Minh Uong/The New York Times Americans are increasingly treating their pets as members of the family, feeding them gourmet food, paying for day care and throwing them birthday parties. Family sleepwear sets sold on PajamaGram.com even include matching jammies for the dog. So it’s not surprising that an increasing number of “pet parents,” as they are known in the pet care industry, are seeking sophisticated medical treatments for their animals. Enter pet health insurance, marketed as a way to...

Consumers struggling with holiday spending hangovers may want to reconsider resorting to overdrafts on their checking accounts. Banks often market overdraft programs as a way for customers to smooth out occasional budgeting problems. But many consumers don’t understand how they work and end up using overdrafts as a kind of high-cost credit, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. An overdraft occurs when you spend more than you have in your checking account, but your bank...

The financial shock of adding a teenager to a family auto insurance policy is getting less shocking — at least somewhat. An annual analysis by insuranceQuotes.com, a rate comparison site, found that adding a teenager still increased annual premiums substantially, but the magnitude of the increase has been falling over the past few years. Adding a single teenager to a policy caused annual premiums to increase an average of 78 percent, or $671. But rate increases have been decreasing since...