US lenders weigh a firm's credit, age and revenue
Before a US lender offers a business credit line, it reads credit reports, asks how long the firm has traded and tests revenue. Minimums vary widely.
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Money.
Wages, prices and the everyday choices that decide what a household keeps.
Store the Picasso, defer the tax: how art freeports work
A freeport lets goods sit in customs limbo, untaxed until they leave. How Geneva, Luxembourg and Singapore turned that rule into vaults for art and gold.
IdentityTheft.gov turns a US theft report into a recovery plan
The Federal Trade Commission's site turns your answers into an official report and a recovery plan. Put a fraud alert on your credit report before you file.
The account a UK customer described, against the one they ran
UK banks must check transactions against what they know of a customer. Santander flagged a mismatch in 2014, acted in 2015, and was fined £107.7m.
Selling a share you don't own starts with borrowing it
A short seller borrows a share, sells it, and hopes to buy it back cheaper. The lender earns interest on the cash and can recall the share at any time.
Canadian airlines owe delay compensation if the fault is theirs
Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations let you claim when a delay the airline caused makes you arrive 3 hours late. You have 1 year to claim.
Brazil's Pix instant payments undercut card fees
Brazil's central bank launched Pix in 2020, free for individuals and far cheaper than cards, and it now leads the country's payments.
British law entitles staff to every penny of a service charge
British law bans an employer from keeping any part of a card or cash tip, including a service charge added to the bill before a worker sees it.
Circle puts USDC on Chelsea's shirts for the new season
Circle, the firm behind the stablecoin USDC, is now Chelsea's shirt sponsor, as regulators race to catch up with stablecoins.
UK and US mortgage rates climb again as war unsettles markets
Mortgage rates rose again on both sides of the Atlantic in 2026, with US 30-year fixes past 7% and UK two-year fixes averaging 5.63%.
One cost of living figure never fits every household
A cost of living figure prices a fixed basket, and whose basket it is decides the answer. UK private renters saw 3.0% inflation to June 2026, retirees 2.5%.
Every UK employer must auto-enrol staff earning £10,000
UK employers must put staff aged 22 or over who earn at least £10,000 into a workplace pension. You can opt out, but you are re-enrolled every three years.
No new UK cost of living payment, and where help comes from
The DWP plans no more Cost of Living Payments. English councils now run Crisis Payments, and Winter Fuel Payment is worth up to £300 for 2026 to 2027.
A Tinder romance crypto scam took a UK chef's house deposit
Alexandr Gutu put £40,000 of his £42,000 deposit into a fake crypto account. A match who moves the chat off the dating app is the first warning sign.
Your UK pension moves abroad with you, but its rises may not
A UK pension keeps paying if you move abroad. The State Pension rises each year only if your new country is on a GOV.UK list, and tax rules change too.
Home loans become bonds, and the bank picks which ones go in
A mortgage-backed security pools home loans into one bond. US bonds mostly pass income straight through, while the EU counts only bundles cut into risk tiers.
US Senate races barely mention Social Security's 2032 deadline
The US Social Security trust fund runs dry in 2032, and benefits drop 22% unless Congress acts. Few Senate candidates are discussing it.
A 30-point credit score rise can cut a US mortgage rate
US mortgage lenders price conventional loans in 20-point credit score tiers. A 30-point rise can cut the rate by 0.25 percentage points or more.
The UK's £400 energy bill grant cost £12bn and has closed
The UK's Energy Bills Support Scheme began as a £200 loan and became a £400 grant costing £12bn. It closed along with the seven other energy support schemes.