Whether it’s sky-high credit card balances, expensive medical bills, high-rate personal loans or lingering student loans, carrying costly debt has become a common thread for households across the country. According to the latest Federal Reserve data, total household debt hit a new record high of $18.04 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2024. And, that uptick in total debt coincided with an increase in…

A bipartisan bill would help Ohioans with medical debt pay it off without losing their homes or incomes or leaving their credit rating in tatters.

It’s a situation that Rachel Doan of Columbus knows all too well. In 2010, her seven-year-old son, Luke, was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a disease that required expensive hospitalization and treatment.

“My husband and I both had jobs. We had benefits,” Doan said. After his first hospitalization, they received his first medical bill for $125,000. The medical bills kept coming after Luke went into kidney failure.

“There was a huge financial albatross over us. I would like to tell you that albatross is gone, but 15 years later, I am…

The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.

A pair of Ohio House lawmakers want to help people pay off their medical debt.

State Reps. Michele Grim, D-Toledo, and Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, are introducing the Ohio Medical Debt Fairness Act.

The bill would lower the maximum interest rate for medical debt to 3% per year; prohibit hospitals, medical providers, and third-party collectors from reporting medical debt to credit agencies; and ban wage garnishment for medical debt collections.

“Medical debt can happen to anyone,” Grim said Tuesday during a news conference. “No one chooses to get sick or injured. No one plans for a car…

In today’s challenging economic climate, it’s not uncommon to find yourself on the receiving end of letters and calls from debt collectors. After all, with inflation cooling but still impacting household budgets and interest rates remaining elevated, millions of Americans are struggling to keep up with just their regular bills, much less the payments due on credit cards,…

Dwayne Gunness, president of Unifor Local 40 — which represents 40 beauty advisers — confirmed the layoffs, reports Radio-Canada.

And HBC won’t be providing termination pay to workers being laid off, according to one worker.

“I’m having a really hard time accepting the fact that we don’t get severance,” says Hazel Harris, one of the 157 laid-off distribution centre workers, according to the Radio-Canada report. “It’s very heartbreaking what’s going on.”

The employer also laid off nearly 200 corporate employees on April 4.

HBC has confirmed that it will not be providing severance compensation to the workers, according to Radio-Canada.

The furniture and display cases that speckle Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Canada are up for sale.

Advertisements at its downtown Toronto store show the company has begun looking for buyers for its fixtures. A 24-page document that it is offering prospective buyers shows at least $150,000 worth of inventory.

Items include mannequins, tables, clothing racks, full-body mirrors, shelving units and glass display cases. There are also golden vases, velvet armchairs, art, coffee table books and salon and tailoring equipment.

Hudson’s Bay operates three Saks Fifth Avenue and 13 Saks Off Fifth stores in Canada, which are shutting down alongside 80 Bay locations as their parent company remains under creditor protection.

In…