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The Riverstone Blog
Borrowing News & Guides You Can Check
Rate updates, Fed decisions and practical borrowing advice, written the week new data comes out. Every figure links back to the Federal Reserve, the CFPB or the credit bureau that published it.
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Showing 15 articles
Personal Loan Rates Today: October 2026
The Fed’s Oct 7 release puts the average 24-month personal loan at commercial banks at 11.90% for August 2026, up from 11.86% in May. How lender type and credit tier change your quote.
Read articleDebt Consolidation Loans: When They Save Money
Bank card APRs averaged 22.36% on balances charged interest in August, 10.46 points above the 24-month loan average. A step-by-step check for when consolidating actually pays off.
Read articleFOMC Preview: What to Watch at the Oct 27–28 Meeting
September’s minutes show most officials think another hike would likely be appropriate by year end, with PCE inflation at 3.8% in August. What a move on Oct 28 would mean for card and loan rates.
Read articleHow to Spot an Advance-Fee Loan Scam
The FTC warns that a lender who guarantees approval or asks for a fee before you get the money is running a classic advance-fee scam. The red flags, and how to check a lender’s license.
Read articleThe Real Cost of a Payday Loan: Almost 400% APR
The CFPB notes that a typical two-week payday loan with a $15-per-$100 fee works out to an APR of almost 400%. How that compares with an installment loan for the same $800.
Read articleHow a 5% Origination Fee Changes Your APR
A $5,000 loan at 19.99% over 36 months costs $185.79 a month. Add a 5% origination fee and you receive $4,750, which lifts the true APR to 23.77%.
Read articleSoft vs. Hard Credit Checks: What Rate Shopping Does to Your Score
Prequalifying usually uses a soft inquiry, which doesn’t affect your score. A formal application triggers a hard inquiry, which can cost a few points and stays on your report for two years.
Read articleStudent Loan Delinquencies Are Dragging Down Credit Scores
FICO found about 3.2 million consumers with a recent student loan delinquency saw scores fall an average of 38 points year over year, while borrowers who kept paying gained 6 points.
Read articleCredit Unions vs. Banks: Who Charges Less for a Personal Loan?
NCUA’s latest survey shows a 36-month unsecured loan averaging 10.64% at credit unions versus 12.00% at banks. Who can join, and when a bank or online lender still wins.
Read articleThe Military Lending Act: Your 36% Rate Cap, Explained
Active-duty servicemembers and covered dependents are protected by a 36% Military APR cap that counts most fees and add-ons, plus a ban on prepayment penalties.
Read articleBuy Now, Pay Later Is Showing Up in Credit Scores
FICO is adding buy now, pay later loans to some of its scores. In its study with Affirm data, the change moved scores by 10 points or less for more than 85% of consumers.
Read articlePersonal Loan Balances Hit a Record $281 Billion
TransUnion counts a record $281 billion in unsecured personal loan balances in Q2 2026, up 9.6% from a year earlier, with an average balance of $11,694 per borrower.
Read articleCould You Cover a $400 Surprise? Building an Emergency Fund
63% of U.S. adults say they would cover a $400 emergency expense with cash or its equivalent, according to the Fed’s latest household survey. How to build that cushion before you need to borrow.
Read articleU.S. Household Debt Slips to $18.77 Trillion
Total household debt fell $13 billion in Q2 2026, but credit card balances rose to $1.263 trillion and 4.7% of all debt was in some stage of delinquency.
Read articleThe Average FICO Score Holds Steady at 714
The national average FICO Score held at 714 in FICO’s latest report, while early mortgage delinquencies eased to 1.35% and 30-day auto delinquencies fell to 2.6%.
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Editorial standards
How We Write the Blog
Figures come from the Federal Reserve, the New York Fed, the CFPB, the FTC, NCUA and published credit bureau reports.
Every post shows when it was published and last updated. Rate posts are revised after each Fed release.
Lenders in our network don’t write, review or approve our articles.
If we get something wrong, we fix it and note the change at the bottom of the post.
Sources for the figures on this page (14)
- Federal Reserve, FOMC statement, Sep 16, 2026
- Prime rate rises to 7.00%, effective Sep 17, 2026
- Federal Reserve, G.19 Consumer Credit, Oct 7, 2026
- Summary of September 2026 FOMC minutes, released Oct 7, 2026
- Federal Reserve calendar, November 2026
- New York Fed, Household Debt and Credit, Q2 2026
- TransUnion, Credit Industry Insights Report, Q2 2026
- FICO Score Credit Insights report, Aug 25, 2026
- NCUA, Credit Union and Bank Rates
- Federal Reserve, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households, May 13, 2026
- CFPB, What is a payday loan?
- CFPB, Rights under the Military Lending Act
- FTC, What to know about advance-fee loans
- NPR/WFAE, Buy now, pay later purchases can now affect your credit score
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