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The U.S. Department of Education is giving borrowers more time to meet a key student loan forgiveness deadline.
Those who request a so-called loan consolidation by June 30 — which will combine their federal student loans into one new federal loan — could get their debt canceled sooner than they would have otherwise.
Previously, the deadline to qualify for the Biden administration’s account adjustment was April 30.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on canceling student debt on February 21, 2024 in Culver City, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Education is giving borrowers more time to meet a key student loan forgiveness deadline.
Those who request a so-called loan consolidation by June 30 — which will combine their federal student loans into one new federal loan — could get their debt canceled sooner than they would have otherwise. Some could even see their debt forgiven immediately.

Previously, the deadline to qualify for the Biden administration’s account adjustment was April 30.
“The Department is working swiftly to ensure borrowers get credit for every month they’ve rightfully earned toward forgiveness,” U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said in a statement Wednesday.
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Until June 30, borrowers enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan who consolidate will get a one-time adjustment on their payment count.
They’ll earn credit toward all their loans based on the one they have been making payments on the longest, as well as for certain periods that previously didn’t count, including certain months spent in deferments or forbearances.

Borrowers pursuing the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness program can also receive additional credit from the payment count adjustment, as long as they certify their qualifying employment for those months.
The payment count adjustment is an attempt to rectify longstanding issues for student loan borrowers.
The Biden administration said in 2022 it would review the accounts of those in income-driven repayment plans, which are supposed to lead to debt cancellation after a set period.
Its announcement followed evidence, including a 2022 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, showing borrowers weren’t always getting a proper accounting of their payments. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also found that borrowers were needlessly steered into expensive forbearances, during which interest accrues and credit toward forgiveness is paused.

How the payment count adjustment helps borrowers

Usually, a student loan consolidation restarts a borrower’s forgiveness timeline, making it a terrible move for those working toward cancellation, education experts say.
Now, consolidating to take advantage of the temporary payment count adjustment opportunity is an especially good deal for borrowers who’ve been paying off loans for many years, and for those who carry multiple loans from different time periods. Now all those loans could be soon forgiven.

For example, say a borrower graduated from college in 2004, took out more loans for a graduate degree in 2018 and is now in repayment under an income-driven plan with a 20-year timeline to forgiveness. Consolidating could lead them to immediately qualify for forgiveness on all of those loans, experts say, even though they’d normally need to wait at least another 14 years for full relief.

Read: Education Dept. announces highest federal student loan interest rate in more than a decade

How to check if you’d benefit from consolidation

“Everyone who thinks there is even a possibility they may be eligible should take the time to find out,” said Jane Fox, the chapter chair of the Legal Aid Society’s union. “It is a quick phone call or a check of a website that could mean full cancellation of your student debt.”

You can apply for a Direct Consolidation Loan at StudentAid.gov or with your loan servicer. It should take under 15 minutes to do so, Fox said.
All federal student loans — including Federal Family Education Loans, Parent Plus loans and Perkins Loans — are eligible for consolidation, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“If a borrower ends up with more payments than required for forgiveness, the extra payments may be refunded in some circumstances,” Kantrowitz said. More

One of the recent changes to 529 college savings plans is that money can now be converted into a Roth individual retirement account tax-free after 15 years.
There are also higher contribution limits for 2024, a “loophole” for grandparent-owned accounts and potential tax savings, depending on the plan.
Here’s what you need to know.

As the costs at some colleges near $100,000 a year, families need a savings strategy they can bank on.
Financial experts and plan investors agree that 529 college savings plans are a smart choice for many. And, as of 2024, there are even more benefits, including higher contribution limits and the flexibility to roll unused money into a Roth individual retirement account free of tax penalties.

“There are three pretty significant changes this year,” said Vivian Tsai, senior director of education savings at TIAA and chair emeritus for the College Savings Foundation, a nonprofit that provides public policy support for 529 plans.
Whether the funds are for college or vocational studies, she said, “529 plans are better now than they’ve ever been before and they’re more flexible.”
Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know.

Benefits of a 529 college savings plan

1. Tax deductions or credits for contributions
Even before recent changes, there were already many advantages to a 529 plan. In more than half of all U.S. states, you can get a tax deduction or credit for contributions. Earnings grow on a tax-advantaged basis, and when you withdraw the money, it is tax-free if the funds are used for qualified education expenses.
A few states also offer additional benefits, such as scholarships or matching grants, to their residents if they invest in their home state’s 529 plan.

2. New Roth IRA rollover rules
As of 2024, families can roll over unused 529 plan funds to the account beneficiary’s Roth IRA, without triggering income taxes or penalties, as long as the 529 plan has been open for at least 15 years.
That change follows the Secure Act of 2019, which let 529 users put some of the funds toward their student loan tab: up to $10,000 for each plan beneficiary, as well as another $10,000 for each of the beneficiary’s siblings.
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Previously, tax-advantaged withdrawals were limited to qualified education expenses, such as tuition, fees, books, and room and board. The restrictions loosened in recent years to include continuing education classes, apprenticeship programs and student loan payments. But now, 529s offer much more flexibility, even for those who never go to college, Chris Lynch, president of tuition financing at TIAA recently told CNBC.
“A point of resistance that potential participants have had is the limitation around, what happens if my kid gets a scholarship or decides they’re not going to college,” Lynch said.
In the latter case, you could transfer the funds to another beneficiary or withdraw them and pay taxes and a penalty on the earnings. If your student earns a scholarship, you can typically withdraw up to the amount of the scholarship penalty-free.
However, the added benefit of being able to convert any leftover funds into a Roth IRA tax-free after 15 years, up to a limit of $35,000, “helps to eliminate that point of resistance,” he said.
3. Higher maximum contribution limits
The amount you can contribute to a 529 plan is higher in 2024. This year, parents can gift up to $18,000, or up to $36,000 if you’re married and file taxes jointly, per child without those contributions counting toward your lifetime gift tax exemption, up from $17,000 in 2023. 
High-net-worth families that want to help fund a family member’s higher education could also consider “superfunding” 529 accounts, which allows frontloading five years’ worth of tax-free gifts into a 529 plan.

In this case, you could contribute up to $90,000 in a single year, or $180,000 for a married couple. But then you wouldn’t be able to give more money to that same recipient within a five-year period without it counting against your lifetime gift tax exemption.
“If you have the means, that’s a big deal,” Tsai said.
A larger lump-sum contribution upfront may potentially generate more earnings compared with the same size contribution spread out over a few years because it has a longer time horizon, according to Fidelity.
4. New grandparent ‘loophole’
A new simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid rolled out at the end of last year, with added benefits for grandparents who own 529 accounts for their grandchildren.
Under the old FAFSA rules, assets held in grandparent-owned 529 college savings plans were not reported on the FAFSA form, but distributions from those accounts counted as untaxed student income, which could reduce aid by up to half of that income.
As part of the FAFSA simplification, students no longer have to answer questions about contributions from a grandparent, effectively creating a “loophole” for grandparents to fund a grandchild’s college fund without impacting their financial aid eligibility.
“In 2024, the grandparent penalty goes away, so 529 plans prove themselves, once again, to be a really exceptional way to save,” Tsai said.
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The median down payment on a home purchase was $26,000 in the first quarter of 2024, or an average of 13.6%, reaching a new first-quarter high, according to a new report by Realtor.com.
While 20% is considered to be the standard, it is by no means “the law of the land.”

Tetra Images | Tetra Images | Getty Images

Consumers are putting down more money to buy a home — but the typical down payment is still much less than you might expect.
The average down payment was 13.6% in the first quarter of 2024, according to a new report by Realtor.com. The median down payment amount was $26,000.

Both figures are up year over year but down from peaks in the third quarter of 2023, the report says. At that point, buyers put down an average of 14.7% or a median of $30,400.
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Even at recent elevated levels, the average down payment is still well below 20%, a share that people typically think of as the gold standard when buying a home.
But 20% is not always necessary, experts say.
There are a lot of reasons why people have gravitated toward the idea of putting 20% down, like trying to avoid mortgage insurance or lessen monthly payments, said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com.

“But by no means is this essentially the law of the land,” Hamrick said.

Putting 20% down is ‘definitely not required’

One way to reduce your monthly mortgage payment is by putting down more money and borrowing less. But for many households, trying to get a higher down payment can be challenging, said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.
“It really showcases the conundrum the housing market is in where there’s not a lot of affordability,” she said.
Having enough savings for a down payment is a big hurdle for most buyers. Close to 40% of Americans who don’t own a house point to a lack of savings for a down payment as a reason, according to a 2023 CNBC Your Money Survey conducted by SurveyMonkey. More than 4,300 adults in the U.S. were surveyed in late August for the report.
Rising home prices make that 20% goal especially daunting. But the reality is, you don’t need 20%, experts say.
“Not only is it possible to buy a home with less than 20% down, but this data show that a majority of buyers are in fact doing so,” Hale said. “It’s definitely not required.”
Nationally, the average down payment on a house is closer to 10% or 15%, Hale said. In some states, the average is well below 20% while some are even below 10%, she added.

Some loans and programs are available to help interest buyers purchase homes through lower down payments.
For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs offers VA loan programs that enable those who qualify to put down as little as 0%. Loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, referred to as USDA loans, are geared toward helping buyers purchase homes in more rural areas, and they also offer 0% down payment options.
Federal Housing Administration loans, which can require as little as 3.5% down for qualifying borrowers, are available to first-time buyers, low- and moderate-income buyers, as well as buyers from minority groups. Those are “designed to help close homeownership gaps among those targeted populations,” Hale said.
Even with a conventional loan, buyers’ required down payment could be between 3% and 5%, depending on their credit score and other factors.
“There are options,” Hale said.

A small down payment can be a ‘mixed bag’

When you’re deciding how much of a down payment you can afford, tread carefully: There can be added costs associated with smaller upfront payments. While a lower down payment is one way to “attack affordability challenges,” it can be a “mixed bag,” Hamrick said.
With a lower down payment, you will need to borrow more from your lender, which raises the monthly cost of your mortgage, Hale said. A smaller down payment can also mean you don’t qualify for a lender’s best-available interest rate.
When you borrow more than 80% of a home’s value, you may also face the added cost of private mortgage insurance, or PMI.

PMI, generally, can cost anywhere from 0.5% to 1.5% of the loan amount per year, depending on factors like your credit score and down payment amount, according to The Mortgage Reports.
For example, on a loan for $300,000, mortgage insurance premiums could cost around $1,500 to $4,500 annually, or $125 to $375 a month, the site found.
Typically, your lender will cancel your mortgage insurance automatically once you reach 22% equity. You can request it to be removed after you reach 20% equity.
In some cases, buyers might choose to do what’s called a “piggyback mortgage,” or get a second mortgage to meet the 20% threshold and not have to pay for mortgage insurance, Hale said.
But, that second loan tends to have a higher mortgage rate, she said.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the name of the Federal Housing Administration.

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Many provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, of 2017 are slated to expire after 2025, unless Congress passes legislation to extend them.
The federal budget deficit could complicate proposals from former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
Fully extending the TCJA tax breaks could add an estimated $4.6 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump 2024.
Brendan Smialowski | Jon Cherry | Getty Images

The next U.S. president will face trillions in expiring tax breaks. While President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have shared early proposals, the federal budget deficit could complicate plans, experts say.
Enacted under Trump, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, of 2017 lowered federal income tax brackets, raised the standard deduction, and doubled estate and gift tax exemption, among other individual provisions. Many TCJA tax breaks are temporary and slated to sunset after 2025 unless Congress passes legislation to extend them.

“It’s a massive tax cliff,” said Erica York, senior economist and research manager with the Tax Foundation’s Center for Federal Tax Policy.
The decision on how to handle expiring provisions “affects virtually all aspects of the tax code and affects the vast majority of American taxpayers,” she said.
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However, the federal budget deficit will be a “huge sticking point” amid tax negotiations, York said.
Fully extending the TCJA tax breaks could add an estimated $4.6 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released on May 8.

Of course, several economic and political factors through 2025 may impact legislators’ desire to pay for any tax cut extensions.
“You have a game of three-dimensional chess going on,” said Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “What’s the economy going to be like? Who’s going to be in control of Washington? What’s the public mood going to be?”
“It’s impossible to predict,” he added.

Plans to tackle expiring Trump tax cuts

Biden’s top economic advisor Lael Brainard on Friday proposed higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations to pay for extended middle-class tax breaks from the TCJA.
“It’s clear we need to end the 2017 tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and scale back costly permanent corporate tax breaks,” she said during a speech to The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. The TCJA permanently reduced corporate taxes by dropping the top federal rate from 35% to 21%.
By contrast, Biden plans to extend expiring TCJA provisions for those making less than $400,000, according to Brainard.
However, with control of Congress in flux, it’s difficult to predict which, if any, legislative priorities will be enacted.  

Meanwhile, Trump called for sweeping tax cuts at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on Saturday.
“Instead of a Biden tax hike, I’ll give you a Trump middle-class, upper-class, lower-class, business-class big tax cut,” he told the crowd.
Other than support for tariffs on U.S. imports, Trump hasn’t shared specifics on how to fund additional tax cuts.

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It can be tempting to follow the crowd as “meme stocks” like AMC and GameStop surge.
But experts say you should only risk money you’re prepared to lose.

Traders walk the floor during morning trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on May 14, 2024 in New York City. 
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Shares of AMC Entertainment and GameStop have surged once again in a new “meme stock” rally triggered by social media.
A social media account named “Roaring Kitty” posted an image for the first time in three years, prompting the trading frenzy. The man purportedly behind the Roaring Kitty account helped lead a meme stock frenzy between 2020 and 2021.

“This is now like watching a sitcom on repeat,” said Dan Egan, vice president of behavioral finance and investing at Betterment.

In some ways, this time differs from when the stocks surged during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Egan pointed out that this time people aren’t stuck at home bored with stimulus check money in their bank accounts that’s hardly earning any interest.
Roaring Kitty’s first post since 2021 is “ambiguous and kind of interpretable in some way,” he said.
This latest buying frenzy can tempt people to want to be part of a perceived movement, Egan said.

Roaring Kitty gives the impression that a guy is in his basement trading stocks instead of big investors like hedge funds and investment banks, he said.
“We want to be on the side of the underdog and supporting him,” Egan said.

‘It’s like going to Las Vegas’

Committing money to meme stocks comes with risks. Egan said that what may start as an edgy, niche community of investors can turn into a lot of upward pressure on the stock as more investors join in.
Betting on these stocks is a form of gambling, said Ted Jenkin, a certified financial planner and the CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial, a financial advisory and wealth management firm based in Atlanta.
“It’s like going to Las Vegas,” said Jenkin, who is also a member of the CNBC FA Council. “Only play with money that you plan to lose.”
Jenkin said he would tell his clients to be very cautious.
But he told CNBC that he bet on the meme stock frenzy himself — investing $75,000 in AMC on Monday and cashing out eight hours later after he doubled his money.
“You start to see these runs, I mean why not?” Jenkin said. “It’s stupid money.”
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It can be difficult to decide when the right time to sell is, Egan noted.
Investors who weren’t able to profitably sell the stocks in the past may be holding on for a chance to do so now, he said.
Watching the action from the sidelines can be entertaining and a risk-free approach, Egan said.
For those who do decide to bet, it’s best to think of it like a hobby and not risk funds you will need.
“Just don’t bet any money you can’t afford to lose,” Egan said.

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The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday the interest rates on federal student loans for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The interest rate on federal undergraduate loans will be 6.53%, the highest rate in at least a decade, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

The US Department of Education sign hangs over the entrance to the federal building housing the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., Feb. 9, 2024.
J. David Ake | Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday the interest rates on federal student loans for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The interest rate on federal direct undergraduate loans will be 6.53%. That’s the highest rate in at least a decade, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. The undergraduate rate for the 2023-2024 year is 5.5%.

For graduate students, loans will come with an 8.08% interest rate, compared with the current 7.05%. Plus loans for graduate students and parents will have a 9.08% interest rate, an increase from 8.05% now. Both of those rates haven’t been as high in more than 20 years, Kantrowitz said.
The rise in interest rates could complicate the Biden administration’s efforts to get the student loan crisis under control and relieve borrowers of the pain of interest accrual, experts say. Even as millions of people have benefited from recent debt relief measures, new students will be saddled with more expensive loans for decades to come.

Which borrowers face higher rates 

All federal education loans issued on or after July 1, 2024, will be subject to the new rates.

Sorry, families: You can’t try to evade the rate increase by borrowing ahead of that deadline. Loans for the 2024-25 academic year must be taken out after July 1.
Don’t worry about loans you’ve taken out for previous academic years: most federal student loan rates are fixed, meaning the rates on those existing loans won’t change.
The rate changes apply only to federal student loans. Private loans come with their own — often higher — interest rates.

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Collectively, Americans owe $1.12 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Although total balances fell in the first few months of 2024, delinquencies are on the rise.
Young adults, who are also burdened by high levels of student loan debt, are increasingly falling behind on the payments, the New York Fed found.

Americans owe a collective $1.12 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
In line with typical spending patterns after the peak holiday season, credit card balances fell by $14 billion in the first quarter of 2024. But credit card delinquency rates rose — especially among young adults, or borrowers between the ages of 18 and 29, who are burdened by high levels of student loan debt and high costs across the board, the New York Fed found.

These Generation Z borrowers also have shorter credit histories and lower credit limits, making them more likely to be maxed out on their credit cards and miss a payment, the researchers found.
“Overall balance sheets are very good but then clearly, what delinquency rates are showing is that there is increased stress among some segments of the population,” the New York Fed researchers said on a press call Tuesday.
Over the last year, roughly 8.9% of credit card balances transitioned into delinquency, the New York Fed found.

Why more Americans are falling behind

Many consumers feel strained by higher prices — most notably for food, gas and housing — and more cardholders are carrying debt from month to month or falling behind on payments, according to a separate report by Bankrate from January.  
“High inflation and high interest rates are significantly contributing to Americans’ debt loads and making this debt harder to pay off,” said Ted Rossman, Bankrate’s senior industry analyst.

However, those just starting out face additional financial challenges.
Not only are their wages lower than their parents’ earnings when they were in their 20s and 30s, after adjusting for inflation, but they are also carrying larger student loan balances, recent reports show.
Further, if they bought a car or made other significant purchases in the last few years, then they are also saddled with much larger monthly payments due to higher prices and rising interest rates, the Fed researchers said.
“It makes sense that particularly the younger borrowers now are struggling more,” they said.

Credit card rates top 20%

At the same time, credit cards have become one of the most expensive ways to borrow money. Credit card rates, already high in recent years, spiked along with the Federal Reserve’s string of 11 rate hikes since 2022, including four last year.
Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. As the federal funds rate rose, the prime rate did as well, and credit card rates followed suit.
The average annual percentage rate is now more than 20%, according to Bankrate — near an all-time high.
“With the Fed likely to keep rates higher for longer, credit card rates should remain high for the foreseeable future,” Rossman said. “The national average will probably end the year over 20% for only the second time ever.”

What to do if you’re in credit card debt

“Interest rates aren’t going down anytime soon, but you still have options, especially if you have good credit,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.
If you’re carrying a balance, try calling your card issuer to ask for a lower rate. Or you might consolidate and pay off high-interest credit cards with a lower-interest home equity loan or personal loan, or switch to an interest-free balance transfer credit card, Schulz said.
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To optimize the benefits of their credit card, consumers should regularly compare credit card offers, pay as much of their balance as soon as they can, and avoid paying their bills late, according to Mike Townsend, a spokesperson for the American Bankers Association.
“Any credit cardholder who finds themselves in financial stress should always contact their card issuer to make them aware of their situation,” Townsend said. “They may be eligible for some relief or assistance depending on their individual circumstances.”
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More home sellers now owe capital gains taxes after selling their primary residence, but it is possible to reduce the bill.
There are no taxes on the first $250,000 of profit if you are single, or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly, assuming you meet IRS rules.
You can lower profits above those thresholds by adding to your home’s “basis,” or original purchase price, with closing costs and eligible improvements.

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images

As home values climb, more Americans owe capital gains taxes when selling property. But knowing how to calculate your home’s profit could reduce your bill, experts say.
Most Americans do not owe taxes for selling a primary residence because of a special tax break — known as the Section 121 exclusion — that shields up to $250,000 of profits for single filers and $500,000 for married couples filing together.

However, more U.S. home sales profits now exceed these thresholds, according to an April report from real estate data firm CoreLogic. Nearly 8% of sales exceeded the $500,000 limit in 2023, up from roughly 3% in 2019, the report found.
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There are strict IRS rules to qualify for the $250,000 or $500,000 exemptions. Any profit above those limits is subject to capital gains taxes, levied at 0%, 15% or 20%, based on your earnings.
Capital gains brackets use “taxable income,” which is calculated by subtracting the greater of the standard or itemized deductions from your adjusted gross income.

Reduce capital gains by increasing ‘basis’

“It is important to track your cost basis of the home,” which is your original purchase price plus closing costs from the purchase, according to Thomas Scanlon, a certified financial planner at Raymond James in Manchester, Connecticut.

You can reduce your home sale profit by adding often-forgotten costs and fees to your basis, which minimizes your capital gains tax liability.
For example, you can start by tacking on fees and closing costs from the purchase and sale of the home, according to the IRS. These may include:

Title fees
Charges for utility installation
Legal and recording fees
Surveys
Transfer taxes
Title insurance
Balances owed by the seller

These could be small amounts individually but have a significant effect on the basis when tallied.
The average closing cost nationwide is $4,243, according to a report from Assurance, but fees vary widely. In the priciest state, New York, the average is $8,039, while California is a close second at $8,028.
“You also get credit for the expenses for the sale of the property,” added Scanlon, who is also a certified public accountant. That includes your real estate commissions and closing costs.
However, there are some fees and closing costs you cannot add to your basis, such as home insurance premiums or rent or utilities paid before your closing date, according to the IRS.
Similarly, loan charges such as points, mortgage insurance premiums, the cost to pull your credit report or appraisals required by your lender will not count.

The ‘best way’ to reduce capital gains taxes

You can further increase your home’s basis by tacking on the cost of eligible upgrades, experts say.
“The best way to minimize the tax owed from selling a house is to maintain an accurate record of home improvements,” said CFP and enrolled agent Paul Fenner, founder and president of Tamma Capital in Commerce Township, Michigan.
An improvement must “add to the value of your home, prolong its useful life or adopt it to new uses,” according to the IRS.
For example, you can increase your basis with additions, outdoor or exterior upgrades, adding new systems, plumbing or built-in appliances.
However, you cannot tack on repairs or maintenance needed to “keep your home in good condition,” such as fixing leaks, holes or cracks or replacing broken hardware, according to the IRS.

Of course, you will need documentation for any improvements used to increase your home’s basis in case of a future IRS audit.
If you do not have receipts, “at the very least, take pictures,” and gather any permits pulled for home projects, Scanlon from Raymond James said.

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