thackeray said.
While the couple may be in for a shock in 2027, they can always refinance or pay off the mortgage, McClanahan said.
It is possible mortgage rates may be lower in 2027 than where they are today, Thackeray said.

Extra ‘side gig’ income

Harris also lists more than $8,000 in royalty income from the 2019 children’s picture book she authored, “Superheroes are Everywhere,” as well as a smaller sum from her 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold.”
While the income is not a lot of money, it is a good example of the way a side hustle can help contribute to a household’s bottom line, according to Ted Jenkin, a certified financial planner and the CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial, a financial advisory and wealth management firm based in Atlanta. Jenkin is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

Beyoncé tickets

Harris is using Beyoncé’s “Freedom” as her campaign song.
Yet Harris was a Beyoncé fan well before the recent pick of that song, her latest financial disclosure reveals. In 2023, Harris was gifted tickets valued at more than $1,600 to a Beyoncé concert. The source listed for that gift: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. More

The U.S. Department of Education is placing federal student loan borrowers enrolled in the Biden administration’s new income-driven repayment plan, known as SAVE, into an administrative forbearance.
Eligible borrowers in that repayment plan will not have to make any payments on their debt while the break lasts, and interest will not accrue on their loans in the meantime.

We Are | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Who doesn’t have to make payments?

The U.S. Department of Education is placing federal student loan borrowers enrolled in the Biden administration’s new income-driven repayment plan, known as SAVE, into an administrative forbearance. They will remain in forbearance while the legal battle involving SAVE plays out.
What that means: Eligible borrowers in that repayment plan will not have to make any payments on their debt while the break lasts, and interest will not accrue on their loans in the meantime.
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The White House says roughly eight million people are enrolled in SAVE, or the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan.
Borrowers eligible for the relief should receive notification from their servicer, according to the Education Department.

Why is the SAVE plan under fire?

The SAVE Plan has been a magnet for controversy ever since the Biden administration rolled out the program in the summer of 2023, describing it as “the most affordable student loan plan ever.”
Indeed, the terms of the new income-driven repayment plan are the most generous to date.
SAVE comes with two key provisions that legal challenges have targeted: It has lower monthly payments than any other federal student loan repayment plan, and it leads to quicker debt erasure for those with small balances.

Republican-led states that have sued the Education Department over SAVE argue that the agency overstepped its authority and essentially is trying to find a roundabout way to forgive student debt after the Supreme Court blocked its sweeping plan in June 2023.
Before the legal challenges, the Education Department had already forgiven $5.5 billion in student debt for 414,000 borrowers through the SAVE Plan. Those who have already received the relief should be in the clear, experts say.

What is the current status of SAVE?

A federal appeals court in Missouri issued a ruling on July 18 blocking the entire plan. Education Department officials have vowed to fight to protect the plan, but its future is uncertain.

How does the forbearance work?

Unlike during other payment pauses on student loans, months during this forbearance will not count toward borrowers’ progress toward loan forgiveness.
That means those enrolled in SAVE who are hoping to eventually get their debt cleared under either the income-driven repayment plan’s terms or Public Service Loan Forgiveness are not getting credit on their timeline to loan cancellation. The PSLF program allows certain non-for-profit and government employees to get their debt cleared after 10 years of payments.
“Borrowers cannot opt out of this forbearance because the SAVE repayment plan is temporarily blocked,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. Borrowers can explore their other repayment plan options, “but that would lead to a higher monthly loan payment,” Kantrowitz said.
“By staying in the SAVE plan, the borrower doesn’t lose anything other than time,” he added.

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It’s too soon to call the housing market an affordable one as prices and borrowing costs are still high.
Yet some signs are pointing toward a notable, buyer-friendly shift.

Even as home prices hit new highs, experts say there are signs that the housing market is becoming better for buyers in some locations.
The median cost of an existing, single-family home in the U.S. was $426,900 in June, a new all-time high, according to the National Association of Realtors. About 3.89 million homes were sold in June, a 5.4% decrease from May, NAR found.

While mortgage rates have declined from their May peak, borrowing costs remain expensive for buyers. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage in the U.S. nudged up to 6.78% from 6.77% on Thursday, according to Freddie Mac data via the Federal Reserve.

Despite those headwinds, some indicators show the housing market is shifting away from a seller’s market.
That doesn’t mean it’s a buyer’s market — yet: “The term buyer’s market is always a bit tricky to work with,” said Chen Zhao, the economic research lead at Redfin, an online real estate brokerage firm. There are “rules of thumb” to define a buyer’s market, like having more than four months of supply, she said.
“The market is certainly tilting more towards buyers, I would say maybe it’s coming more into balance,” said Zhao. “Things are better, but they’re not great yet.”
Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow, agreed.

“We’re still nationwide somewhat in a seller’s market, not a buyer’s market yet,” he said. “However there’s good news for buyers on the horizon.”

4 signs of ‘a more neutral market’

There’s still an affordability challenge at large. But those buyers who can certainly afford to purchase, they’re “realizing the pendulum is swinging back slightly in their favor,” said Divounguy. “Things are moving towards a more neutral market,” he said.
Here are four signs that can help you recognize if the housing market in your area is more in buyers’ favor:
1. Homes are lingering on the market longer
As homes sit on the market for longer, buyers might have an opportunity to get a property for under its listed price, Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, previously told CNBC.
About 64.7% of homes that were on the market in June have been listed for at least 30 days, up from 59.6% from a year ago, according to Redfin. Homes are sitting on the market for slightly longer because mortgage rates and prices are still generally high for buyers.
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According to Zillow data, homes are on sale for 46 days, compared to 35 days last year and 19 days in 2021, said Divounguy. “So homes are staying on the market for longer.”
2. Buyers are backing out

Sdi Productions | E+ | Getty Images

In some areas, homebuyers are backing out of a home purchase after making it as far as closing.
About 56,000 home-purchase agreements were canceled in June, Redfin found. Some of those abandoned deals may stem from buyers rethinking their budget and needs.
“Buyers are getting more and more selective,” Julie Zubiate, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in the San Francisco Bay Area, wrote in the Redfin report. “They’re backing to due to minor issues because the monthly costs associated with buying a home today are just too high to rationalize not getting everything on their must-have list.” 
“You really don’t think about insurance and taxes,” said Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Then you get the first estimate from a lender and then you decide to back out.”
3. Sellers have more competition
In other cases, buyers might be getting pickier as more listings pop up in their area.
Total housing inventory registered at the end of June was 1.32 million units, up 3.1% from May and 23.4% from a year ago. Unsold inventory is at a 4.1-month supply, up from 3.7 months in May and 3.1 months a year ago, according to NAR.

Competition is easing fastest in the South, where all major southern markets except Dallas and Raleigh are either neutral or buyer-friendly, according to the June 2024 Zillow Housing Market Report.
“With more inventory, that does certainly mean that buyers have more options,” said Hepp, “but that is very regional. And the ones with the most increases in inventories, they’re struggling with other issues.”
4. Sellers are cutting prices
For a few years, home sellers have had the advantage of selling their homes for more than they bought it because valuations have skyrocketed, compounded with the fact that homes have been in low supply for so long.
“Sellers are having to do a little bit more to entice buyers,” said Divounguy. “We see one in four sellers are cutting their prices — the most for any June in the last six years — to try to sway buyers.”
About one in five, or 19.8%, of homes for sale in June had a price cut, the highest level of any June on record, according to Redfin. That’s up from 14.4% from a year ago.
Home builders are also trying to attract buyers: About 31% of builders cut prices to increase home sales, up from 29% in June and 25% in May, according to a July 2024 survey by the National Association of Home Builders. More

Vice President Kamala Harris, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has positioned herself as a champion for the middle class.  
One of her signature proposals as a senator, LIFT the Middle Class Act, or Livable Incomes for Families Today, would have provided a tax credit of up to $3,000 per person for low- and middle-income workers. 
Experts explore how Harris’ economic agenda for middle-class families could look today.  

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at West Allis Central High School in West Allis, Wisconsin, on July 23, 2024.
Kevin Mohatt | Reuters

“Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at a political event in West Allis, Wisconsin, on Tuesday — one of her first speeches since becoming the front-runner to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for president.
As the Harris campaign takes shape, tackling the wealth gap is already front and center.

“When our middle class is strong, American is strong,” she said Tuesday.
That sentiment revisits an idea she has advocated for previously.
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One of Harris’ signature proposals as senator — known as the LIFT the Middle Class Act, or Livable Incomes for Families Today — would have provided an annual tax credit of up to $3,000 per person (or $6,000 per couple) for lower- and middle-income workers, on top of the benefits they already receive.
The size of the credit would have amounted to “significant tax relief,” according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 

How LIFT can help renters

In today’s climate, the LIFT Act could financially benefit renters, as many are part of the income category the tax credit is targeting, according to Francesco D’Acunto, an associate professor of finance at Georgetown University.
D’Acunto and other experts suggest the LIFT Act might even be a better aid for renters than the 5% rent cap proposal Biden unveiled on July 16. That proposal calls on Congress to cap rent increases from landlords with 50 existing units or more at 5% or risk losing federal tax breaks.

While the rent cap may lead consumers to believe prices will not increase significantly, it could have negative side effects, such as landlords taking their properties off the rental market, said Karl Widerquist, an economist and professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.
Plus, landlords who lose those federal tax breaks will still be able to raise rents, said Jacob Channel, a senior economist at LendingTree.
The advantage of the LIFT tax credit, said D’Acunto, is that it doesn’t create the same market distortions the rent cap would ignite. “But instead now on the side of the renter, we are actually very directly helping them to defray the effects of rent inflation,” he said.
Adds Widerquist: “We very often give tax benefits to all homeowners in the name of making it more affordable for people to become homeowners, and we don’t give a similar tax break to people who are paying rent. Those are the people who are struggling to become owners.”

What the LIFT Act would mean today

Since the LIFT Act was first proposed in 2018, the cost of living has only skyrocketed, hitting working-class Americans especially hard.
For these households, “real incomes have declined or remained flat due to inflation,” said Tomas Philipson, former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. That makes many workers feel less confident about their financial standing — and less satisfied with Biden’s handling of the economy.
At the same time, the rise of artificial intelligence has stoked fears about long-term job security.
In that context, “there’s a good rationale” for refloating a tax credit for those making under a certain income threshold, according to Laura Veldkamp, a professor of finance and economics at Columbia University Business School.
“A lot of people are asking the question, ‘Will AI take my job?’ There are people whose hard-earned skills could be obsolete,” she said. “One way to deal with that is to have more social insurance.”

But a tax credit like LIFT would also be extremely costly, according to Tax Policy Center estimates from 2018 and 2019.
To help cover the tab for the additional financial support, Harris at the time proposed repealing provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for taxpayers earning more than $100,000.
However, funding such a tax credit now could be tough amid growing concerns over the federal budget deficit. Harris will also need to address trillions of expiring tax cuts enacted by former President Donald Trump before 2025.

Focus on the child tax credit

LIFT was first proposed years before Congress temporarily expanded the child tax credit during the Covid-19 pandemic, which could now be a bigger priority, experts say.
The American Rescue Plan boosted the child tax credit to $3,000 from $2,000, with an extra $600 for children under age 6 for 2021, and families received up to half upfront via monthly payments. 
The child poverty rate plunged to a historic low of 5.2% in 2021, largely due to the expansion, a Columbia University analysis found. Then in 2022, the rate more than doubled to 12.4% after pandemic relief expired, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Whereas the last administration gave tax cuts to billionaires, we gave tax cuts to families through the child tax credit, which cut child poverty in America by half,” Harris said at a political event in North Carolina last week before the president left the race.
Biden’s fiscal year 2025 budget aimed to restore the 2021 child tax credit increase and House lawmakers in January passed a bipartisan tax package, which included a child tax credit expansion. However, the bill has been stuck in the Senate.  
The enhanced tax break is “a huge priority for Democrats,” said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst and modeling manager at the Tax Foundation. 
Still, it’s unclear whether Harris will renew calls for LIFT or focus on the child tax credit, which has a different design but a similar goal, he said.
“It’s very hard to say whether they would revisit specific policy options from so long ago,” said Columbia Business School economics professor Brett House.
For now, “there are other cultural and political issues that are going to dominate.”

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Today’s market is more like a buffalo than a bull, Bank of America says, which means it can be expected to roam.
Investors can expect more market volatility in the runup to November’s election.
Here is what investors can expect through the rest of 2024, and the risk they should be watching for now.

The Charging Bull in the Financial District in New York City.
Mairo Cinquetti | Nurphoto | Getty Images

After weeks of hitting new highs, the S&P 500 index on Wednesday suffered its worst trading session since 2022.
The market broadly began to recover Thursday amid a sell-off in technology stocks. Experts say those stock moves and shuffling sectors are common during a bull market.

But Bank of America is calling today’s conditions something else — a buffalo market — which is still in the bull family. But unlike the bull market, it may get tired after a strong runup.
“It might roam, it might wander in the summer months,” said Marci McGregor, head of portfolio strategy at Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank. “But ultimately, what will turn the buffalo back to a proper bull is fundamentals.”
The firm’s outlook sees markets finishing higher this year, based on factors including earnings, the investment cycle, financial conditions, interest rates and generative artificial intelligence.
“We think those fundamental ingredients are in place for the uptrend to continue,” McGregor said. “But you may get some choppiness.”

Expect a pickup in volatility around the election

Election years also tend to come with distinct market patterns.

From July through November, investors can expect a choppy feeling to the markets, McGregor said.
Once the election is over, there may be a strong broader direction in November and December.
Bank of America therefore expects U.S. equities to end the year higher than where they are today, she said.
Those patterns tend to hold true regardless of the outcome on Election Day, according to McGregor.

To best forecast how investments will fare under the next presidential administration, it is wise to pay more attention to policy than politics, McGregor said. The policies that are actually put into effect will have a bigger influence on sectors, industries and companies than which party is elected to power.
The current earnings recovery — following an earnings recession in the first half of last year — is a bigger factor to watch now, McGregor said.
“Ultimately, I think this really comes back to earnings,” McGregor said. “That’s what I really see as the catalyst for the next rotation of the market, more so than the election.”

Resist the temptation to hold too much cash

Higher interest rates put in place by the Federal Reserve have provided the best returns on cash in years.
Yet, experts have started to signal that some investors may be making the mistake of holding too much cash.
“Under-investing is a risk,” Callie Cox, chief market strategist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, recently told CNBC.com.
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Likewise, McGregor said she has started to warn clients that the current higher returns on cash will not always be available and sitting out the market gains carries risks. Bank of America expects the Fed to start cutting rates this year, with a first cut in September followed by another in December.
Sitting out of the markets may have lasting lifetime consequences for investors who are working to meet long-term goals. That goes particularly as the markets are up more than 60% since October 2022, according to McGregor.
“If we get a pullback and we get a pause in the market, we will view it as a buying opportunity if clients are not at their target allocation,” McGregor said.

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With interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve on the horizon, it could be a good time to shift cash, experts say.  
While many investors are getting 5% yields on money market funds, that will fall once the Fed starts cutting interest rates.
Rates for high-yield savings and certificates of deposit could fall even sooner.

Simpleimages | Moment | Getty Images

With interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve on the horizon, it could be a good time to shift cash, experts say.  
Traders expect a rate cut in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, which could lower the target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point or more.

Meanwhile, many investors are sitting on hefty cash allocations, including trillions in money market funds, which are generally still paying above 5%.
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After a series of rate hikes, investors piled into money market funds, which typically invest in shorter-term, lower-credit-risk debt, such as Treasury bills.
Total U.S. money market funds hovered near a record of $6.15 trillion as of July 17, with $2.48 trillion in funds for retail investors, according to Investment Company Institute data.
However, money market fund yields will likely fall if the Fed starts cutting rates in September, explained Ken Tumin, founder and editor of DepositAccounts.

“Most [money market funds] seem to closely follow the federal funds rate,” he said.

There is still time to ‘lock in’ CD rates

Next week’s Fed meeting could signal whether a September rate cut will happen. But banks typically start slashing rates for high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposits ahead of Fed rate cuts, Tumin said.
“CD rates will likely fall pretty quickly once it becomes clear that the Fed is on the verge of cutting,” he said.
As of July 25, the top 1% average rate for high-yield savings accounts was hovering below 5%, while the top 1% for one-year CDs was around 5.5%, according to DepositAccounts.

CD rates will likely fall pretty quickly once it becomes clear that the Fed is on the verge of cutting.

Founder and editor of DepositAccounts

It is a great time to “lock in rates” for a 9-month or one-year CD, said certified financial planner Ted Jenkin, CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial in Atlanta. Jenkin is a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

Shift to longer-term bonds

When building a bond portfolio, advisors consider duration, which measures a bond’s sensitivity to interest rate changes. Expressed in years, the duration formula includes the coupon, time to maturity and yield paid through the term.Some experts suggest shifts from money market funds to longer-duration bonds for longer-term investments, which could pay off once interest rates fall.Bond prices typically rise as interest rates fall, whereas money market fund investors can expect lower yields without price appreciation.While it is difficult to predict Fed policy, bonds could see “a healthy lift” if the Fed cuts interest rates by a full percentage point over the next year, Jenkin said.
Like any investment, the best place for cash ultimately depends on your goals, risk tolerance and timeline.

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Vice President Kamala Harris has secured enough support to become the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination.
While it remains to be seen how much Harris’ policies will mirror those of President Joe Biden, she has been a big proponent for affordable housing both during her tenure as vice president and as senator.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2024.
Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Harris’ record on housing issues

As attorney general for California, Harris drafted and helped pass the California Homeowner Bill of Rights. It is a set of laws designed to protect homeowners from unfair practices. The California Homeowner Bill of Rights became law on Jan. 1, 2013.
Harris secured an $18 billion agreement as part of a national multistate settlement to benefit thousands of homeowners who lost their homes due to improper foreclosure or fraud in 2012.

As senator, Harris introduced the Rent Relief Act in 2018, a bill that offers tax credits to renters who earn below $100,000 and spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.
Harris resubmitted a second variation of the bill in 2019, which includes a mechanism from the Treasury to pay the tax credit on a monthly basis to eligible households. The latter version also caps the credit at 100% of small area fair market rents instead of 150% of FMR.
Harris last month announced the recipients of an $85 million grant under the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing, or PRO Housing, a first-of-its-kind project through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development aimed to increase building activity and lower housing and rental costs for families in the U.S.

That news came on the heels of a May announcement from Harris budgeting $5.5 billion through the HUD to boost affordable housing, invest in economic growth, build wealth and address homelessness in communities across America.
Such policies come at a time when the country is facing rising homelessness rates and burdensome costs to buy or rent. In 2023, a record 653,100 people experienced homelessness in 2023, up from 256,600 the year prior, according to a report by the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies.

‘There’s potential for a lot of good’

The latest housing policies the Biden administration has rolled out generally aim at increasing the supply of affordable housing and lowering costs for buyers and renters.
Harris has been involved in Biden’s housing policy-making, and it is likely that her campaign will carry on similar blueprints for housing, experts say.
“Generally speaking, it does seem like affordable housing, zoning has been something that has been a talking point of hers for a while now,” said Jacob Channel, a senior economist at LendingTree. “If they keep on the same course that the Biden administration was on, I think there’s potential for a lot of good.”

As a Harris candidacy begins to look more likely, people have been talking about a policy Harris originally floated in her 2020 presidential campaign: the LIFT the Middle Class Act.
The bill would give a refundable tax credit of up to $3,000 per person, or $6,000 per married couple that files joint tax returns, for qualifying middle- and working-class Americans.
Some experts point out the LIFT Act might be better for renters than the 5% rent cap increase Biden proposed in mid-July.
The proposal calls on Congress to cap rent increases from landlords with 50 existing units or more at 5% or risk losing federal tax breaks.
“The concern with the rent cap is that the supply of housing would change,” said Francesco D’Acunto, an associate professor of finance at Georgetown University.
While the rent cap may lead consumers to believe prices will not increase more than a certain amount, it could lead to negative side effects, such as landlords taking their properties off the rental market, said Karl Widerquist, an economist and professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.
Landlords who lose access to tax breaks will still be able to raise rents and the plan would exclude new construction and buildings undergoing major renovations, Channel explained.
The tax credit would not create the same distortions as the rent cap, and it also targets the negative effects of rent inflation, D’Acunto said.
Harris’ LIFT the Middle Class Act has received pushback in the past. While it is not a perfect policy, the LIFT Act is “essentially an expansion in the right direction,” Widerquist said.

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“Friendly fraud” or “first-party fraud” happens when a customer disputes a legitimate charge they made on their credit card, debit card, or another payment method.
Some people do this by accident, largely due to confusion over how the merchant’s name is displayed on their bill.
It’s become easier to dispute charges in recent years with enhancements to mobile banking service, but experts recommend communicating the issue with the merchant before disputing a charge.

Man sits on a sofa in his living room and uses a credit card to pay online.
Stefanikolic | E+ | Getty Images

When a product you ordered online arrives and it’s not up to par, you might contact the merchant to address the problem.
However, what happens if you skip that step and just dispute the credit card transaction? 

More consumers are doing just that — some in bad faith to get their money back from the card issuer, even if there’s no problem with the purchase. It’s just one example of so-called “friendly” or “first-party” fraud that’s catching the attention of security and credit card companies. 
Friendly fraud, when a customer disputes a legitimate charge they made on their credit card, debit card, or another payment method, is responsible for $100 billion of loss for retailers each year, according to identity verification platform Socure.
Additionally, 35% of Americans have committed first-party fraud, and 40% know someone who has, according to the Socure October survey of 1,000 adults.
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Here’s part of the problem: Disputing charges has become easier for consumers in recent years, experts say, largely thanks to efforts to enhance mobile banking service in response to canceled travel and other pandemic repercussions.

“There are legitimate disputes, and the chargeback process was built to recognize and provide some sort of relief for those legitimate disputes,” said Rodrigo Figueroa, chief operating officer of Chargeback Gurus, a company that helps businesses recover revenue.
“Now we see this massive level of abuse,” he said.

Friendly fraud is a broad term

Credit card experts say identifying friendly fraud can be difficult. 
“There are a lot of stats around the rise of it, but it seems like it’s almost becoming this catch-all for anything we just don’t understand,” said Robert Painter, vice president of partnerships at fraud protection platform Kount, an Equifax company. “The word fraud is sometimes even used a little loosely.”
Sometimes, there isn’t an intent to defraud, experts admit.
For example, a consumer who doesn’t recognize the merchant name used to identify a purchase on their credit card bill might dispute the charge as fraudulent. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, this is a legitimate dispute, said Chi Chi Wu, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.
“The merchant places a charge on a credit card account and doesn’t use the commonly known name and the consumer disputes that. That’s a legitimate dispute under the law,” said Wu. “They have a right to clarification.”
Still, this scenario can be labeled as friendly fraud.
According to the Socure report, 29% of those who said they engaged in first-party fraud said it was an accident. Others said they were experiencing economic hardship (34%) or they knew someone else who had gotten away with this maneuver and gave it a try (19%). 

Merchants take the biggest toll

Determining the intent of the consumer can be the toughest issue to solve for fraud experts, said Socure CEO and founder Johnny Ayers.
The company launched a consortium of banks and fintech companies in 2023 to address this, identifying data that doesn’t show up in typical credit reports in an attempt to recognize bad actors. 
“We look at the number of accounts, number of disputes, number of overturned disputes, number of closed accounts. You start to stack all of these and you start to see intent,” Ayers said. “You start to see the behavior of this individual has a very large standard deviation from a normal person.”
Whether legitimate or not, experts say merchants can feel the pain from a high volume of chargebacks, when a credit card provider demands a merchant to make good on a transaction disputed by the consumer as fraudulent.
Excessive chargebacks could also affect a merchant’s ability to process cards or a credit card company could levy fines or fees against the merchant, according to Domenic Cirone, vice president of acquirer solutions at Equifax, which acquired Kount in 2021. 

The Merchant Risk Council, which consists of 600 e-commerce companies, reported in April that 94% of its members have experienced first-party fraud in the past year.
Looking at Socure’s research, $89 billion of the $100 billion attributed to this type of fraud is lost by merchants. The remainder comes from credit card fraud loss ($18 billion) and the dispute resolution from the top 15 U.S. banks. ($3 billion).

‘Most folks are honest’

Before consumers make a legitimate dispute, credit card experts and advocates recommend attempting to resolve the issue with the merchant first.
Part of why filing a dispute is so easy is because a credit card issuer will often choose to accept a dispute to preserve its reputation, according to Wu.
“One thing credit card issuers really [have to] think about before they start fighting with merchants all the time is, ‘Is this going to affect the ability to retain good customers,'” she said. “I definitely hear from consumers [saying] ‘X issuer is good on disputes. They stand up for me.” 
Meanwhile, fraud professionals point to social media for the jump in friendly fraud.
A TikTok search of “disputing credit card charge” results in hundreds of videos of finance influencers sharing tips for disputing charges, and even people admitting to disputing legitimate charges to get their money back.
“They just teach you how to go steal money,” Ayers said. “All they’re doing is giving how-to guides of how to work around the rules, basically to systematically steal money from these organizations in a way that made it look like it was some type of duress or distress.”
But a lot of disputes can be attributed to simple misunderstandings between the consumer, merchant and card issuer, Cirone said.
“Every time a transaction is disputed as fraud, it’s a line item that goes through the Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover system. That overall statistic that I’m talking about is not driven by social media,” Cirone said. “Most folks are honest. Consumers, cardholders are honest folks and I think there’s a break in communication.” More