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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

New Lending Tree Survey Reveals "Troubling Findings"; Sources: Rubio And Bukele Discussed Mistake Deportation; Ice Bucket Challenge Revived For A New Cause. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 01, 2025 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:30:00]

MATT SCHULZ, CHIEF CONSUMER FINANCE ANALYST, LENDING TREE: Well, there's never just one reason. And it certainly -- it certainly could be that these -- that these loans have become more popular and just kind of continue to hit critical mass because there's no question that the main buy now, pay later lenders have done a really good job of making it a lot easier to use their loans most anywhere you want to use them.

But still, the truth is that in an ideal world for most people they wouldn't have to take the steps to use these sorts of loans which really aren't intended for these sorts of things to by something as fundamental as groceries.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, yeah.

One thing that I thought was really interesting and maybe a little counterintuitive is that apparently high income borrowers are among the most likely to pay late.

What do you think is going on there?

SCHULZ: Well, I think part of that is simply the fact that you make more money doesn't necessarily mean that you're any better at handling it than anybody else is. And we have seen repeatedly over the years in surveys that we've done at Lending Tree that high income earners have debt they pay late. They fall into a lot of the same issues --

SOLOMON: Yeah.

SCHULZ: -- that people who make less money do. So there's certainly some struggle there but I do think that -- I do think that some of that is simply the fact that high income earners have a lot of the same money management problems that other folks do.

SOLOMON: Yeah. It's a great point because on the one hand when you earn more you have perhaps more lifestyle creep so every time you make more you start to spend more. And it doesn't necessarily mean that once you start making more you have better financial literacy. So it's a really important point, I think.

What advice would you have for people who are trying to figure out how best to make their dollar stretch right now? I mean, we talked about grocery prices. I mean, everyone knows that they're so much higher than they were years ago. I mean, what advice would you have for people who are maybe considering these loans or just really trying to understand how to make their money go farther right now?

SCHULZ: Well, really, the best thing that you can do is try and knock down your high-interest debt that you have and build up that emergency fund that you have because these are really uncertain times and the more stable your financial foundation the better off you'll be for whatever comes.

But specifically as it relates to buy now, pay later loans it's really important to not take too many of these at one time. They can be really easy to get and stack on top of each other but that can be a recipe for trouble because -- especially if you're new to credit it can be a challenge to manage multiples of these at a time, and that's the last thing anybody needs.

SOLOMON: And you've made the point that a lot of people who use these programs mistakenly think that it will help build credit history, but it doesn't.

SCHULZ: Yeah. It almost certainly will someday but we're just not there yet. But about 60 percent of buy now, pay later users that we -- that responded to our survey said that they think that positive payment history on these buy now, pay later loans helps their credit history and it's just not the case. They're starting to appear on credit reports to some degree but we're still a little ways away from these actually affecting people's credit scores in a positive way.

SOLOMON: Matt Schulz of Lending Tree. We appreciate the time this morning. Thank you.

SCHULZ: Thank you.

SOLOMON: Joining us from Austin, Texas there.

All right. Still to come, new reports say that the U.S. and El Salvador are discussing the mistaken deportation of a migrant, but the man still no closer to being returned to the U.S. We'll have details after the break.

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[05:38:40]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Multiple sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is considering deporting migrants with criminal records to Libya and Rwanda, but the plan is likely to face legal challenges. A 2024 U.N. report documented years of human rights violations in Libya. U.S. officials are trying to replicate the current deal with El Salvador to accept deported migrants.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that officials are in talks with several other countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries -- so we are active. And not just El Salvador; we are working with other countries to say we want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. Will you do that as a favor to us? And the further away from America the better so they can't come back across the border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: The White House could take it a step further. Sources say that the U.S. wants to send asylum seekers detained at the border to Libya through a "safe third country agreement." Rwanda had a similar deal with the U.K., but it was discontinued amid legal troubles.

The U.S. Secretary of State has been in contact with El Salvador's president over the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia back in March. That's according to multiple sources. And while there's been little movement in efforts to return him to the U.S., CNN's Katelyn Polantz has details on where the court battle stands.

[05:40:05]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There's no resolution in the situation of Kilmar Obrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was mistakenly sent by the United States to El Salvador and who remains there. His case has been in a standoff.

But there were glimmers of possible movement -- a possible diplomatic resolution that sources say was being discussed between his side, the U.S., and potentially El Salvador over the past couple of days. It put a pause on his court case.

What we also know is that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele -- they were in touch to talk about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. What to do with him?

And on top of that there has been a U.S. official who is saying that the Trump administration was working closely with El Salvador and made the ask to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. And Bukele, in El Salvador, said "It's not going to happen." And so it has not. He still is there.

There is still this court standoff and a judge that's looking closely at this -- all of it -- at a time where the judge has been unsatisfied with what the Trump administration has been willing to do for Abrego Garcia after mistakenly sending him to El Salvador.

And the judge is now asking for the government to turn over evidence to Abrego Garcia's lawyers answering questions as well as putting officials under oath for depositions to explain exactly why this was -- mistake was made, what the agreements are with El Salvador over his custody, and what steps have been taken, if any, to potentially get him out of that country where he was not supposed to be sent.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: A Palestinian man arrested in the U.S. during a citizenship interview says that immigration agents used the meeting as a trap. The judge ordered Mohsen Mahdawi to be released on Wednesday along with a ban on any government attempt to remove him from Vermont or the U.S. entirely.

Mahdawi's attorneys say that he was detained in retaliation for protesting the war between Israel and Hamas and advocating for Palestinian human rights.

Court documents show that the U.S. Secretary of State claimed that his presence would have "serious adverse foreign policy consequences."

All right. Still ahead for us, just over a decade after the ice bucket challenge -- remember this -- well, that raised millions of dollars for ALS research, and it is back. And this time there's another worthy cause. It's already shattering fundraising goals. We'll explain it to you after this break.

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[05:47:00]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon, and here are some of the stories we are watching for you this morning.

The U.S. economy is moving in reverse under President Donald Trump. The Commerce Department reports that gross domestic product fell to an annualized rate of 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year. That's the first quarter of negative growth since 2022. President Trump blames his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The U.S. and Ukraine have signed an agreement giving Washington access to Kyiv's rare earth minerals in exchange for a joint investment fund to help pay for Ukraine's post-war reconstruction. The U.S. Treasury secretary says that the deal sends a message to Russia that the U.S. is committed to the peace process and a free and sovereign Ukraine.

Sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is considering sending some migrants to Libya and Rwanda. Potential deals would apply to migrants in the U.S. with a criminal record. The White House had already had discussions with both countries about the matter.

Well, do you remember the ice bucket challenge -- that viral campaign that raised millions of dollars for ALS research back -- research back in 2014? Well, it's back. It's been revived by students at the University of South Carolina to raise awareness about mental health issues. Their "Speak Your Mind" campaign was launched on Instagram back in March to raise funds for the nonprofit Active Minds and to change mental health norms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALES: We were nominated by Ethan Thompson (PH) for the USC Speak Your Mind bucket challenge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have 24 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it got me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. It's a challenge to help awareness for mental health problems. So if you or a loved one is suffering don't be afraid to speak up and spread awareness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the USC Speak Your Mind ice bucket challenge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, you ready? Three, two, one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I nominate Presley Fornet (PH) and Kayla Benfield (PH). You guys have 24 hours. Oh!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. For more now we are joined live from Boulder, Colorado by the founder and executive director of Active Minds, Alison Malmon. Alison, we appreciate you being up extra early in Boulder to be with us.

The challenge has clearly taken off online. Why do you think that is? What's resonating here for so many people?

ALISON MALMON, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACTIVE MINDS: Yeah, it's been amazing to see. I think one of the things that we've been so thrilled to see is that this is an issue that youth and adults, especially, really care about and are getting behind this because this is a topic that has been something that has been of so much interest to them.

This generated from a -- from a college student, as you said, and it continued via social media, especially among middle school, high school, and college students, and is now extending to their parents and grandparents, and other generations.

SOLOMON: Yeah. You know, it's interesting because critics might sometimes look at these viral challenges and say that sometimes they fail to break through the fun of just sharing online. That it's just the post, it's just the clicks, but very little awareness of the underlying cause.

[05:50:07]

How are you trying to get past that with this challenge because it's obviously a very real issue for a lot of people right now?

MALMON: Yeah, it is. You know, what's so interesting about mental health is that one of the biggest challenges is that people don't talk about it. So simply the act of having this viral challenge to talk about mental health helps us bring mental health out of the shadows and into the light and help everybody realize that they're not the only ones struggling or the person in their family who struggles is not the only one, which is huge for the cause.

And then to have youth and adults say I'm going to talk about his in a way that maybe I haven't learned about in health class, or we haven't talked about in my family because there's been historically so much stigma, I'm going to bring this out.

And so it's really, really meaningful.

And then we're also seeing that convert to folks talking in their challenge about what their mental health story is or who they want to tag and why, and bringing donations to support the work that we do at Active Minds to continue this conversation and mobilize youth and young adults across the nation and across the globe to change social norms and to change policies around mental health.

SOLOMON: And in speaking of donations, talk to me there. I mean, your listed goal on the website is $500,000. Where are you with that goal and what can you tell us about how the money will be used?

MALMON: Sure. We're very close to that goal. We are -- we are inching our way past $400,000 right now. I think particularly notable is that this challenge started with a goal of about $100 because we had no idea that things were going to grow as much as they did. And so that goal of $500,000 has been increasing almost by the day because of the intention and support that's coming.

What we're going to do -- we -- our focus at Active Minds is to bring a new generation into mental health and to champion a new era of mental health, and really bringing tools and resources and equipping youth and young adults with the ability to change this conversation for themselves, their peers, their communities.

SOLOMON: Yeah.

MALMON: And so we are investing in the youth and young adults who are part of Active Minds with the support.

SOLOMON: And Alison, just talk to us while I have you -- I mean, I know that you were -- you were drawn to this cause by a very personal tragedy in your family. For people who are watching -- for young people who are watching what mental health tips might you want to share right now?

MALMON: Yeah, I was. I came into this topic because I was a college student when I lost my brother Ryan to suicide, who also had been a college student.

And I think one of the most important things to learn about this topic is that you're not alone and it's not your fault, and if there's somebody in your life that you might be worried about, ask them. Let them know that you care for them, you care about them. You want to know how to support them. And know that you have every right to reach out for the help that you need and deserve.

SOLOMON: Yeah.

Alison Malmon, we appreciate you being up very early with us from beautiful Boulder, Colorado.

MALMON: Thank you.

SOLOMON: I've spent a lot of time in Boulder hiking the trails there. It's also a great place to sort of clear your mind. You think about being outdoors in nature.

MALMON: Certainly.

SOLOMON: You think about walking.

It's a -- it's a great cause and a great campaign. I'm really excited for you guys.

Alison Malmon, appreciate you being here today. Thank you.

MALMON: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead for us workers around the world are marking the May Day holiday today by taking to the streets. That story still ahead.

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[05:57:50]

SOLOMON: It's May Day and events marking the day dedicated to workers are getting underway around the world. Thousands of Argentinians got a jumpstart on the occasion with a huge rally yesterday. They protested the high cost of living and demanded new wage negotiations.

May Day or International Workers Day dates back to the 1880s. And rallies today are expected everywhere from South Korea, to Europe, to Latin America.

In the U.S., the 50501 Movement plans rallies against Donald Trump. The name stands for protests and 50 protests in 50 states -- One Movement. It's part of the group's wider pushback against his policies.

Britain's King Charles has shared his thoughts on dealing with his cancer diagnosis. The king hosted a reception in honor of community- based cancer support groups Wednesday at Buckingham Palace.

In a statement Charles said that while receiving a cancer diagnosis can be daunting and at times frightening, "The darkest moments of illness can be illuminated by the greatest compassion." He went on to say that having cancer gave him a deeper appreciation for the organizations that he supported before he got sick.

Both the king and his daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, were diagnosed with undisclosed forms of cancer last year.

All right. Before we go here is proof that opposites do, in fact, attract even in the animal kingdom. Pearl, the world's shortest living dog at just over nine centimeters, and Reggie, the world's tallest dog at three feet-four inches -- I mean, how cute are they -- recently got together in Idaho as part of Guiness World Record's 70th anniversary celebration.

And despite the difference in size the chihuahua and the Great Dane got along well. I mean, they looked really happy. They played happily, according to their owners, with Reggie apparently being extra careful and gentle around his tiny new friend.

And as the owner of, I would say, a 'smedium' dog, I will say it's always the little ones that you have to watch. The big ones are actually quite gentle. It's usually the small ones that are feisty.

All right, that's going to do it for us here on EARLY START. Thank you for being with us. I'm Rahel Solomon here in New York. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now. I'll see you tomorrow.