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The Daily Money

ALL THE MONEY NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Fri May 30 2025

Betty Lin-Fisher | Consumer reporter

@blinfisher

Good morning and happy Friday! This is Betty Lin-Fisher with Friday's consumer-focused edition of The Daily Money.

When you buy something, how important is the return policy? To a lot of shoppers, it is what helps them choose where to make a purchase.

But in a recent survey, 68% of shoppers said they believe retailers make it easy to abuse flexible return policies. And 49% of those surveyed admitted to abusing those policies in the last year.

There's also the criminal element of return fraud.

A new survey reports that 68% of shoppers think retailers make it too easy to abuse flexible return policies.

Brianna Maestas, Amarillo Globe-News via USA TODAY NETWORK

Delinquencies are up for student loan borrowers

Student loan borrowers are seeing their credit scores plunge if they fall behind on their payments. Economists say it could be bad news for borrowers and the economy at large, my colleague Bailey Schulz reports.

In a recent report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found the delinquency rate for student loans surged from less than 1% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to nearly 8% in the first quarter of this year as a pause on reporting delinquent loans ended.

More than 2.2 million newly delinquent student loan borrowers' credit scores plunged more than 100 points.

What does this mean for borrowers?

Job market challenges

Speaking of those college grads, tariffs and AI are altering the job market for new grads. That's not to say there aren't any jobs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said there were 7.2 million job openings in March: about where the job market stood in the months before the pandemic.

Who is still hiring?

📰 Consumer stories you shouldn't miss 📰

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About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you.