Prenups, or pre-nuptial agreements, don't always have the most positive connotation. 

While they are legal agreements entered into by couples before marriage — often to keep finances separate despite being otherwise legally joined  — they can be a touchy subject for couples starting to build a life together.

But that stigma seems to be fading away. A new report from The Harris Poll said that this year, 15% of U.S. adults surveyed signed a prenup, which is up from just 3% in 2010. It also found that 35% of unmarried people say they're likely to sign a prenup in the future.

In the Americas, prenups go back to 17th century Canada, when French colonist men married women who came to the country with financial assistance from King Louis XIV. These women were so highly sought after that they were able to convince their husbands to sign prenups. This came at a time when men outnumbered women, so women had a leg up. Eventually that gender ratio evened out, and prenups went away.

They got popular again in the U.S. much later. A 1970 Florida case Posner v Posner ruled that prenups should be a standard practice.

One big possible factor in their usage today is the fact that millennials now have more debt than previous generations. One survey found that nearly three quarters of millennials have over $100,000 in debt on average, not including mortgages. 

The most common debt is credit card debt followed by student loans. There's also medical debt and personal loans. 

Prenups can protect your partner from taking on your debt in the case of death of divorce. In some states, your spouse can be held accountable for all of your debt acquired during the marriage.

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Kelly Chang Rickert is a family law attorney in California who specializes in prenups, and she sees debt come up in divorce cases all the time.  

"It's not unusual for me to have a divorce where one side has a Neiman Marcus card and charged up $70,000, and the other side... they are responsible for half the debt because it was acquired during the marriage," Chang Rickert said.

But the breakdown of who's responsible for what differs from state to state. For instance, some states are community property states, meaning unless you sign a prenup, everything acquired during the marriage must be split 50/50. That's how things work in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

In other states, laws differ. There can be different rules around what makes prenups enforceable. For example, in Connecticut there's a specific window of time between when the prenup is presented and when the marriage happens for it to hold up. So, it's important to see what a state requires beforehand.

Another reason more people could be getting prenups is because they're getting married later in life and have more assets to protect coming into the marriage. According to Pew, in 2019 the average age a man first got married was 30, and for women it was 28. That's three years later for both men and women compared to 2003 and four years later than 1987.

"These days, a lot of people work for themselves," Chang Rickert said. "If you're a social media influencer or you're an artist or you're a writer, a lot of people make money off their creative efforts. So if they have a business coming into the marriage, a lot of them don't want to share that in case it doesn't work out."

This leads to the question of how finances are split. This determines what a prenup could look like. In the 70s and 80s, it was common practice to put all your money into shared accounts with your spouse. But over the past several years, the number of married couples who keep some of their finances separate has risen.

Experts say if couples have a joint account for things they share, they can opt to keep everything else separate, and in the case of divorce, they'll only have to worry about dividing the joint account. But it's important to note that separate accounts won't stay separate unless a prenup is signed stating that.  

"Even if you don't have a prenup, you kind of do: It's called the law," Chang Rickert said. "So if you don't have a prenup, you're just going by what your state law says. California says community property, so your debt is my debt. That's what the state law says. So if you don't like that, then you should craft your own."

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Rickert Chang recommends getting a prenup ideally a year before your wedding. She also points out a few pros of prenups. For one, the stereotypical scenario we see in movies where a rich guy asks his fiancé to sign a prenup — it could actually be a good thing.  

"If you were smart about it, and the guy's like, 'I want you to sign a prenup saying I don't want community,' then what you could do is you can negotiate it," Chang Rickert said. "You could be like, 'Fine, I won't touch your stuff, but in lieu of that, I would like 50,000 a year or 1,000, 100,000 a year,' and that way you can negotiate, and you can actually get money by agreeing to sign a prenup."

There's also certain professions where it's strongly encouraged to protect the other person. 

"Definitely lawyers or doctors, I think you should always get prenup," Chang Rickert said. "Not just only because it's my business — I don't want you taking half of it, but also it's a business that I can get sued on. So, I would like to protect you from any lawsuits that I might get."

As prenups have become more common, more people have dug into this topic on social media platforms like TikTok. Chang Rickert has an account of her own where she educates people on prenups to help break down myths and stigmas, including that they aren't just for rich people and not just in case of divorce.

Now, there aren't necessarily more divorces now. CDC data shows that divorces declined between 2000 and 2020. 

However in the case of a divorce, not signing a prenup could really pile on to the cost of divorce, which can already be pretty high, costing between $15,000 to $20,000 on average.

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NEW YORK (AP)  — When President Joe Biden announced a plan to forgive student loan debt, many borrowers who kept making payments during the pandemic wondered if they'd made the right choice.

Borrowers who paid down their debt during a pandemic freeze that started in March 2020 can, in fact, get a refund — and then apply for forgiveness – but the process for doing that hasn’t always been clear.

If you think you’re eligible, here’s what you need to know:

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WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR A REFUND?

Borrowers who hold eligible federal student loans and have made voluntary payments since March 13, 2020, can get a refund, according to the Department of Education.

For some people, that refund will be automatic. You can get a refund without applying if your payments brought your loan balance below the maximum debt relief amount: $10,000 for all borrowers and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. Borrowers can check their balance in their studentaid.gov account.

For example, if a borrower paid $100 a month for 10 months of the pandemic and their balance is now $8,000, that $1,000 will automatically be refunded. Then they can apply to get the rest of their debt forgiven.

But if a borrower paid throughout the pandemic and still owes $14,000, they won’t get an automatic refund. They can, however, apply to have $10,000 of that debt erased.

Another group of people that has to apply for a refund is those who completely paid off their loan balance during the pandemic. If that’s you, you’re eligible for loan forgiveness, but you’ll have to request a refund prior to applying for debt relief. Borrowers should confirm their eligibility for the loan forgiveness program prior to requesting a refund.

For example, if a borrower had $5,000 in debt at the start of the pandemic and paid it all back during the freeze but is eligible for up to $10,000 in forgiveness, they would apply for a $5,000 refund, then apply to have their debt forgiven.

“Borrowers who paid off their loans during the pause will need to request a refund first, then request cancellation,” said a spokesperson from the Department of Education.

The refund is not available for private student loans.

Eligible federal student loans:

—Direct Loans (defaulted and non-defaulted)

—Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans held by ED (defaulted and non-defaulted)

—Federal Perkins Loans held by ED (defaulted and non-defaulted)

—Defaulted FFEL Program loans not held by ED

—Defaulted HEAL loans

If you are not sure which loan you have, visit your dashboard at studentaid.gov and find the “my loan servicers” section. If you can’t access your dashboard, you can call the Federal Student Aid office at 1-800-433-3243 to ask for loan servicer information.

HOW CAN I APPLY FOR A REFUND?

Borrowers who want a specific amount refunded can apply by calling their loan service provider. Right now, refunds are only being done via phone and not through any website or email.

When the Biden Administration announced the forgiveness, loan servicers found themselves inundated with calls. But many borrowers now say they’re not waiting long when calling.

“I was on hold for about five minutes,” said Megan McParland, of New Jersey, who graduated in 2018 and made several payments during the payment freeze.

McParland requested a refund the first week of September. At first, she felt the servicer tried to dissuade her from making the request. But after confirming that she wanted to proceed, she was told that she would see her refund in about a month.

Sierra Tibbs, a 47-year-old resident of Casselberry, Florida, had a similar experience. The entire phone call with her loan servicer took around 20 minutes.

Tibbs applied for a refund after seeing a video online informing her that she could get back money she paid during the pandemic.

If you are unsure who services your loan or if the servicer changed during the pandemic, visit your student aid account dashboard and scroll to “my loan servicers” or call 1-800-433-3243.

Before calling your loan provider to request your refund, you need to know your account number and the amount you want to be refunded.

—Loan servicers’ phone numbers:

FedLoan Servicing: 1-800-699-2908

Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc.: 1-800-236-4300

Edfinancial: 1-855-337-6884

MOHELA: 1-888-866-4352

Aidvantage: 1-800-722-1300

Nelnet: 1-888-486-4722

OSLA Servicing: 1-866-264-9762

ECSI: 1-866-313-3797

Default Resolution Group: 1-800-621-3115 (1-877-825-9923 for the deaf or hard of hearing)

HOW WILL THE REFUND WORK — AND WHEN WILL MY LOANS BE FORGIVEN?

When you request a refund, the amount that you have paid during the payment freeze will be added back to your student loan balance, said Katherine Welbeck, Civil Rights Counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center.

That amount is still eligible for cancellation and can be eliminated after you apply for forgiveness.

You're eligible for debt relief if you had an annual federal income below $125,000 individually or $250,000 if you're married or head of household in 2020 or 2021. The application is expected to open in early October, and you can apply until Dec. 31, 2023.

It is unclear when borrowers will see debt relief. So far, the plan only mentions borrowers will be notified by their loan servicer when their debt is forgiven. There is also a possibility that forgiveness could be delayed if the Biden administration faces legal challenges.

Laura Baum, a 30-year-old resident of Chicago, paid $5,000 during the payment freeze toward her $15,000 remaining debt. She is eligible to have $20,000 canceled since she was a Pell grant recipient when she was an undergraduate. At the beginning of September, Baum called her loan servicer and asked for a refund.

But because of the uncertainty, she plans to save that money until the Department of Education confirms her debt has been canceled.

“I’m going to hold on to that refund until I absolutely see $0 in my student loans,” Baum said.

WHEN IS THE DEADLINE TO APPLY?

The deadline to apply for a refund is December 31, 2023. However, Welbeck recommends applying for a refund before applying for debt forgiveness.

“If you apply first, you can process the refund to get your money back, and then that balance in your account is canceled,” Welbeck said.

The application process for loan forgiveness is expected to take four to six weeks.

The Department of Education offers a subscription page where you can sign up to be notified when the application is open.

HOW MUCH CAN I GET REFUNDED?

According to the Department of Education, you can get a refund for the entire amount you paid during the payment freeze. However, you can choose a lower amount.

You might pick this option if, during the pandemic, you paid enough to get your debt below the maximum amount of forgiveness. You could get a partial refund, then apply to have your remaining debt wiped out.

Say you had $15,000 worth of debt remaining at the beginning of the payment freeze and have since paid $8,000 but qualify for $10,000 in debt relief. You might decide to ask for a refund of just $3,000. Then, your debt balance will be exactly $10,000, and you can apply for maximum loan forgiveness.

WHEN WILL I GET MY REFUND?

Borrowers should expect to receive their refund six to 12 weeks after requesting it, according to the Department of Education. But you might want to double-check with your loan servicer.

McParland’s loan servicer told her that she should see her refunded amount in 30 to 45 business days, but Baum was told that it would take 60 to 70 business days to see her money back in her bank account.

IS THE REFUND TAXABLE INCOME?

It is not yet clear if the refunded money will be considered taxable income. Welbeck recommends borrowers check with financial advisers from their own state.

Some states, such as Indiana, have already said they will tax debt relief for people who have their student loans canceled. Policies vary from state to state.

DOES THE REFUND AFFECT MY CREDIT SCORE?

Since the Department of Education has not yet announced how the cancellation or refunds will be reported to the credit bureaus, it is still uncertain if these amounts will affect borrowers’ credit scores, said Welbeck.

SHOULD I START PAYING AGAIN WHEN THE PAYMENT FREEZE ENDS?

The pandemic payment freeze is set to end on Dec. 31. If you have not seen debt relief by then, you are still expected to start making payments. Welbeck recommends that borrowers enroll in income-driven repayment plans before the end of the payment freeze.

Income-driven repayment plans allow you to set an affordable payment amount based on income and family size.

You can find more information about the four types of income-driven repayment plans here.

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You can find all of AP's financial wellness coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/financial-wellness.

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The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

The White House said Monday that it still has no plans to extend a pause on student loan payments that has been in effect since the start of the pandemic.

When asked Monday if the Biden Administration has any plans to extend the moratorium on loan payments, press secretary Jen Psaki said that a "smooth transition back into repayment is a high priority for the administration."

"The Department of Education is already communicating with borrowers to help them return to repayment on Feb. 1 and has secured contract extensions with loan servicers. So, we are preparing for a range of steps here," Psaki said.

She added that the White House is monitoring the impact that the omicron variant could have on the economy and added the administration would release more information on their plans in the weeks ahead.

In August, the White House extended the pause on student loan payments through January 2022. At the time, the Biden Administration noted that it would be the final time it would extend the moratorium.

The Trump Administration put a moratorium on student loan payments at the start of the pandemic. Since then, borrowers have not been required to make monthly payments on their loans.

According to Scripps political reporter Joe St. George, an estimated $110 billion is believed to be in the hands of Americans and not the federal government as a result of the no-payment pandemic policy.

More than half a million businesses received the federal funds the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The program was created in March to help small business and their employees survive the financial impact of the pandemic. The program lent businesses money at a low-interest rate, with the potential for the loans to be forgiven or turned into a grant if the company retained and paid their workers for a given time.

Watchdog groups, like U.S. PIRG, were among many groups and elected leaders that called for transparency with PPP. After initially resisting, in May, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Small Business Administration announced they would release the names of all businesses that received a PPP loan in the amount of $150,000 or more.

Earlier this month, that list was released. What has come to light is that millionaire, billionaires, and even some celebrities received the federal aid intended to help struggling small businesses. For example, rapper and fashion designer Kanye West, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, received a PPP loan for his company Yeezy.

“From the very outset, the public, watchdogs, and elected officials had a very good reason to want data to see where this money was going,” said R.J. Cross with U.S. PIRG. “As we just learned, we had good reason to be questioning is this program going to do what it was intended to do?”

Cross is calling for the federal government to take steps to find out how much money went to small businesses and how much went to larger companies that may have had access to other sources of cash to get them through the financial hardship.

“A big improvement on the program would be true audits on all of the loan amounts,” said Cross. “That, say, if we find that you could’ve probably gotten money somewhere else we are going to take those taxpayers dollars back.”

Currently, only loans over $2 million will be audited, but most of the loans taken out, including some by millionaires and billionaires, were just below that threshold.

“We don’t have any proof to say that they picked that amount strategically, but it certainly raises questions,” Cross added.

Watchdog groups say the only way to answer those questions for the American people is continued transparency and expanded audits.

“Fraud and corruption are a real concern anytime the government is spending and giving money to companies, and especially, the pace in which it is happening right now,” Cross said. “There is reason to keep a very close eye on what is happening next. The biggest bailout in U.S. history deserves the most transparency in U.S. history.”

The SBA and treasury department have not given an indication that they will expand audits. Even if they did, it would take months, and potentially years, to get the results of those audits, followed by a potential hurdle to make the results public.

CINCINNATI — A federal judge has granted class-action status to a 9-year-old lawsuit that alleges Fifth Third Bank misled consumers about the interest rates they paid on cash-advance loans.

It's a case that could cost the bank more than $280 million, according to court filings. The lawsuit alleges Fifth Third violated Truth in Lending rules and breached loan agreements when it offered Early Access loans by quoting an annual percentage rate of 120% for short-term loans that carried much higher effective interest rates.

Fifth Third declined to comment on the March 26 ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett.

People who were enrolled in Fifth Third's Early Access Loan Program from Aug. 3, 2011 through April 30, 2013 will be eligible to pursue damages on the Truth in Lending act claims. Those suing for breach of contract can opt into the class action if they enrolled in Early Access before May 1, 2013, and took out at least one loan from the program.

"We are pleased with Judge Barrett's ruling, which clears the way for a classwide trial and the return of hundreds of millions in usurious interest to thousands of Fifth Third customers," said Hassan Zavareei, a Washington, D.C., attorney who successfully argued the case on behalf of plaintiffs.

"While we cannot comment on the pending litigation, Fifth Third's commitment is to put our customers first," said Fifth Third spokesman Ed Loyd.

As WCPO previously reported, the bank has argued its customers were aware of the fees they were paying for Early Access loans, which allowed people to borrow against their next paycheck when they were short on cash.

Because the bank clearly spelled out that borrowers would pay a $10 fee on every $100 borrowed, Barrett initially dismissed the breach of contract claim. But he was reversed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the bank's contracts included two contradictory explanations for the annual percentage rate that applied to its loans.

"The APR is designed to allow people to compare the cost of credit, and it's exactly what it doesn't do here," University of New Mexico Law Professor Nathalie Martin told WCPO last July. Martin predicted that the case would be certified as a class action, increasing the pressure on Fifth Third to settle the case.