April 2026 Personal Finance News: Tax Deadline, Student Loans, and Rising Gas Prices

Experian's April 2026 personal finance roundup, published April 1, 2026, highlights several critical developments affecting American households. The federal tax deadline of April 15, 2026 is approaching for most taxpayers filing their 2025 returns. While extensions are available for those in federally declared disaster areas, taxpayers who owe money must still pay their expected tax bill by the regular April deadline to avoid failure-to-pay penalties and interest. The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of the Treasury announced a partnership to transfer management of the federal student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department. The federal student loan portfolio currently stands at nearly $1.7 trillion, with fewer than 40% of borrowers in repayment and almost 25% in default. In the first phase, the Treasury will take over collection of defaulted loans, roughly $180 billion owed by approximately 9.2 million borrowers. Borrowers in default can face wage garnishment of up to 15% of their paychecks and seizure of federal tax refunds and Social Security benefits. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline hit $3.98 on March 24, up from $2.95 just one month earlier, a nearly 35% increase. The primary driver is a spike in crude oil prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East, which has severely disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from member countries' emergency reserves, the largest such release in its history. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 6.22% for the week ending March 19, up from 6.11% the prior week, reversing months of steady improvement. April is also officially designated as Financial Literacy Month by the U.S. Senate to raise awareness of the importance of smart money management.