Cash yields, IRA deadline, loan changes

A weird little money window is open right now: some online savings accounts are paying up to 5.00% annual percentage yield on April 10, 2026, while the national average savings rate is still just 0.39%, according to Fortune and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation data it cites. (fortune.com) Certificates of deposit are a different bet: you give the bank your cash for a fixed term, and in return top certificates of deposit were offering up to 4.20% annual percentage yield on April 10, 2026. That usually pays less than the very best savings account right now, but the rate is locked if banks cut yields later. (fortune.com) The retirement deadline is even tighter than the rate story. You can still make an individual retirement account contribution for tax year 2025, but the deadline is Tuesday, April 15, 2026, not December 31, and that contribution can be worth up to $7,000 if you qualify. (fool.com) The Internal Revenue Service says the 2025 limit is $7,000 across all traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts combined, or $8,000 if you are age 50 or older. The Internal Revenue Service also says 2026 rises to $7,500, which is why the April 15 deadline is the last chance to fill the smaller 2025 bucket before it disappears. (irs.gov) That April move can change your 2025 taxes if you use a traditional individual retirement account, because some contributions are deductible, and it can change your long-run growth if you use a Roth individual retirement account, because the money can grow tax-free. The Internal Revenue Service publication for 2025 also says you cannot make up a missed 2025 contribution after April 15, 2026. (irs.gov) Then there is the student-loan change, which is less visible and more technical. CNBC reported on April 9 that the Education Department will no longer use the blocked Saving on a Valuable Education plan formula to price some Public Service Loan Forgiveness buybacks for deferments or forbearances on or after July 1, 2024. (cnbc.com) Public Service Loan Forgiveness buyback is the rule that lets some public-sector workers pay for past paused months so those months can count toward the 120-payment forgiveness requirement. The loan servicer page for the program says borrowers can buy back months that did not count because they were in an ineligible deferment or forbearance status. (mohela.studentaid.gov) That pricing change lands on top of a bigger reset already underway. CNBC reported on March 30 that 7.5 million borrowers who enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education plan will be removed from that Biden-era income-driven repayment plan later in 2026. (cnbc.com) Another shift is aimed at future borrowers, not current savers. Universities including the University of Iowa and the University of Illinois Springfield say federal loan rules taking effect July 1, 2026 will end Graduate PLUS loans for many new graduate and professional students and impose new borrowing caps, while schools wait for more final federal guidance. (grad.uiowa.edu) (uis.edu) Put together, the calendar is doing three different things at once. Cash is still earning real yield in April 2026, the 2025 individual retirement account window shuts on April 15, 2026, and federal student-loan rules are being rewritten in ways that can raise costs for borrowers who wait to check the fine print. (fortune.com) (irs.gov) (cnbc.com)