Good morning and Esthen ExchangeHappy Friday! This is Betty Lin-Fisher with Friday's consumer-focused The Daily Money.

Consumers rely heavily on their internet access on their phones and computers for work and personal life. Some would argue we are too reliant on those devices (I'm pointing at myself here).

But when we use those devices, we want reliable and fast internet speeds. The Federal Communications Committee on Thursday voted to reinstate rules, which were repealed in 2017, to prevent internet providers from disrupting your internet speed.

The 3-2 vote along political party lines restores something called net neutrality – a policy that ensures your internet service provider doesn’t block or slow legal traffic, or charge more to deliver some content more quickly.

Read more in this story.

Death of a spouse impacts your credit score

It's devastating enough when your spouse dies. But your credit score also takes a hit, reports my colleague Daniel de Visé.

The surviving spouse often struggles with a lot of things when it comes to affording the bills and keeping up with paying those bills. Sometimes it was the role of the now deceased spouse to pay the bills, so it's something entirely new to the surviving spouse.

The credit score of the surviving partner also goes down, according to a new study.

Get some advice and tips in de Visé's story.

📰 Consumer stories you shouldn't miss 📰

• Meet a millenial scam-baiter, who scams the scammers, in this NPR story.
• Will Southwest Airlines start charging for seats?
• Good news for air travelers: new rules will help you get automatic refunds when you have travel problems.
• Do you have a Ring camera? The FTC is issuing refunds.
• Problem Solved: Here's a DIY way to clean your makeup brushes.

📰 A great read 📰

Finally, here's a popular story from earlier this year that you may have missed. Feel free to share it.

How is your work-life balance? A survey conducted by Ford Motor Co. found that 52% of employed people globally would be willing to take a 20% pay cut for better work/life balance.

Read more about what parts of that work-life balance are driving people's decisions.

About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from USA TODAY. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.