Consumer Finance

Consumer financing is when a business offers financing to their customers with help from a professional finance company. This allows the consumer to pay for a good or service they couldn't pay for up front in cash or credit card. Consumer finance is helpful for both businesses and consumers
Consumer Finance
Propel Holdings Bets AI Can Replace FICO for the 40% of Americans Banks Won’t Serve
March 16, 2026

Watch more: Monday Conversation With Propel Holdings’ Clive Kinross Karen Webster didn’t send Clive Kinross the questions ahead of time. So when she asked him, point-blank, whether the FICO score was dying, he hadn’t prepared an answer. What came out was unscripted. And more revealing for...

Consumer Finance
Inflation Cooled but Essentials Tightened Their Grip
March 11, 2026

Inflation in the United States appears contained for the moment, yet the latest reading suggests consumers may be navigating a calm that could prove temporary. The Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% year over year in February, according to data released on Wednesday (March 11) and...

Consumer Finance
New Report Shows Emergency Expenses Are Now Just the Norm
March 10, 2026

Life has a way of introducing expenses without regard for timing, and household budgets increasingly bear reality in mind. From routine car maintenance to medical bills, unexpected costs have become part of how consumers plan, save and manage cash flow. According to the January 2026...

Consumer Finance
Robinhood Bets on Family Finance to Compete With Wall Street
March 05, 2026

When Robinhood Markets burst onto the scene, it targeted individual retail investors. Now, it’s going after their households. The brokerage announced a suite of new products centered on family finance, including shared account visibility, custodial investment accounts for children, trust accounts for estate planning, tax-aware...

Consumer Finance
Three Generations Face the Same Bills and Make Different Moves
February 25, 2026

Picture three Americans staring at the same electric bill. The retiree sighs, turns down the thermostat and makes a mental note to skip dinner out next week. The 28-year-old opens three apps on her phone —one to split the payment into installments, one to pick...

Consumer Finance
The Hidden Driver of Consumer Spending Isn’t Income. It’s Mobility
February 24, 2026

Job security has long been treated as the cornerstone of financial stability, yet new data suggest that security without mobility can narrow economic choices rather than expand them. The “Wage to Wallet Index” from PYMNTS Intelligence, WorkWhile and Ingo Payments finds that workers’ perceptions of...

Consumer Finance
Planned Purchases Rise as Financial Stress Eases, Study Finds
February 23, 2026

Many Americans are turning themselves down for credit before a lender ever does. That is the through line of “Consumer Credit Economy: Strategy vs. Spontaneity—Navigating the Great Credit Divide” a PYMNTS Intelligence report. Based on a U.S. census-balanced survey of 2,049 U.S. adult consumers, the report finds...

Consumer Finance
Americans Are Rewriting Household Budgets to Make Room for Extended-Family Support
February 20, 2026

As financial pressures intensify across the U.S., a growing number of consumers are shouldering an obligation that rarely shows up as a line item in household budgets: financial support for extended family members and friends. Even as incomes fluctuate and expenses rise, helping others remains...

Consumer Finance
Experian Targets Consumer Cash With High-Yield Savings Bet
February 09, 2026

Experian now offers consumers a high-yield digital savings account. Available to consumers who have a paid membership with the company, the new Experian Smart Money Digital Savings Account currently offers variable annual percentage yields (APYs) up to 4%, according to a Monday (Feb. 9) press...