Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will serve as the 78th Treasury Secretary of the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported Monday afternoon, citing people familiar with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team.

Yellen, 74, will have her work cut out for her, with the U.S. economy in the midst of the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. But Yellen’s deep experience with macroeconomics, in addition to her familiarity with the inner workings of Washington, could prove to be useful tools as the Biden administration takes a swing at a fiscal response to the crisis.

If confirmed, Yellen will be the first woman to hold the position, and only the second Fed chair to serve in the role (G. William Miller).

The increase in overall debt pushed total consumer borrowing to $4.16 trillion in September

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumers increased their borrowing in September, helped by the first gain in the category that covers credit cards in seven months.

The Federal Reserve reported that total borrowing rose by $16.2 billion in September, rebounding after a drop of $6.9 billion in August.

The increase included a $3.98 billion increase in credit card borrowing, the first rise since February. Credit card use had fallen for six straight months as households cut back on use of credit cards once the pandemic hit and millions of people lost their jobs.

The category that covers auto loans and student loans increased by $12.2 billion in September. This category has been rising steadily since a $6.9 billion drop in April.

Companies with global workforces need to overcome numerous challenges to quickly and easily pay their employees. Providing prompt compensation is critical because workers’ loyalty could be damaged if frictions affect their paychecks. Employees’ payment preferences and access to financial tools can vary, however.

Firms recognize that not all employees can receive payments into bank accounts, and these companies must therefore provide secure, convenient alternatives. Employers have commonly relied on paper checks to compensate unbanked employees, but many businesses are finding this method more difficult to use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accounts payable (AP) staff can no longer simply hand checks to employees at their offices and instead must mail them to their homes, trusting what can be a slow-moving and strained postal system to deliver these payments on time. Issuing physical checks every two weeks can also challenge employers that cannot safely allow AP staff on site to use check printers.

The student-debt crisis has been dire for years, but never more than it is right now. Under Trump’s presidency, the total amount of student loans held by Americans increased by over 16 percent to its highest level ever, an eye-watering $1.64 trillion. Federal-student-loan payments are currently frozen as part of the government’s pandemic relief, but that order expires at the end of the year, at which point 45 million Americans will resume staring down bills that average $393 per month, ready or not.

For people of color, student debt is even more insidious. Black and Latinx students borrow more money, on average, than their white peers for the same degrees, and are more likely to default or have trouble paying it back. Forgiving at least some amount of government student debt, as lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer have proposed, could be one of the most effective ways to shrink the racial wealth gap — and boost the country’s economic recovery from the pandemic overall.

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We learned this week that household debt is rising, according to the New York Federal Reserve. You can thank the booming housing market for that, along with student and auto loans.

However, that same report found that credit card debt is falling. That’s good news, right? Well, yes and no.

Ever since the pandemic started, many people have been receiving government relief. Kathy Jones, chief fixed-income strategist at Charles Schwab, said people have also had fewer ways to spend that money.