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Could BNPL Help You Buy a Home? The Answer May Surprise You 08/11/2025 08:00pm • Buy now, pay later, or BNPL, is a payment method that has soared in popularity in recent years. It's normally used for relatively small purchases, so it may seem hard to believe that BNPL could ever help you buy a home. But now it could help people take a step toward larger financial goals -- like q A home-equity loan may take weeks (but no need to tidy up the house) 08/11/2025 09:43am • U.S. homeowners are sitting on a record $34.5 trillion in home equity, and more are tapping that mountain of accessible assets. Home equity available to homeowners has risen by $600 million since the first quarter of 2024, according to LendingTree. Home equity loan originations, including closed Home title theft: How to prevent it 08/10/2025 08:00pm • Homeowners need to be aware of house title theft, a type of fraud that threatens an individual's ownership of their home. Property fraud in general is a costly problem. The FBI reports that in 2024, it received 9,359 complaints of real estate crime, a category that includes home title theft. Real DC mortgage group says homeowners are tapping equity for a new reason 07/29/2025 12:00pm • Homeowners have an estimated $25 trillion in home equity built up, and more are tapping that equity. But the reasons for taking on those equity loans are shifting. The D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association reports applications for home equity loans and open-ended home equity lines of credit ��� From Plan A to Plan B: Fired federal worker makes sizzling new start 07/25/2025 02:19pm • It can be scary to make a career change as you approach your 50th birthday, but Bethesda's Kevin Gash is among the many federal employees who didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He didn't just lose his job when he was fired this year by the U.S. Agency for International Development �� Why DC-area homebuyers lead the nation for VA mortgage loans 07/07/2025 12:56pm • The Department of Veterans Affairs has one of the best mortgage lending programs available to buyers, and those loans are extremely popular with D.C.-area buyers. A recent Redfin report ranks the D.C. region No. 2 in the nation for share of VA loans. In April, VA loans accounted for 16.5% of all Arlington parents concerned about elementary school losing Title I status 07/03/2025 07:25pm • Two Arlington schools previously categorized as Title I campuses won���t be eligible for that designation in the fall, a change that some parents are concerned about the consequences of. Abingdon and Hoffman-Boston elementary schools will no longer qualify for the extra federal funding that c What Trump's Big Beautiful Bill could mean for families' budgets 07/02/2025 08:00pm • The tax bill passed by the House of Representatives on May 22 includes some big changes for families. It increases the child tax credit, introduces a new tax-deferred account with government contributions for new babies, expands eligible expenses for health savings accounts and proposes a tax bre The sisters behind Georgetown Cupcake share their recipe for success on 'Founding DC' podcast 07/01/2025 09:24am • If you think the main motivation for starting D.C.'s Georgetown Cupcake was money, sisters Katherine Berman and Sophie LaMontagne say you're wrong. The women opened the doors to their first Georgetown Cupcake location on Valentine's Day 2008, which happened to be during a financial crisis. This w Pell Grant changes could raise college cost for Virginia students 06/30/2025 06:21pm • Students in Virginia who rely on Pell Grants to help pay for college may soon face higher costs under a sweeping set of federal education��reforms��being considered by the U.S. Senate. The Pell Grant program is the primary source of federal financial aid for low-income students, supporting degree Average down payment for DC-area homebuyers is now 10% 06/17/2025 01:03pm • The median down payment of homebuyers taking out mortgages nationally fell in April for the first time in two years, and down payments for D.C.-area homebuyers are lower than the national average. Redfin reports the median down payment in the D.C. region in April was 10%. The national average wa 'I still don't believe it': Va. man shares tips on buying his first home 06/15/2025 07:46am • Buying a home for the first time in this unpredictable D.C. area market can be challenging, but the uncertainty of the market could present an opportunity for first-time homebuyers. The layoffs, spawned by cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, along with high interest rates, have decre Payday loan apps pressure users to leave tips, and Md. isn't protecting users, advocates say 06/03/2025 05:38pm • Numerous laws have gone into effect this month in Maryland, but one law set to start in October has consumer protection experts unhappy with the state. They say the new Maryland law doesn't go far enough to address predatory lending practices surrounding "earned wage advances," commonly known as Moore allows payday loan bill, other measures to become Md. law without his signature 05/25/2025 08:48am • A bill meant to regulate so-called ���earned wage access��� loans for the first time in Maryland will become law without the governor���s signature and over the objections of a��coalition that strongly opposed it. House Bill 1294��is one of a handful of bills that Gov. Wes Moore (D) will allow to 'Really defeated': Fairfax Co. teachers excited about raise, frustrated about cuts needed to pay for them 05/12/2025 04:54pm • Fairfax County teachers are eager about the raise they're due next year but are frustrated the school district has to consider cuts to pay for them, according to Molly Cronin, an elementary school special education teacher and member of the Fairfax Education Association. At a school board meetin