Relief Checks: Summary News 20 December
Inflation Relief: Latest News
Headlines: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
- Bipartisan agreement on $1.7tr spending bill to avert government shutdown, needs to pass by Friday
-2023 funding proposal provides protections for student-loan borrowers
- Wells Fargo pays $3.7 billion for charging illegal fees and interest
- Date set for Supreme Court to hear two challenges to Biden student loan forgiveness plan
- Inflation increased 0.1 percent in November & 7.1 percent year-over-year boost in prices.
- Federal Reserve continues to push up rates as inflation begins to slow
- As housing prices fall, some cities become more affordable destinations for young people.
- Some workers may not be required to pay taxes in 2023
- Workplace fatalities increased by almost nine percent from 2020 to 2021
- Thousands of workers will see a raise thanks to increases in the minimum wage that take effect in 2023
New US spending bill will hold student loan servicers to account protecting borrowers
The $1.7 trillion bipartisan spending bill that will fund the government through the 2023 fiscal year included language that will help student-loan borrowers. New loans will be allocated to servicers basd on their past performance and will hold servicers accountable by reallocating loans from those with recurring bad behavior.
Additionally, Federal Student Aid will "incentivize more support to borrowers at risk of delinquency or default," and increase transparency by making the data on the performance of student-loan companies publicly available. However, the Federal Student Aid office did not receive more funding as President Biden had asked.
Nor will the bill provide any new funding for the White House to implement the student loan forgiveness program should the Supreme Court uphold the legality of the plan.
Wells Fargo fined $3.7bn for multiple violations of consumer protection laws
The third largest consumer bank in the US, Wells Fargo, agreed to pay $3.7 billion in fines and damages to settle charges brought against it for violating consumer protection laws. US regulators said that the bank had illegally charged fees and interest on car loans and mortgages, incorrectly applied overdraft fees.
As well the financial institution was charged with wrongfully repossessing vehicles and improperly denying thousands mortgage modifications for homeowners. Wells Fargo will pay $1.7 billion in fines and repay $2 billion to consumers.
The United States experienced its highest level of unemployment since the Great Depression in April 2020 hitting 14.7 percent. The economic stimulus measures implemented by the government helped drive the fastest economic recovery in the nation’s history.
The US began 2022 with an unemployment rate of just 4 percent and it is currently hovering between 3.5 and 3.7 percent. However, next year it is expected that the unemployment rate will again increase as the Federal Reserve maintains its policies to tame inflation.
Changes to tax deductions
- Single; or Married and filing separately - $13,850
- Married filing jointly and Surviving spouses - $27,700
- Head of household - $20,800
As the year winds down the IRS prepares for a new tax season. Get a jump on preparing your tax return. These are the new rules and how they may affect you.
Come January, workers in two dozen states that get paid the minimum wage will see a raise. Three others and the District of Columbia will follow suit later in 2023.
Three states will raise their minimum wage to $15 or more joining California and the District of Columbia as well as a handful of municipalities that have already mandated the sought for level. That amount is more than twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour which has been in place since the summer of 2009.
Greg Heilman takes you through the data.
Though the current housing market has been described as terrible, with high prices compounded by high mortgage rates, there may be some poor souls looking to buy. The majority of people will need a loan in order to purchase a house to cover what isn’t paid by the deposit.
Veterans and the 2023 COLA
VA disability ratings range from 0 – 100%, in 10-percent increments. This figure is used to assess the severity of the injury and the amount of financial support required. Claimants will be given a medical examination and assigned a disability rating.
Soldiers with a 10 percent rating should see a raise of $13.28 per month next year increasing their monthly payments to $165.92.
The full data set can be found here to check how your disability rating will be affected,
How the COLA increase is affecting veterans
Disabled veterans and military retirees will see their monthly checks get a boost in 2023. The Social Security Administration announced the COLA since 1981 after the September 2022 inflation report was released.
Military pensions and disability payments, like most other similar government payments, are required by law to use SSA calculation to keep benefits in line with rising prices. Starting in January 2023, an 8.7 percent increase will be applied to monthly payments surpassing last year’s 5.9 percent bump.
The United States, like many nations around the world, has been reeling from high inflation. The price of food, fuel and really just about everything has been rising at a pace not seen since the 1980s.
While households contend with increasing costs, those whose income gets adjusted every year automatically to keep up with inflation got some good news. The Social Security Administration released its 2023 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). At 8.7 percent, it is historically large but not even close to one the year President Ronald Reagan got elected.
FTX former CEO to be extradited to the US on fraud charges
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has been arrested in the Bahamas for his role in what prosecutors are describing as one of the largest fraud cases in American history.
Back in November, FTX, once the second-largest cryptocurrency trading hub on the internet, was plunged into bankruptcy during a liquidity crisis. The collapse revealed a large number of irregularities in the financial governance of FTX with customers investments being sent to other companies to invest as well as billions of dollars missing from accounts.
Why are California house prices set to fall?
With pending sales showing a 50 percent drop from a year ago, we can expect additional tempering in housing demand in the coming months, as we previously forecasted. Home prices will also moderate further over the next several months as interest rates remain elevated in the near term and seasonal factors come into play.
National average gas price on the way to below $3 per gallon
The falling price of gasoline has come as a relief to Americans struggling with rising prices. After peaking over $5 per gallon on average in the US six months ago, the price is on track to dip below $3 per gallon nationally by Christmas Day.
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Thanks to the COLA, Social Security payments will increase in 2023. Here’s when the increases will start and how much more money you’ll receive.
Supreme Court sets date to hear legal challenges to Biden's student loan forgiveness
The Supreme Court earlier this month agreed to take up two challenges to President Biden' student loan forgiveness program on an expedited basis. Now a date has been set, both will be heard on 28 February, for the justices to hear oral arguments to determine the legality of the executive order that if upheld would erase up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt.
Ten housing markets expected to grow in 2023
The top ten metro areas posed to see their housing markets grow over the next year will do so thanks to their "solid mix of local economic conditions, proximity to larger employment centers, and critically, more affordable housing," according to Realtor.com.
Whereas only 4% of housing is affordable for a family earning the local median income in the ten markets that will see the weakest growth, the metro areas below have around 23% of the housing inventory at affordable levels.
1 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
3 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
4 Worcester, MA-CT
5 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY
6 Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
7 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI
8 Columbia, SC
9 Chattanooga, TN-GA
10 Toledo, Ohio
Good morning and welcome to AS USA
You join us on the eve of the World Cup final for news on the state of the US economy.