In September of 2016, TransUnion found that consumers could be affected by 25 basis points in the federal interest rate hike, which is .25%. Of credit-active consumers, 68% of them would face a change in their monthly payments. If you have a variable rate product, you could face a payment shock. You may have a variable rate in your credit cards, home equity line of credit, and personal loans.

Credit bureaus gather your credit information and make credit reports. They come up with a credit score based on this information. The credit bureaus get their information from credit card companies, car loan companies, mortgage companies and other places. The main 3 credit bureaus are Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.

In August of 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took action against the bank Wells Fargo. Education Financial Services is a division of Wells Fargo that manages student loans. Some of the things that Wells Fargo did to hurt student loan borrowers: applied payments across several loans in a way that raised fees for borrowers, not letting the borrowers know how to make partial payments to pay off loans, charging illegal late fees, and not correcting negative information to credit bureaus.