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Supreme Court blocks President Biden’s SAVE plan again

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Millions of SAVE plan borrowers are in forbearance while the legal battle continues.  (iStock )

Despite President Biden’s request to reinstate the SAVE plan the administration created to help student loan borrowers pay less in monthly payments, the Supreme Court declined to do so on Wednesday. Lower courts blocked the plan earlier in the summer after legal challenges were brought up by GOP-led states.

The decision by the court had no immediate effect on the millions of borrowers enrolled in the plan but blocks new applications. When the initial block came, borrowers who were part of the plan were automatically placed into an interest-free forbearance. During this forbearance, borrowers aren’t required to make monthly payments.

The fate of the plan remains to be seen as legal battles in lower courts continue. Alaska, South Carolina and Texas have all asked for partial blocks to the program while they fight their respective court battles.

Although the Education Department can no longer offer the SAVE plan to new borrowers, the Biden Administration said in a statement that they plan to continue fighting for student loan forgiveness. 

“The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan in court and continue to pursue all available tools to reduce the burden of student loans on borrowers across the country,” the statement said.

If you have private student loans, federal relief doesn’t apply to you, unfortunately. If you’re looking to lower monthly payments and ease the burden of student loan debt, consider refinancing your student loans. See what rates you qualify for via the online marketplace Credible.

PAYE VS. SAVE: COMPARE YOUR OPTIONS

Biden-Harris Admin provides over $80M to improve college readiness for low-income students

In an effort to continue providing educational resources, the Biden-Harris administration recently announced that more than $80 million will be given to 26 different grantees to support college readiness programs. The idea is to help students from low-income backgrounds be better prepared to go to college.

The grants are under the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) program. The purpose of the program is to increase the number of students from underserved communities who attend college or trade schools.

“GEAR UP helps communities come together to start early in preparing young people to go to college and succeed,” U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said. “The Biden-Harris Administration has fought to help all students reach their college dreams and go on to a better life.”

These grants are six- or seven-year grants that states, schools and universities can use to provide services to middle and high school students from low-income families who are on the fence about attending post-secondary schools.

If you can qualify for a student loan refinance at a lower rate than you’re currently paying, there are few downsides to refinancing. You can use Credible to compare student loan refinancing rates from multiple private lenders all in one place.

STUDENT LOAN DEBT HAS INCREASED BY 430% SINCE 2003 – HERE’S HOW TO LOWER YOUR DEBT

Percentage of Americans approaching retirement with student loan debt up 500%

Student loan debt is a pervasive problem in America, affecting everyone from newly graduated high schoolers to parents taking out loans for their college-aged children. More and more Americans nearing retirement are still struggling with student loan debt, even after years of making payments.

The percentage of Americans who are about to retire and still have student loan debt has risen over 500% in the last two decades, a New America study found. In 2022 alone, 3.5 million Americans over 60 held $1.25 billion in student loan debt.

Many seniors still have student loan debt for a couple of different reasons. For some, the debt is the original debt they took out when they went to college, but others are dealing with debt after taking out federal Parent PLUS loans for their children attending college. Some also co-signed loans their children can’t pay, so they’re now saddled with the debt.

A handful of seniors in the report stated they’ve had student loan debt for at least 15 years, if not longer. Seniors still dealing with this debt also have higher default rates, the report found.

To see what you’d pay on a private student loan — either with or without a cosigner — you can visit Credible to view a rates table that allows you to compare fixed and variable rates from multiple lenders without affecting your credit score.

PARENTS RELY HEAVILY ON BORROWING TO PAY FOR COLLEGE COSTS: SURVEY

Have a finance-related question, but don’t know who to ask? Email The Credible Money Expert at [email protected] and your question might be answered by Credible in our Money Expert column.

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Stock and crypto trading site eToro prices IPO at $52 per share

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Omar Marques | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

EToro, a stock brokerage platform that’s been ramping up in crypto, has priced its IPO at $52 a share, as the company prepares to test the market’s appetite for new offerings.

The company had planned to sell shares at $46 to $50 each.

IPOs looked poised for a rebound when President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January after a prolonged drought spurred by rising interest rates and inflationary concerns. CoreWeave’s March debut was a welcome sign for IPO hopefuls such as eToro, online lender Klarna and ticket reseller StubHub.

But tariff uncertainty temporarily stalled those plans. The retail trading platform filed for an initial public offering in March, but shelved plans as rising tariff uncertainty rattled markets. Klarna and StubHub did the same.

EToro’s Nasdaq debut, under ticker symbol ETOR, may indicate whether the public market is ready to take on risk. Digital physical therapy company Hinge Health has started its IPO roadshow, and said in a filing on Tuesday that it plans to raise up to $437 million in its upcoming offering. Also on Tuesday, fintech company Chime filed its prospectus with the SEC.

Founded in 2007 by brothers Yoni and Ronen Assia along with David Ring, eToro competes with the likes of Robinhood and makes money through fees related to trading, including spreads on buy and sell orders, and non-trading activities such as withdrawals and currency conversion.

Net income jumped almost thirteenfold last year to $192.4 million from $15.3 million a year earlier. The company has been ramping up its crypto business, with revenue from cryptoassets more than tripling to over $12 million in 2024. One-quarter of its net trading contribution last year came from crypto, up from 10% the prior year.

This isn’t eToro’s first attempt at going public. In 2022, the company scrapped plans to hit the market through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) during a sharp downturn in equity markets. The deal would have valued the company at more than $10 billion.

CEO Yoni Assia told CNBC early last year that eToro was still aiming for a market debut but “evaluating the right opportunity” as it was building relationships with exchanges, including the Nasdaq.

“We definitely are eyeing the public markets,” he said at the time. “I definitely see us becoming eventually a public company.”

EToro said in its prospectus that BlackRock had expressed interest in buying $100 million in shares at the IPO price. The company said it planned to sell 5 million shares in the offering, with existing investors and executives selling another 5 million.

Underwriters for the deal include Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and UBS.

— CNBC’s Ryan Browne contributed reporting

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NVDA, BA, COIN, FSLR and more

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Coinbase jumps 22% after S&P 500 inclusion

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Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase Global Inc., speaks during the Messari Mainnet summit in New York, on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Coinbase shares soared more than 20% on Tuesday and headed for their sharpest rally since the day after President Donald Trump’s election victory following the crypto exchange’s inclusion in the S&P 500.

S&P Global said in a release late Monday that Coinbase is replacing Discover Financial Services, which is in the process of being acquired by Capital One Financial. The change will take effect before trading on Monday.

Stocks added to the S&P 500 often rise in value because funds that track the benchmark will add it to their portfolios. For Coinbase, it’s the latest sharp move in what’s been a volatile few months since Trump was elected to return to the White House.

Coinbase shares rocketed 31% on Nov. 6, the day after the election, on optimism that the incoming administration would adopt more crypto-friendly policies following a challenging and litigious four years during President Joe Biden’s term in office.

The company and CEO Brian Armstrong were key financial supporters in the 2024 campaign, backing pro-crypto candidates up and down the ticket. Coinbase was one of the top corporate donors, giving more than $75 million to a PAC called Fairshake and its affiliates. Armstrong personally contributed more than $1.3 million to a mix of candidates.

While the start of the Trump term has been mostly favorable to the crypto industry, through deregulation and an executive order to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve, legislation has thus far stalled. That’s due in part to concerns surrounding Trump’s personal efforts to profit from crypto through a meme coin and other family initiatives.

Coinbase has been on a roller coaster as well, plummeting 26% in February and 20% in March as Trump’s tariff announcements roiled markets and pushed investors out of risk. With Tuesday’s rally, the stock is now up about 2% for the year.

Since going public through a direct listing in 2021, Coinbase has become a bigger part of the U.S. financial system, with bitcoin soaring in value and large institutions gaining regulatory approval to create spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

Bitcoin spiked last week, topping $100,000 and nearing its record price reached in January. The crypto currency surpassed $104,000 on Tuesday.

To join the S&P 500, a company must have reported a profit in its latest quarter and have cumulative profit over the four most recent quarters.

Coinbase last week reported net income of $65.6 million, or 24 cents a share, down from $1.18 billion, or $4.40 a share a year earlier, after accounting for the fair value of its crypto investments. Revenue rose 24% to $2.03 billion from $1.64 billion a year ago.

The company last week also announced plans to buy Dubai-based Deribit, a major crypto derivatives exchange for $2.9 billion. The deal, which is the largest in the crypto industry to date, will help Coinbase broaden its footprint outside the U.S.

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