Fatwallet.com Finance

Reconciling autopay and autodraft dates vs due dates

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:13:28 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: pandamonium54
Views: 260 Replies: 0

I have a hard time believing I'm the only person who does their finances this way, so there must be some workaround that I haven't figured out yet.

My CC due dates and autopay dates are not necessarily the same. IIRC, AMEX's autopay is due date-7 days, Discover is autopay-5 days, etc. Anyway, my point is, the dates don't line up. I've recently moved to Fideilty's Fullview (Yodlee backend) to try simplifying my personal finances, and it too fails on this point. All I care about is knowing how much an autopay will draft and on what day that draft will occur. That way I can make sure that I have sufficient funds to cover those autopays. Is there some trick to Fullview/Yodlee or Mint that displays by autopay date and not "due date"?

Right now I have all autopays set to pull from my schwab checking, which can overdraft from my schwab savings. I thought about just leaving it alone and having overdraft protection do its thing, but with >6 accounts set to autopay, I have to manually combine a couple of transfers to keep my schwab savings under 6 transactions/month. Also complicating that route is that since schwab's interest rates nosedived last year, most of my liquid funds are now with AMEX.

Here's how I'm currently tracking bills (and what I would like to stop having to keep current). Numbers have been rounded:

BoA V5/23 200 + 130 pending (As of 5/13/12)BoA MC00 + 0 pending (last used never) (As of 5/13/12)Fidelity5/24 2175 + 600 pending (44 CB balance) (As of 5/13/12)Citi5/13 15 + 66 pending (1400 TYP) (last used 5/2012) (As of 5/13/12)Discover gas00 + 0 pending (32 CB balance; 2% on 250 gas/restaurant monthly; 2% on 500 during birthday month; 2% cable/phone/internet thru dec31) (last used 9/2011) (As of 5/13/12)Discover platinum5/13 550 + 700 pending (charge 500 each month apr,may,jun for $75 cb) (5.54 CB balance; 5% on 1500 restaurants/movies apr1-jun31, 300 groceries may1-31) (last used 5/2012) (As of 5/13/12)AMEX5/22 26 + 25 pending (5.89 CB balance) (last used 5/2012) (As of 5/13/12)Brooks00 + 0 pending (8 CB balance) (last used 12/2011) (As of 5/13/12)Chase rewards plus00 + 0 pending (5 CB balance, 5% on 1500 in groceries/movies apr1-jun31) (last used 11/2011) (As of 5/13/12)Chase Freedom5/28 695 + 155 pending (101 CB balance, 5% on 1500 in groceries/movies apr1-jun31) (As of 5/13/12)CapitalOne5/21 8 + 0 pending (last used 4/2012) (As of 5/13/12)Electric company6/3   75Macy's AMEX00 + 0 pending (As of 5/13/12)Macy's Store00 + 0 pending (As of 5/13/12)School5/31123 + 0 pending (As of 5/13/12) (scheduled to pay from schwab)

Personal Finance Deals

Are Car Dealers required, by law, to process liens?

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:34:50 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Sunderware
Views: 337 Replies: 5

I'm in the process of searching for a new (well, used) car. I'm planning to take advantage of the Penfed 1.99% deal by financing half and paying the other half out of pocket. In the process of negotiating with a particular out-of-state dealer (PA, I'm in DE), I was informed that I MUST be charged a $298 fee for them to process the lien through some company. Negotiations have since fallen through... but I'm still wondering about the legitimacy of the feel for future reference.

I have purchased 2 cars from PA in the past, and have had no issue taking the title to the DMV in my state, paying for the fees and tax, and getting a new title on the spot. Which, in this transaction, would then be sent to Penfed, right?

However, the dealer is insisting that because there will be a lien on the vehicle, they are responsible. They say if I take the title and don't send it to the bank, the dealer will be held responsible and will need to reimburse the bank. I talked to Penfed, and they stated in no uncertain terms that I'm the only one on the hook if they don't get the title. Something about my rate going from 1.99 to like 10.99.

So, who is in the right? Is the dealer required by law to register the lien for me? Can I not do it myself? Or is the dealer just being an ass?

TL;DR - Dealer wants to charge me $298 because they are "required" to register my lien even though I'm using my own financing.

Personal Finance Deals

W2 vs 1099

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:21:00 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: wizardking
Views: 390 Replies: 2

I am looking at a contractor position that will offer me $20/h on a 1099 or $16.67 on a w2 in WA (no income tax in WA). Just straight salary, no benefits. Tax would be based on being single.

Does anyone know an easy way to calculate the tax I will be paying out of pocket on a 1099 so I can compare the two?
My thinking is that I pay about 15% tax on my w2s on average. It looks like I would be paying ~15%federal and 15% self employment tax on a 1099. So I would net $14/h on a 1099 and $14.16/h on a w2. Are these thoughts way off base?

Tax Deals

Need advice on the amount fo property damage coverage

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:27:13 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: mrgamers
Views: 330 Replies: 1

It is almost time to renew my insurance policy and am wondering if i had enough property damage to protect myself financially. I have 25,000 property damage. BTW, this is for California.

1) What is a good amount of coverage to buy for property damage to protect yourself from losses in event of an accident?

2) Is there a place where i can see the average amount of property damage that occurs with an accident in state of California?

Personal Finance Deals

Debt collectors harassing the wrong number

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:26:34 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: Xenth
Views: 624 Replies: 11

I love the information on here for dealing with debt collectors, robocallers and the like but it all seems focused on them collecting your debt. Some woman who we'll call Vicky got linked to our phone number and over the past year one debt collector after another has continued calling for her. All have ignored the fact that they have the wrong number, but some were shut down by pointing out the legal issues of the robocallers.

Is there anyway we can remove our phone number's association with the debt so the next collector it's passed to won't call?

General Economics Deals

New Jersey Bank Offers $100 Bonus, Free Gift and No ATM Fees Nationwide

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:57:19 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: jrirrific
Views: 593 Replies: 4

Who couldnt use a few extra bucks?

New Jersey residents can get $100 in their pocket just for taking a couple of extra steps when they open a free checking account at ColumbiaBank, based in Fair Lawn, N.J.

When you opt for the new Yield Plus Checking account, youll get an extra $50 in your account just for having at least one direct deposit within the first 60 days and another $50 for making an online banking transaction. On top of that, if you keep $10,000 to $249,999 in your Yield Plus Checking account (Columbia Bank, NJ), youll earn 1.00% APY, which is higher than what most savings and money market accounts are paying these days.

On a national basis, only three savings accounts and three money market accounts pay at least 1.00% APY. TIAA Direct leads the pack, paying 1.25% APY on both savings accounts and MMAs.

If you dont keep at least $10,000 in your Yield Plus Checking account, the rate youll earn is much less impressive, but youll still get that extra $100.

Balances from $1,000 to $9,999 will earn you 0.50% APY. Balances below $1,000 or above $249,999 earn 0.10% APY. Theres no minimum balance requirement to open an account.

The bank also refunds the first six domestic ATM charges per month (or $20) for using other banks ATMs and gives you a free gift of your choice.

You can open a Yield Plus Checking account online, or stop into one of the banks 44 branches located throughout the state. But you must live or work in New Jersey to be eligible for this account. Columbia Bank - Free High Rate Checking ... (This story featured on bankaholic.com)

Deposits Deals

VISA Offers - New BETA passive credit card special offer program for eligible VISA cardholders

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:52:34 -0500

Rating: 18 Posted By: imbatman
Views: 1952 Replies: 20

I got this email this morning from Citi, still trying to figure out all the ins and outs. Seems it could be a service similar to offermatic, mylinkables, or envaulted (RIP). Or it might be more akin to American Express statement credits (i.e. current $10 off $50 at staples when you use your AMEX, etc). You make purchases, and get offers/deals on merchants you regularly use. I can't tell if it's in the form of % CashBack, or coupons, or ?. The TOC does mention some may be fulfilled in the form of statement credits.

I did a FWF search, and couldn't find a mention of this. Though the email came from Citi, it does not appear limited to Citi VISA cards.

https://offers.visa.com/index.jsp

"Discover your own personalized deals
We recently told you about the new Visa Offers program from Visa thats going to change the way you receive deals for the better.

Just sign up and keep using your Citi Visa card. Visa Offers will send you deals from top brands selected for you based on where you like to shop. The offers go right to your mobile phone and email while youre out and about. It's quick and easy to get started and free to sign up.

Enroll your eligible Citi Visa card, use it for your everyday purchases, and let the perfect deals find you."

From the TOC: "Without limitation, Visa Corporate cards, Visa Purchasing cards, as well as all prepaid cards including Visa Buxx, Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Visa cards, EBT Visa cards and other Visa-branded cards whose transactions are not processed through the Visa U.S.A. payment system are not eligible to participate. Also, certain transactions cannot be tracked by Visa Offers including PIN-based purchases, purchases you initiate through identification technology that substitutes for a PIN, payments of existing card balances, balance transfers, cash advances, ATM transactions, convenience checks, payments made for pre-paid and re-loadable cards such as certain gift cards, Visa Buxx and similar cards, payments made for payment instruments that can readily be converted to cash (for example, travelers cheques, money orders, wire transfers, and similar products or services), or transactions that are not processed or submitted through the Visa U.S.A. Inc. payment system."

Here's the FAQ
Anyone else get this email? Anyone signed up yet that can offer more info?

Credit Deals

investing cash in my Roth IRA

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:50:14 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: mysteryAgain
Views: 503 Replies: 7

From a mixture of rollover and new contributions, I have ~$20K cash in my ROTH IRA account. Given current economic conditions I am leery of adding to the following:

50% VTSAX
25% VTIAX
25% VBTLX

I also have $5K invested in BRL (Brazil index), which lost about 20% since I've purchased it over year ago.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Investing Deals

High yield savings... and yes I already did a search

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:43:40 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: tag1979
Views: 579 Replies: 5

I think I need to re-evaluate where I keep my liquid savings because 5% (pre-2008) has become 4%, has become 3%, and is now 2% (today).

I know there about 1,000 of these threads (example: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1187685/) and I have gone to websites such as: bankrate.com and depositaccounts.com, but I feel like I these only post well-known banks - like Ally, ING, etc. that pay around .8%.

Thus, simple question: I am looking for the best bank / credit union for my emergency fund (6 mo. living expenses). It needs to stay liquid, accessible with 14 days, and of course FDIC insured. Has the way this game is played passed me by or do I need to shut-up and love my 2% in today's market?

Investing Deals

Friend's elderly father running out of savings

Wed, 16 May 2012 01:19:01 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: PatrickM213
Views: 1128 Replies: 14

I spoke with a friend tonight about a situation with her father. He is 80 years old and essentially confined to a bed and wheelchair. Needs relatively constant care. Lives in an assisted living situation. He suffered a broken neck years ago but is otherwise in good physical health.

She said he is running out of savings and is trying to find a way to take what is left of his principle and turn the situation around.

He is running a deficit of approximately $4,000 a month right now. About 100k left in savings which are currently invested with a financial adviser of some sort and from what she told me almost entirely invested in stocks(not sure of actual mix).

There is a program through the VA that she is trying to get him to sign up for which should reduce his costs by about $1500/m.

My friend would like to use a portion of his money(with his permission of course) to invest then give his principle back to him using the profits to continue investing and help close some of the deficit. If she got $50k that would leave him with about 1 years worth of savings in the interim.

He wants to invest in tax liens. She was interested in foreclosures.

I had some ideas but I am definitely no expert. My thinking seemed like it might generate income but not necessarily a way to ladder the income up. Like buying a 2-4 family property with cash(definitely possible in this market).

I figured the best way I could help would be posting here

Question Deals

Wine Snobs Get Taken for a Lot of Money

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:10:46 -0500

Rating: 6 Posted By: svr411
Views: 1546 Replies: 15

http://nymag.com/news/features/rudy-kurniawan-wine-fraud-2012-5/

Like most luxury/Veblen goods, the wine world is plagued by thick, opaque layers of spin and marketing.

Is your wallet being slimmed down by expensive wine?

If you're judging a bottle by its price tag, or letting a so-called "expert" (more of a salesman) do your thinking for you, then money is slipping between your fingers.

What does this have to do with a gigantic wine fraud? If experts can't tell the difference between the real, expensive stuff and a "close enough" fake, then chances are that you can't either.

Discussion Deals

Federal employees salary is now public and searchable

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:10:27 -0500

Rating: 28 Posted By: mnsweeps
Views: 4256 Replies: 69

Federal employee search

I searched salaries of people holding similar positions as me and I am miffed... They earn at least 20 % more than me and they have a cushy govt job while I slog day in and day out

General Economics Deals

Credit Reporting question.......

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:13:37 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: ScottieBoysName
Views: 706 Replies: 8

Currently using myfico.com I'm at:

Transunion - 745
Equifax - 747

No clue on Experian.

I'm 30, but what's interesting is using myfico....it appears I have 19 years of credit history. I belive this is due to me being an authorized user on my father's AMEX Gold Charge Card, and it counting the length of time it's been open since 1992.

He pays off the card each month since it's a charge card, but it's sometimes reported with a HUGE balance, since he uses it for business.

I have only 6 years of credit history myself.

Is the AMEX helping me or hurting me? It's giving me longer credit history, correct? However, sometimes it's reported with a $13,000 balance on it. Again, it's clean the next month, but after THAT it's reported with a huge balance the next month.

Does the longer credit history and good payment of the card outweigh the con of it sometimes be reported with a high balance?

Or would I just be better off taking myself off of it and going from 19 years of reported history to 6 years but never having a huge reported balance?

Credit Deals

401k max contribution when you change job?

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:09:44 -0500

Rating: -1 Posted By: sggujju
Views: 791 Replies: 6

For 2012, max contribution limit to 401k is $17,000. What if I already put $5k in by June 2012 and then change job. With the new employer, will I be able to put another $17k in 401k?

Tax Deals

Ground floor investment

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:59:47 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: jordge
Views: 908 Replies: 12

Forgive me if the terminology may not be precise. I am not a sophisticated investor. Also, I am being vague about the product deliberately. Y'all can get in after me.

There is this company that I have bought from in the past year. He makes the one thing, one at a time, and does it very well. It sells for around $10K and like I mentioned, I have one. The more I use it, the more impressed with it I get. From what I've seen, there is nothing like it on the market and it replaces the industry standard devices at three times the money but with a lot more built in safety. I understand that he has financed all of the R&D himself and is probably just now turning the corner to being positive cash flow (on a monthly basis). I can see a possibility where he may sell (or licence) it to a someone with the manufacturing ability to turn these things out a lot faster that one or two a week.

I have asked him when he is going to start looking for investors. He just thanks me for the compliment and says that he has been thinking about it. Here's the question. Let's say that he is looking for investments of $20K (just a guess at this point). What should I be looking at to make sure that I am getting a fair deal? I realize that this is his baby and am just looking to get in on the ground floor. I don't know if it will pan out any time soon, but I did bring it up to him yesterday and want to have some knowledge in my back pocket for when he decides to take investors.

(I'll also take recommendations for a title update.)

Personal Finance Deals

Mom got run over

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:58:02 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: Louise777
Views: 3350 Replies: 42

My mom, 91, on sidewalk got run over by car backing out of driveway and was gravely injured: fractured eye, 4 broken ribs, two breaks in leg and terrible skin abrasions from being dragged under the car, also gash on forehead. Driver was family friend and we do not want to sue because he does not understand suit would not be against him, but against the insurance company. He has been good friend of my moms and I don't want to make him any worse than he already feels about this.

My question is, do I need to report this to the NYS Motor Vehicle Bureau to get no fault coverage or just to the drivers insurance company?

Personal Finance Deals

What should my folks do with their money?

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:54 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: VerbalK
Views: 872 Replies: 7

I've spent the last few years of my life fixating on the minutia of my own finances, now I'm being called upon for some advice for my folks.

Current situation- both mid to late 70s, in relatively okay health given their age. Not exactly sure what their savings look like. I know there is a small pension payment (with survivor benefits), as well as a modest IRA (I'm guessing low six figures, probably close to 200K, though it might be a bit higher or lower), and some other cash savings here and there. Home paid off, no debts, very few expenses (my father would likely have to purchase some supplemental Medicare should he outlive my mother).

They just came into a bit over 100K in an inheritance. I think there is probably another 150-200 in misc cash investments that are probably doing nothing right now. Their financial advisor is selling them some sort of prudential annuity (which I admit I only have a cursory understanding of). Let's assume that this cash is not really necessary for their remaining years, where would be the most productive place to stash the cash with minimal risk (doesn't necessarily have to be FDIC). When analyzing annuity options, where would you start?

Personal Finance Deals

Zecco and Tradeking to merge

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:18:10 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: SUB
Views: 831 Replies: 2

More of a FYI if you didn't check your email already:

https://www.zecco.com/c/zecco-tradeking-merger-questions.aspx

Why have Zecco and TradeKing chosen to merge?

TradeKing and Zecco share many strengths and very similar philosophies and cultures. Both firms have worked hard to deliver on values such as transparency, accountability, and making sure investors get a square deal and have a place where they can feel free to share ideas and opinions on investing.

By joining forces we aim to deliver all of this and more, and continue to challenge the business-as-usual approach of the current major players. Well challenge them by relentlessly pursuing better service, innovative products and superior tools all at our signature low and transparent pricing.

Investing Deals

Sudden Death - How to hand off your financial life to your spouse/SO?

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:34:30 -0500

Rating: 30 Posted By: okwiater
Views: 3558 Replies: 44

My wife and I got married a couple years ago, and I am in charge of the family finances. However, it occurred to me that as our finances become increasingly complex, my wife knows less and less about how it works. I'm sure this is a fairly common situation for the average FWF member, so I thought I'd start a thread to compile strategies for the "sudden death" scenario -- i.e. what happens if you suddenly die and your spouse or SO needs to know anything and everything about the finances.

For starters, the kinds of information I'd like to share are:
1. All accounts and the financial institutions in which they are held
2. Usernames and passwords for account management websites
3. Non-liquid assets and their locations
4. Insurance policies and expected payouts
5. Monthly bills and how to pay them

An additional consideration is that there may be some accounts or information that I don't want revealed unless the unexpected happens (for example, a corporate logon or a password to an individual account that hasn't been pre-shared).

How have you planned for this contingency, and are you confident that your "heir apparent" will be able to pick up the financial reins for you if you kick the bucket?

Personal Finance Deals

Rental Car Damage and AMEX protection

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:22:08 -0500

Rating: 4 Posted By: homerj31
Views: 2187 Replies: 30

I recently rented from Alamo at the FLL airport. I allowed the pushy agent to "upgrade" me to a premium Car on the condition that a certain car I was thinking of buying was available. The lot is in a parking garage behind the counter so he leaves for a while. When he comes back he then yells at a car porter and he says they will have one. So I complete the standard paper work declining gas/damage and he gives me my receipt. So when I finally walk with my Family with cars seats and bags, of course the car I want is not there. I tell the car porter I want to go back and get my original reservation rate and car class. He then tells me I can have any car there. So I take a Mini-van (got at a stolen price) and load up quickly as my 2 year old son need his "car" nap ASAP. The car porter quickly throws my bags in the back and runs away. I am thinking to myself where is the car inspection that I normally always do. So I drive the car to the gate attendant, she takes a copy of my receipt scans a bar code on the windshield. I said that is it? she nods. I leave.

Now I would normally would have been more pushy about the pre-rental inspection, but since I have the extra AMEX car protection plus every airport inspection was just a quick sanity check of major dings I just go on and enjoy my trip.

A week later I show up and the car checker notices a 2 inch "scratch" at the bottom of the rear bumper. Now they are worse dings on the car as it has over 22k miles and a New Jersey plate. So he writes up a ticket and I go to CS for discussion. I told them I was not responsible for it, plus they never got the opportunity to do a vehicle inspection. They said it was my responsibility? I was like WTF? do it on a napkin? I never got the standard paperwork. With two crying kids and A flight to catch, I just grabbed my receipt and left. Pre-rental or post rental, I never signed any paper indicating damages or the absence of damage to the rental car.

Now a week later Alamo is sending me a later for my CC and car insurance information.

What are my best options to resolve this.
(1) Ignore? They probably have my DL #. What can they do to my credit?
(2) Write a certified letter with the above info, tell them to pound sand and release me of the responsibilities.
(3) Call in and talk to them about the issue.
(4) Call AMEX and get them to deal with them.
(5) Sue them in small claims court for lying/pain/suffering/emotional distress.

I am thinking either (1) or (4).
Be gentle to a long time lurker. But funny comments are welcomed.

Thanks
homerj31

Personal Finance Deals

Principal Reduction Programs?

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:56:36 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: ablang
Views: 639 Replies: 2

Has anyone been successful getting one of these? How long does it take and how much did it knock off?

BTW, how does one tell if one's mortgage is not owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac?

I found the answer to one of my questions... http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/tools/does-fannie-or-freddie-own-your-loan/Pages/default.aspx

Real Estate Deals

Help! I freaked about incident and filed a home insurance claim. What should I do?

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:03:58 -0500

Rating: -16 Posted By: Freaked112
Views: 1573 Replies: 18

Long story short, my fiberglass? bathtub cracked when full of water. Not sure why. Water leaked underneath and through kitchen ceiling below. After consulting some people, most told me to file an insurance claim without actually seeing it. When I called in to get advice, I was pigeonholed into filing a claim. I freaked out and did so. My deductible is $500.

After doing due diligence in trying to dry out the ceiling, as of the next day, the damage does not look too bad and am worried now I ruined my claim-free record for nothing. It will need re-painted of course and maybe some spackle. I read that even at this point, it's already on the record -- even if we don't follow through and in this case, it could eventually be worse.

What are my options when the claims adjuster calls? There's still the issue of the bathtub crack which I read can be repaired, but I would feel better w/ a new one. What are the chances of them paying to replace this?

Any advice?

Personal Finance Deals

Dangers of carrying large amounts of cash in/through Tennessee

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:04:16 -0500

Rating: 19 Posted By: Floydian
Views: 5518 Replies: 105

Not that I carry cash in such large amounts, but still an unfortunate situation.

Link to story: http://www.newschannel5.com/story/18241221/man-loses-22000-in-ne...

The tl;dw is a guy had $22k in cash in his car, got pulled over for speeding in TN. Cop asked if he had large amounts of cash, he said yes, cop asked to search his car, he said yes (granted, he made a mistake here). They took his $22k, even though he stated it was for open bids for cars on eBay. Took 4 months and an appeal to get his Cash Back (including another visit to TN). Also, the guy had a previous (20 years previous) cocaine possession charge (no conviction).

Various details missing from the story, but I know some forum members have asked questions about carrying large amounts of cash previously. Here's another reason not to?

1. Are there other states like this with odd ball civil forfeiture?
2. Other things to be aware of (other than the basics about knowing your rights regarding saying "no" to searching your car)?
3. Or is this some edge case that doesn't happen often?

Previously on FWF:
Carrying $70K cash on flight. Seeking advice
how much cash can you carry on a domestic flight without declaring?

Personal Finance Deals

Deducting products resold at no charge

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:55:36 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: cfCLT03
Views: 1261 Replies: 15

Hello all! I have launched my first business this year, which will soon be my sole source of income. I am taking this year to learn everything I can about tax law and cost-saving measures for small businesses and the self-employed.

In my business, I have a couple of customers that I provide my services to free of charge for varying reasons. I recently learned that time spent on these customers cannot be reported as a loss, but what about products that I purchase for them that I provide to them at no charge? One of these customers is my best friend who is struggling financially. The products that I pay for that she needs are not resold to her. How should these purchases be reported, if at all?

Thanks in advance!

Personal Finance Deals

Name change on title of mortgaged property

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:41:14 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: baki
Views: 831 Replies: 9

I officially changed my name and have the court order. I requested my home mortgage lender to change my name in mortgage. However, I received a letter asking for a copy of recorded deed reflecting Name change on title of mortgaged property. I understand I need the assistance of local title insurance company. Should I pick anyone or choose the title company that I used during my home purchase?

Any idea how much would it cost in Dallas/TX?

Personal Finance Deals

Replacement term life ins. (20 year to 30 year)

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:09:57 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: onedollarinmywallet
Views: 1120 Replies: 34

I currently have a 20 year fixed term life (West Coast Life/Protective, $1M - preferred rate, 2+ years now) where the premium is about $882/year and I'm considering replacing it with a 30 year fixed term life (I'm in my early 40's, married w/2 small kids).

Running through the scenario from sites such term4sale, selectquote, intelliquote, etc., the results were fairly uniform if not comparable or identical, for the same companies that were represented. I also checked with a local agent that was referred by a family friend and she (the agent) came back with the following:

30 Year Fixed Term Life, $1M coverage - Preferred rating, non-smoker, no health issues

Banner Life - $1,415.00/yr
Protective Life - $1,463.60/yr
Prudential - $1,505.00/yr
ReliaStar (ING) - $1,618.00/yr
MetLife - $1,739.00/yr

[Note: The numbers above from the agent matched the online quotes]

One particular quote that I did see online was from Hartford (about $13xx/year) but according to the agent, she does not recommend Hartford claiming that the company is in financial difficulties and is either in the process (or has) filed for bankruptcy. I couldn't find any news on my searches about this, so I'm doubtful about her source/validity of that information.

The agent is recommending Prudential because of the strength of the company/financials, and my wife recently just got coverage from Prudential. That said, should I apply for a 30 year term life coverage also from Prudential (do ins. companies offer multi-policy discounts?) or better to just pick the lowest price (Banner, in this case)?

Any thoughts about Banner?

Thanks!

Personal Finance Deals

Need cheap monthly cc charge to keep account 'active/open.'

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:29:42 -0500

Rating: -4 Posted By: kachina
Views: 1004 Replies: 18

Have high interest rate cc I want to keep for its high limit. Left dormant it may be closed by issuer, Chase. If I set up a cheap automatic monthly charge and pay off before due date I'll be in good shape with creditor and credit bureaus. Any suggestions for automatic charge?

Credit Deals

AMEX Frustration........

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:36:19 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: ScottieBoysName
Views: 912 Replies: 1

I'm a little curious what someone has to do to get AMEX to consolidate two different cards, and their lines of credit.

FICO of about 780, no blemishes on my credit report. At all.

I have a Chase Freedom card, and a Chase Slate card. I called Chase to consolidate those, the did it without a hitch. Bing, Bang, Boom.

I have a Starwood AMEX, and a AMEX Blue Miles card. I called up AMEX since I've almost NEVER used the Blue Miles card, to get the line pushed over to my Starwood.

No dice. The decision was a result of "payment in comparison to balance and payment history".

THAT is what gets me. I've never been late, and either carry a balance or pay in full.

I've run $125,000 through the card over the past three years, and run ALL of my expenses through it. I either pay in full, or carry a small balance on it.

Chase did this with the EXACT same amounts, no problem.

So...what's it take? I don't even want a CLI, I just want an amount moved. I don't understand why I'm being given such a hard time about it.

I've got a manager from the credit department supposedly calling me back about it. I won't hold my breath.

Personal Finance Deals

What Electric utility should I choose in Pennsylvania?

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:02:25 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: ILovePittsburgh
Views: 897 Replies: 11

OK, I basically have two choicesin Pittsburgh, from the three main suppliers of electricity. All three are good companies, not the fly by night scam outfits that I keep hearing about in horror stories about switching utility companies.

First off, I am already a customer of Duquesne Light. They are the deafult power supplier if you live in Pittsburgh. I have my choice of two large competitors (after ruling out all the small companies I have never heard of...)

First is Dominion Electric. Basically, this company offers 30% off what Duquense elctric charges, guranteed, until Dec 2013. That is 30% off, whther Duquesnes price goes up or down. So, if the price of Duquesne's elctric goes way up, so will Dominion's, but it will still be 30% cheaper. And if the price goes down, again, 30% cheaper.

Second is First Energy. They are just doing a flat rate gurantee until Dec. 2013. Which is about 27% cheaper than Duequesne's price.

Now, if electric gets more expensive, the best plan to have would be the fixed price. And if the price of electric generation goes down, Dominion would be the plan to go with.

Looking forward, most electric generated is from Coal and natural gas, and there is a lot of natural gas around here due to Marcellus shale. So you would think electric would start getting really cheap. However, I have been reading that a lot of companies that were drilling Marcellus shale like crazy, are cutting way back, because they are shooting themselves in the foot by making it too cheap. So, maybe electric will go way up...

So, is electric going to go up or down in the next two years?

Personal Finance Deals

Can i trade in my car?

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:56:03 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: jaganpro
Views: 1779 Replies: 37

I have a Hyundai Sonata SE 2.4 , 2011 . I bought this car around June 2011 around 26k . It was financed by Hyundai Motor Finance @ rate of 6.6 % .
It was high and i refinanced it to PENFED for 2.49% .

I have 19,300$ left in car loans now.

Now, i know that i would be loosing a lot of value if i trade-in/sell my car in the first 2 years . How can i minimize this impact ? I would like to trade in for a used-BMW 3 series around 15k budget.

Regarding my financial standing,i have no credit card debt, just started my rainy day savings. Have 5k in 401k .
I am fresh out of my grad school , graduated in 2011 , started working for a good IT company .

Any suggestions?

Personal Finance Deals

Student Loan for International Students

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:35:17 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: carefreeninja
Views: 826 Replies: 9

One of my relatives is moving to the US for Masters education. While we're trying to figure out the student loan in home country, I'd like to know if there are any private student loan options in the US.
There are at least 3 of us (with good to excellent credit history) who can cosign the loan but none of us are permanent residents. I did check some lenders like Salie Mae but all of them need permanent resident cosigners.

Personal Finance Deals

Valley National Bank - $150 for new checking account

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:28:41 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: qwertyaas
Views: 1141 Replies: 9

Just saw this while looking for bank bonuses. $75 for using online bank app, and $75 for either completing 3 bill pays or 3 direct deposits. As for pulls, I have no idea if it is hard or soft as I'm debating opening now (trying to ask their CS what type of pull). Since overdraft protection isn't included, I'm guessing soft.

$150 CHECKING PROMOTION
More Info & Help
Open a Valley checking account and say hello to easy money!

$75 Mobile Banking Reward

$75 Direct Deposit or Online Bill Payment

FREE online banking, eStatements, mobile & text banking, debit card and banking by phone.

To qualify for $150 Checking Promotion, open a qualifying checking account with a minimum deposit of $100 and receive $75 cash reward when you sign up for Mobile Banking and $75 when you initiate a monthly direct deposit such as a payroll, pension, Social Security or other government benefits or by enrolling in online banking and completing three merchant bill payments. The required mobile banking, first direct deposit and bill pay transactions must be completed within the first 60 days of account opening to qualify. Cash rewards will be credited within 90 days of account opening and may be reportable as taxable income. Cash rewards offered to new checking customers only. Products limited to one per consumer, two per household. Funds deposited must be new money from another financial institution. See a representative for qualifying checking accounts, complete terms and conditions.

https://www.valleynationalbank.com/Personal/Checking.aspx?p=New1...

Deposits Deals

Free Remote Deposit for Small Business

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:26:15 -0500

Rating: -6 Posted By: vbprof
Views: 630 Replies: 0

I was looking for free remote deposit for my small business for a long time. Please check this out. It is great.

http://www.smallbusinessbank.com

They are affiliated with Gardner Bank in KS, but you can have an out of state business. I have my business in CA. The only downside is that they do not offer payroll service yet. Maybe they will in the future.

Deposits Deals

Are some numbers better than others when bidding for real estate?

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:10:23 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: lazyace
Views: 979 Replies: 8

Bidding on a condo and vaguely remember something about bidding odd numbers or non-round numbers. Did a search, but could not find anything relevant to real estate. Does anyone know of any research on this? Personal experience would be great too.

Real Estate Deals

AMEX - May 1 to June 30 - 5X Points on Select Retailers

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:03:27 -0500

Rating: 7 Posted By: telstar
Views: 2775 Replies: 7

From May 1 to June 30 American Express is offering 5X points from select retailers. Great time to use your AMEX if you're planning a purchase from any of the below retailers.

Apple
HP
HomeDepot
J&R
Kohls
Lands' End
Omaha Steaks
Saks Fifth Avenue
Tiger Direct

link

Deal Deals

Should I save my money or pay off my loan?

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:40:09 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: chasewoodland
Views: 2366 Replies: 33

I am writing this forum post in hopes of getting help with my financial question.
I am a recent graduate of dental school (30 years old) and have a total student loan debt of about $120,000.00 (US) at a fixed interest rate of 3.7% and have about 28 more years left to pay off the loan. I am making my monthly payments (about half of that is interest and half is principal at the moment, though as payments continue, there will be less interest needing to be paid).
As for my question: While I make money, should I look to put it away in a savings account, low risk mutual fund or stock, in a tax-free Bond or CD, etc? Or should I forget about saving money and focus 100% of my money to paying off more and more of the principal of my student loan?

Any financial information you could offer me would be a great help -- thank you in advance for anything you can offer!!

I am working now (self employed) as a dentist. I have just started working so my income isn't clear as of yet. I am assuming to earn about $30,000 over these next 6+ months of the 2012 year (before taxes and before any write-offs, but after business expenses). I have a car payment (buying my car) at an interest rate of 2.49% fixed and that is my only other loan outside of the student loan. My monthy expenses (apartment rent, utilities, student loans, gas, food, etc) are about $3,750 and if I earn $30,000 in 6 months, that would be about $5,000 per month. Savings account and stocks/bonds/etc total about $35,000 (most of that, nearly 85%, is actual cash in my bank account) -- I have put nothing into my retirement yet as I am just starting work on my own this year and have been in school until now with only small jobs before this one. My credit score, when I last checked in February is 803.

Question Deals

Is there a college loan bubble, and if there is, what will pop it?

Mon, 14 May 2012 02:33:34 -0500

Rating: 4 Posted By: STEALfromCAGgive2FW
Views: 4675 Replies: 189

Similar thread on housing

Similar thread on precious metals

As any college student knows, getting a student loan is fairly easy. Just as getting loans for housing was easy back in the heyday of the housing bubble. Will the path of college loans be similar to the path of housing loans?

Discussion Deals

Start-up Financing Thoughts and Learnings

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:30:24 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: seattlesalaries
Views: 802 Replies: 0

This is an update from my previous threads (here and here) on the topic.

Hey FWF,

I know I promised an update a while back but we're still in the midst of closing our seed stage funding. One lesson I learned is that it always takes longer than you'd expect . I promise another update when we're done. It's been a huge learning experience thus far. In the meantime I figured I pass along a couple of interesting reports that have been circulating amongst other startup founders here in the Valley.

Fenwick and WSGR are both highly regarded law firms in the Valley and handle a ton of funding deal flow. Periodically, they'll publish reports on funding information they see from working with their clients.

Here are a few things I've personally noted during our current round of funding.

Angel investors are much more open to using convertible notes than VCs are. Typically, VCs prefer straight equity as they're able to assign a valuation to the company. Convertible notes are debt instruments and don't assign any valuation to the company although it's implied in the cap (see optional equity conversion). Convertible notes are generally considered more entrepreneur friendly.
Angels are offering much better terms than VCs. For the same amount of money the VCs generally want more in terms of board seats and amount of equity.
Based on the above two points, VCs are getting priced out of these early-stage deals by angels. This has forced VCs to move down-market into the seed stages in order to get deal flow for the later stages (series A and beyond). You're seeing tons of traditional VCs open seed funds just to get that deal flow.
What this means that tons of folks are dumping in relatively small amounts (<$1MM) into lots of very early stage companies (a.k.a shotgunning). What this DOES mean is that you'll have a ton of companies needing to raise a series A in the next 18-24 months. Only a small fraction of those companies will be able to successfully raise a series A and a bunch will probably just fold. That's my guess anyways.

There are other folks on FWF with a lot more experience in this space than me. I'd love to hear their thoughts around it too.

Discussion Deals

Question about 1099 vs W2 for elder care at home

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:20:19 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: abugarcias
Views: 692 Replies: 3

I am taking care of my grandmother's finances as she is 96 and cannot see to pay her bills or write checks. She has a lady that comes in to help frequently with bathing, errands, household chores, etc...

Before I got involved with things, the lady was paying all of her bills and actually signing as her name on all checks, and would occasionally write checks to herself to cash and get paid. Nothing was reported, everything was "under the table". It was getting to be too much for this lady to help pay the bills and manage finances hence why I stepped in.

I've looked at the requirements for independent contractor vs household employee. Most sites say elder care is W2 as a household employee however there are unique situations such as:

1) the lady that comes in to help comes and goes as she pleases. My grandmother nor I tell her when to come. She will stop in about every other day to help with things, if things need to be done.
2) She also does this for another elderly lady, mostly staying with her at night, so she will check on my grandmother on her way there and back in the evenings and mornings.
3) when deciding on hourly rate she told us what it has traditionally been for her (i.e. set her own price). We had no say in the hourly rate.

According to the IRS regulations it would seem that she is indeed a contractor and can be issued a 1099.

Thoughts and interpretations of IRS 926 on this matter? From what I see since she comes and goes as she pleases and offers services to another lady, she is a contractor.

I am planning on consulting a CPA but wanted to see the general consensus here in the mean time.

Thanks.

Question Deals

Threatening letter from frys * what is the best thing to do?

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:14:29 -0500

Rating: 13 Posted By: rarmortn
Views: 8216 Replies: 81

Not sure if this is the right forum to post...

Bought a laptop from frys.com back in Sept'2011. Laptop was shipped by frys thru' FedEx Smart Post (they are usually delivered at the door by USPS). I refused delivery of the package because item arrived after more than 10 days of ordering and I had already picked up something from BestBuy meanwhile. Tracking clearly shows "Delivery Exception: Delivery refused by recipient" and then that is the last tracking info available from FedEx web site. Usually it shows all the way until item is delivered back to the shipper address but not in this case. somewhere something lost in between (not sure at FedEx end or USPS end). Frys wasn't responding to my calls on refund positively, they kept saying their team is investigating my claim. After 50 days, I finally had AMEX chargeback them. AMEX resolved it in my favor after few weeks of waiting because frys couldn't prove the package was delivered to me. Now after all these months, I received a certified mail envelope from frys Risks department that I owe them the purchase amount + penalties within 10 days or else will refer me to collections or something like that...

How do I resolve this? I clearly refused delivery and I don't mind paying back the shipping fee (that frys lost becos of me) back and forth. I have print-outs of everything to prove it wasn't delivered and I had refused the shipment. Should I call their risks department OR send them copies of everything thru' fax/certified mail? What is the best way to get this resolved? Thanks for all your help in advance.

Question Deals

How to Buy a House wthout a Realtor?

Sun, 13 May 2012 10:30:01 -0500

Rating: 10 Posted By: dipasquale14
Views: 4411 Replies: 85

Did a quick search and did not see any posts on the topic of buying a house without using a realtor. If there is one please direct me to the forum, if not looking for some advice. We sold our house a year ago and are currently renting. We will be looking to buy a house in south Florida in the next 6-12 months, no urgency. I realize that the seller pays the buyers realtor commission almost always, so the common answer I get is "use a realtor you are not paying for it". To which I say I am paying for it, the seller knows they have to pay typically 6% to realtor fees on the sale of their home and price accordingly (I know I did, although my realtor only charged us 1.5% so it was 4.5%). My theory is, if I don't use a realtor will I be able to save that 3%? On a $300,000 house that is $9000, a significant amount of money. I assume the downfalls of no realtor is the process would take longer, as could not drive around looking at houses and going into look at them. We would have to wait for the sellers agent to let us in. We would pay for the home inspection anyway so not losing that value by not using realtor. As far a doing comps, which is what realtors often site as their area of expertise, I am confident I could do a comparable job of finding comps and asking a fair price. Although in this market especially in south florida there are so many house available I plan on trying to offer a low ball offer on many houses and see who bites? Also on a somewhat wider topic, if buying a foreclosure or short sale from the bank with a buyers agent who pays their 3%? I assume the bak wont pay it does the buyer then pay that amount? Thnaks to all who read I know this long-winded but looking for some real wolrd answers or theoretical either way. IS there a benefit to a realtor and if so is is worth $9000? Has anyone bought without a realtor how did it go?

General Economics Deals

BofA offers to upgrade my WorldPoints card to Cash Rewards - should I?

Sat, 12 May 2012 20:23:51 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: cpaynter
Views: 1038 Replies: 7

I have a couple of old WorldPoints cards. I pretty much only use them for the occasional special offers. Currently one is giving me 5X points on gas/grocery/drug/restaurant. For one quarter last year, both gave me 5X points on everything. Both are slowly building up to a decent redemption value.

On one of the WorldPoints cards, they're offering me "the opportunity to upgrade your existing Bank of America credit card to the BankAmericard CashRewards Visa Signature credit--with no annual fee." It appears to be the same program as my former Schwab card (except without the FTF waiver). So this card doesn't do anything special for me (I already get at least 4% on gas and 2% on grocery otherwise, usually more). But it does immediately convert the 3,158 in points to $31.58 cash. This all seems like a plus. The only downside might be the loss of those future 5X promos, but I suppose I could still get quarterly offers on the CashRewards card too, as I did Q1 on the ex-Schwab card with a 3% statement credit on gas/grocery/drug/restaurant.

Am I missing anything here? Any reason not to take the bait?

Oh, yeah, also thinking about taking advantage of the current $100 bonus to open a BofA checking account. That way I can get a 10% bonus on cashing in the $31.58 in rewards.

Chris.

Discussion Deals

IRS CP12 returning "Refund + something", please advice on course of action

Sat, 12 May 2012 20:15:51 -0500

Rating: -6 Posted By: rahulrs
Views: 1165 Replies: 9

I received a CP12 from the IRS stating that I had made a mistake when calculating my taxes. I had claimed a refund of 'x' dollars and now I am getting back 'x+y' dollars. I am expected to get more than I expected.

What do you advice is the course of action in this matter. Do I need to call them and ask/say anything or just wait for the check to arrive ?

Thank you for your opinions. And please be serious with your responses.

RRS

Tax Deals

Wrongful termination and apartment by employer - help

Sat, 12 May 2012 13:50:33 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: GeekyOne
Views: 2482 Replies: 39

One of my friends (Beth) was just terminated from her employer under very suspicious grounds. The employer in question offers as part of the job compensation a free apartment for their employees to live in - after Beth was termed they gave her one week to vacate or she has to pay 40.00 a day until she can vacate. There are a few problems with this situation as the reason for termination is very shady and she was made to sign a lease for her apartment which states is good through June 1st of this year.

Facts of the termination (this is going to be long - sorry but it has to be to get a clear understanding of what happened):

Beth had a stellar work record all last year and was given a raise after being employed for only 6 months with this company - this was never done on any site before - the problems began last August after her direct supervisor left the company. Beth was accused of falling asleep at her desk in her office (there are cameras everywhere so if this had happened the cameras would catch it) by the director (Jane) - who she now had to answer to. Beth noticed that Jane had a write up already filled out for this infraction. Beth inquired who was accusing her to which Jane replied "just someone who I trust". Beth then demanded to see the evidence via the camera footage from that day. Jane then admitted she hadn't checked the footage and upon review - Beth had been falsely accused.

One month later Jane hired a new assistant director (Mary) who is now Beths direct supervisor. After one week of Mary being on the job she had threatened Beths job by telling her that they didn'nt need her there. Mary also started harassing Beth over the clothing she wore to work stating Beth wasn't in dress code. Beth hadn't changed her style of dress and kept it within buisness policy. There also hadn't been any issues with the way Beth dressed the year prior. Suddenly all of Beths work performance was also under scrutiny and nothing she did was ever correct even though she had been commended on her performance the year prior and nothing had changed within the buisness to warrent a new style of doing things. Mary went as far as telling Beth that Beth needed to take a job in daycare because she clearly couldn't handle the work she was hired to do. I had been on a call with Beth once when Mary came in and confronted Beth about some paperwork. The tone Mary used to speak to Beth was like an angry parent chastising a 3 year old for drawing on the wall with markers - extremely unprofessional and HOSTILE.

These types of confrontations continued to happen up until right after Xmas when Beth returned from vacation and was confronted by both Mary and Jane who accused Beth of taking 3 unapproved days off of work therby resulting in 3 no call no shows - which is grounds for termination. Beth knew she had submitted the paperwork, gotten approval (which had to go through Jane as well as the head office) so she checked her email - showed them both the confirmation and then had to spend half her day going through Janes paperwork to find the original paper that Jane had signed off on for approval.

After that incident Beth finally called her HR rep (the HR rep is in a diff state as this is a country wide company) Beth didn't have to get through half of her story before Janes boss Kathy got involved. Kathy flew up the next day to confront both Mary and Jane who both denied any of the accusations. Beth stood firmly by her story and had witness' to some of the harrassment. Kathy seemingly smoothed everything over and Beth thought she was in the clear. Neither Mary or Jane were attacking her as the had been doing and Beth did her job. Flash forward to this last Tuesday and Beth is now terminated - supposedly on the grounds of a key being lost back in February by someone other than Beth. Beth ordered the lock change as per proceedure and sent the charge approval to Mary so she could bill the person who lost the key. Beth knows she called this person several times from the company phone - so even if Mary "lost" the paperwork there would still be phone records as well as the personal letter she had to send to the person who lost the keys. Mind you anytime there was a paper work issue it was always caught inside a week - why this one issue suddenly took this long is suspicious enough.

There are many other instances of hostility Beth endured by both Mary and Jane but I just wanted to give as short an overview as I could. Beth was a very happy go lucky type of person who got along with everyone and always had a smile and kind words to say about everyone before this happened. She is now on anti-depressents and was in therapy (no insurance coverage anymore) I say she's got grounds for wrongful termination and she shouldn't have to vacate her apartment until the lease date of June 1st.

Anyone out there know if just based on this information that Beth should contact a lawyer? Any lawyers in the FWF that can offer advice?

Discussion Deals

THC Loan Gone Bad!

Sat, 12 May 2012 13:36:49 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: redsox9547
Views: 2015 Replies: 10

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/500000-medical-marijuana-lawsuit-smoke/story?id=16322793

Discussion Deals

Priority Club Visa (Chase) 80,000 bonus points after 1st use, no annual fee 1st year, YMMV

Sat, 12 May 2012 10:27:54 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: papamicd
Views: 3416 Replies: 14

Go to priorityclub.com/visa

Enter your priority club number and pin

Watch the advertisement video and see if you get the 80,000 point offer or a lesser one. Both my and my spouse's numbers lead to the 80,000 offer.

Previous similar offer can be found here.

Deal Deals

FW CA Lawyers: Question about suing the city for wrongful towing and damage to vehicle

Sat, 12 May 2012 04:07:09 -0500

Rating: -3 Posted By: sfchris
Views: 1398 Replies: 19

In San Francisco we have a cop corruption problem. It can be mitigated by informing our board of supervisors who then put the heat on the police department, but I thought I would ask you about lawsuits.

Two issues:

1) My windshield was broken during a tow by an incompetant tower who by this point was unfamiliar with "The Club" and the damage it can do if the steering wheel is not restrained. The tower got a corrupt cop to sign off that the windshield was damaged prior to the tow.

2) Cops are required to allow 72 hours after placing notice that a street is being cleared before towing. The pigs here often place the signs 12 hours before towing.

What is the best response I can do to make them stop doing #1 and #2? I will sue whoever is required.

Cheers.

Question Deals

case of the valet parking attendant banging a car and not telling

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:52:57 -0500

Rating: -3 Posted By: germanpope
Views: 2517 Replies: 47

This question is about whether your auto insurance will provide you with an attorney when your car was involved in a hit-and-run

here is the scenario:

You have reason to believe that a valet attendant bangs a car and does a hit and run with your car. Your relative was driving with others who can attest to being there when the car was left for the valet --- all cash no records/ just witnesses

a couple months later you are contacted by the police --- your relative makes a statement that the car was left with the valet and she didn't do it

the relative has car insurance and you have car insurance

under most policies, are you and the relative entitled to a lawyer paid from the policy?

Question Deals

AMEX Business Platinum 110K MR First Points for 10k Spend (May Be Targeted); 20% MR discount for PWP Travel

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:13:14 -0500

Rating: 5 Posted By: qwerty12345otron
Views: 2242 Replies: 16

I know there have been some targeted offers for 100k signup bonuses for the personal and business Platinum cards recently here, but I want to share this as I do not see an RSVP code and some people have reported success in the past getting 50k points added to a 50k signup bonus here.

The offer terms:
- $450 AF (not waived first year)
- Application must be APPROVED by 9 June 2012
- $10k spend by 7 September 2012
- Must be enrolled in MR First before eligible spend begins
- Business Platinum card

This offer also includes 20% rebate of MR points when you use Pay with Points (Bonus ID: 4880)

Bonus ID for the 100K bonus: A2HK

Again, I don't see an RSVP code in the brochure, but YMMV. I list this in the event it is not targeted or others can benefit.

Credit Deals

Large amount of damage done to house that I am renting

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:25:01 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: chris7013
Views: 2494 Replies: 39

Ok, so I've been living in a house and my lease is about to end; however, serious damage has been done to the house. I live with 4 other people and we all have signed separate leases. All of the damage has been done by the other tenants as most of the damage has been done to the carpets in their rooms and to their doors.

This is an approximation of the damage done to the house:
Broken door frame, broken door, human size hole in dry wall, several burnt spots on the carpet, and a broken window (very small basement window).

So basically I am wondering if there is a possibility of being sued for the damages even though I personally didn't do ANY of the damages to the house?

Personal Finance Deals

Mortgage Retention Offers?

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:53:04 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: jw530
Views: 1129 Replies: 2

I just wanted to pass this on and don't remember seeing retentions as it pertains to 1st mortgages, but this might help someone cut refinance costs without a lot of hassles. I am with US Bank and probably kept a higher rate 30 year loan for a little too long. I was interested in the 1.99% APR 5 yr loan from Pen Fed and requested a pay down statement from US Bank. I even called US Bank and asked about other loans they offered. I got some luke warm refinance options that required closing costs. Low and behold one week later another representative from US Bank called and offered a 3.25% 5 year loan, 3.5% 10 year loan, 3.99% 15 year loan, and a 4.25% 20 year loan - all these are no cost no fee primary mortgage loans. She said she was in a department separate from the department I called originally. I believe she was in a retentions department and the call was triggered by the request for pay off amount from US Bank. So I thought that retentions only worked for credit card, phone, and cable TV companies, also works for mortgages? I will probably go with the Pen Fed offering, but I was surprised how competitive US Bank's retention loans were. I should have done this years ago and every so often could have saved a lot over the years - even with the same bank.

On a separate note, does a primary mortgage have advantages over a home equity loan to finance a home in CA? For instance, I heard that the primary mortgage offers more protection in bankuptcy filings than equity loans? Is it worth the extra interest for the "protection" this provides?

Real Estate Deals

Any one stop solution company for apartment or Real Estate investment?

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:59:49 -0500

Rating: -4 Posted By: diamente
Views: 991 Replies: 11

I came across this website and talked to the owner lady. She's even on my facebook and I thought we had a good relationship but she terminated our relationship so I am looking for other companies that is similar to 360investment.net The reason she terminated my relationship is because she felt I couldn't be dedicated and committed because I am working full time. She said I needed to make phone calls and deal with properties on the normal business hours. I said that is not a problem but I haven't heard from her since. She told me to google for other companies like this one. I did but I have not found any one as good as this.

Here's a youtube promo reel youtube video

This company is like a one stop solution and it's excellent for newbies to real estate investment. You start by viewing videos and reading websites to get trained. Once you are done, you get prescreened deals to add to your shopping chart. They provide list of contacts such as rehabbers, property managers, etc. You can even rate view and rate the experience you have with them. I feel this is perfect for out of state investment because you don't know any contact. This company provides you the contact for you to start.

Is there any other company similar to this one?

Thanks,

Real Estate Deals

Guidelines for inter-state move

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:38:46 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: balor124
Views: 2117 Replies: 34

Will be moving half way across the country (MA to TX) in a few months and am planning on using a full service mover for it. Thus far I've gotten quotes to move everything just for an estimate, the best of which came out around $7k using a national mover. What I'm wondering is, what makes sense to move?

* One mover told me the 32" flat screen TVs will cost about $100 to ship so I'm better off selling it here and getting new ones there (they're old anyway).
* My couch is nice but about 10 years old and heavy so probably also better to sell and buy a new one. Still, it would be nice to quantify it.
* What of a queen size mattress and box spring? Sell or ship?
* I figure cheap bookcases should be sold or given away.
* I've got a nice but cheap ($100) glass corner desk - sell or ship?
* I figure I should take baby things like the crib, bassinet, glider, changing table, playpen, etc to save hassle in rebuilding them if nothing else
* What about night stands and similar tables? All cost $100 or under.
* Cars are each about 10 years old and we need a minivan now anyway so I figure sell both.

Keep in mind that for some items to include the cost of packing, disassembling, reassembling, and insurance. Thanks for the help!

Personal Finance Deals

Business Idea Good or Bad?

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:56:50 -0500

Rating: -14 Posted By: mab631
Views: 1677 Replies: 21

Hey guys this might belong here if not please mods move it to the correct thread! I was thinking of starting a business where I become your shopper. Example I live in the US things are cheaper here than other countries, I buy the product here (US) and I ship to you. Pay via paypal your protected, im protected everyone wins! Same would go if someone wanted me to buy foreign and ship to them in the US I doubt that would make any sense but I wouldn't turn down any business. Let me know what you guys think.

Discussion Deals

Moving Cash Into Bank Account

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:47:59 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: trep
Views: 1594 Replies: 18

A little background first-

I had some potential problems a few years back with some gambling marker debts which have been resolved. Due to those debts though, I had pulled out the majority of my liquid bank assets into cash. This wasn't done in one large batch over a small period of time (i.e. cashing paychecks instead of depositing).

Fast forward to now - I have been running a small business and actually need to invest some of my personal assets to the company as a shareholder loan for as we need capitol for operations/products. So I need to move my cash funds (50k-100k) -> Business checking account. I know that any deposit over 10k (even if it staggered) results in a CTR. Though I am not evading paying taxes what I've been told is to stay low on the radar as even if you'll pass the audit, it's still a large hassle and will result in future scrutiny.

Any suggestions on accomplishing the above goal?

Personal Finance Deals

CHASE posts a 2 BILLION DOLLAR trading loss, there is a g-d!

Thu, 10 May 2012 19:32:13 -0500

Rating: -23 Posted By: blackie7955
Views: 4044 Replies: 82

I am not usually one to get any pleasure from someone elses misfortune, but this is a rare exception. Maybe they should focus their resources on managing their rediculous risk and spend a little less time and energy closing the credit card accounts of paying customers with perfect credit. CHASE I have one word for you.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Discussion Deals

Feasibility of Quick Money With High Leverage?

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:43:06 -0500

Rating: -1 Posted By: motoxxx
Views: 1356 Replies: 24

For you day traders -

I am just curious how feasible it is to take a principle of say $100k and make investments into rather low volatility but high volume stocks and cash out at a $0.01 increase in PPS.

Inherently, of course it is risky. But how hard is it to capitalize on a .01 gain on one specific stock?

Investing Deals

Is PayPal a good way to shield my HSBC credit card number online?

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:35:58 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Endeavorer
Views: 1541 Replies: 16

My only 2% credit card is an Orchard Mastercard (HSBC). So far I have not needed to dispute any charges on the card, and I am hoping that I won't. FW posts in other threads have described difficulty dealing with HSBC for disputes.

I use this card to pay utilities online and for in-person shopping at stores in my town (unless another one of my credit cards would give me at least 2% for the purchase category).

I also use this card occasionally to purchase books, clothing, office supplies, etc. on unfamiliar web sites IF the site allows payment with PayPal. I have this credit card set as my default payment method on PayPal. If a site does not allow payment with PayPal, then I use a virtual account number from Citi or BoA or Discover (rather than exposing my HSBC credit card number). Virtual account numbers are not available for my HSBC credit card.

Using my HSBC credit card via PayPal I get 2% CashBack. My Citi ThankYou Mastercard gives 1.1% CashBack on anything and offers virtual credit card numbers.

Am I feeling a false sense of security by using PayPal to shield my 2% HSBC card? I think this does protect the credit card number. But if I would ever need to dispute a charge, then I would have to deal with two layers: PayPal and HSBC. I'm not sure how bad this would be.

Am I setting myself up for a really bad situation if I ever need to dispute something with the two layers (PayPal and HSBC)? Would it be better to just use a virtual credit card number even if the site accepts payment via PayPal? I would lose only 0.9% CashBack that way. If the site also accepts Amazon payments, would that be a better way (than PayPal) to shield my HSBC credit card number?

Thanks in advance for advice on this.

Discussion Deals

Screwed over by used car dealer posing as a private seller on craigslist.

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:42:27 -0500

Rating: 28 Posted By: Al3xK
Views: 9232 Replies: 66

I know 75% of what to do in order to recover money from this, but I'm always up for suggestions. Hopefully somebody with dealer issues can use this as a reference.

What happened in Arizona:
I found a post for a truck on craigslist from a private seller. Met the guy at a parking lot near both of us and test drove truck, inspected, and agreed to pay $4500. Title is in a woman's name, with a few dealer transfers, then ends in an individual, so looks ok.

I insist on a Bill of Sale, and he agrees, and he also wants a copy, and signs, but I forgot to print multiple copies, so I tell him I'll email him a copy when I scan it and get home. I had agreed to drop him off at his house but then he has me drop him off at a corner and walk home...this is where I knew something was wasn't on the up-and-up. He pesters me for a copy of the bill of sale, but I go defensive and ignore him until I make sure I can get it titled correctly.

I get to DMV and they pitch a fit and won't title it because it's registered to a dealership. I give up trying to get them to push it through and instead go to a 3rd party title place and talk them into it. They look up the dealership info, make the paperwork and make me pay something like 8.5% (let's just say $380). He signed as an individual, but they found his dealer #.

I call the guy back (he used GV), email, text, he disappears...great, I'm screwed for $380. I also later get a "use tax" audit and have to pay an extra $70. So around $450 total.

I managed to look up his dealer # that the 3rd party title was able to find, find his "place of business" which is in Oregon, and his mailing address is in AZ (near where I dropped him off on a corner).

What I've done so far:
Contacted Oregon's dealer complaint department to let them know he is representing himself as an individual and he lives in AZ. They're sending an investigator over to his lot. They've also gave me his surety bond # and company it is with if I want to make a claim against it.

I've contacted the Oregon department of justice and am opening a formal complaint that he is representing himself as an individual.

Contacted Arizona DOT dealer investigations and told them he is acting/selling as an unlicensed dealership in AZ. He can effectively sell cars at 0% sales tax if he fills Oregon paperwork out (and evade AZ tax) or he can do nothing and screw me over on AZ taxes that I didn't expect to pay. They were VERY happy to go after him because I have scanned documents, dealer name/address, home address, contact name, etc. to build a good case.

He has ZERO paperwork signed by me. As a dealer, he's required to have all sorts of paperwork. He has no bill of sale. I don't think he even knows my full name because he expected me to send a bill of sale.

Question:
The surety bond company said I just submit a claim via email/fax/paper with a description of what happened and what I'm requesting...very informal. His bond is for $40k.

Does anybody have any experience making a claim against a surety bond?

I'm wondering if I should try and sue him in AZ small claims ($2500 max) for tax that I wasn't expecting to pay that I factored into cost of truck, court fees, time spent...I can't really think of much else. I have his name and home address, so I should be able to get him service. I could try and request treble damages because I considered it fraud.

I'd cross my fingers he doesn't show and I win a big default judgement...then I can just submit that to the surety company and get a claim? I don't know how surety bonds work.

Any suggestions on how to pursue? He should have no way to make a case that he represented himself as a dealership.

Discussion Deals

VISA Signature card from Chase from Fairmont Hotels 2 free nights with 1k spend in 3 months

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:38:37 -0500

Rating: 8 Posted By: VentureScout
Views: 1858 Replies: 12

You can get 2 free nights at any Fairmont hotel with breakfast for two nights when you get the card and spend 1k in the first three months. Rooms at many hotels go for over $400 a night. Good bonus value.

No annual fee in the first year.

Other benefits:
No foreign transaction fees on foreign purchases
Annual complimentary night if you spend 12k in year
Annual membership in LOUNGE CLUB (airline lounge) with two free visit a year. $29 per visit thereafter.

Link to Offer

Deal Deals

Wrecked Car - Getting the most of it

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:24:52 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Veeekay
Views: 1552 Replies: 17

I have a 96 Accord that's leaking radiator fluid (and since stopped because there isn't any more to leak) after an accident. The car is still drivable, may be not for hot days or long distances. The hood is crushed a bit. Repair would cost more than the Blue Book value. Comp/Coll was dropped, so no help from the insurance.

The question is what's the best way to get most for the car. Google sent me to www.amamotorsgroup.com. I will request a quote with them. Do any of the FW members have experience with this company? Are there other ways? Other companies?

Personal Finance Deals

Apartment Security Deposit

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:01:37 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: dealonalltime
Views: 1726 Replies: 38

1 year lease - 1000$ Sec deposit in 650$ Rent Apartment

Left the apartment on 01/31/2012

Waited 45 days to get the deposit back. When I called him for 2 weeks continuously, finally he called today. They have 2 offices, and other office got my notice on 22nd January faxed by that guy on 22nd January. Where I told him verbally on the day I came out of vacation to USA (12/30/2011) that I will not renew the lease. (Means I'm going to move out) and I gave him the lease back. Then I talked to him verbally again that I'm going to leave. And I finally gave him on 7-8th January 2012 that I'll move out from the apartment. Now he's saying that the other office(Main guys) are not going to return my deposit as I noticed them on 22nd January. The guy from my apartment is Apartment Manager, but he's good guy, I thought that way. But he told me that I gave him notice on 22nd Januray. I trusted him, and talked to him verbally, gave the lease back without signing and gave him written on 7-8th. What else do I need to do. I don't have his confirmation about giving the notice on 7-8th January, and I gave the lease back to him without signing but I don't have anything else on it as well. I just returned it. how can I keep the lease unsigned and do with it?

Its 1K, not too much but enough for my current apartment's month rent.

What are chances of getting the deposit back?

Personal Finance Deals

Can I be on the hook for this dental situation?

Thu, 10 May 2012 12:19:20 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: suezyque
Views: 2248 Replies: 37

I've been going to a dentist I can't stand, but he's in my insurance network. I need a bunch of dental work done. The treatment plan is to get both upper and lower partials and crown eight front upper teeth. The initial plan was to crown 2 teeth as an abutment for an upper partial. The insurance company approved one crown and the partial. The crown was done (temporary currently).

I decided to go all the way and crown all front upper 8 teeth, which changed the treatment plan to include a lower partial. They never got back to the insurance company and the window closed on the approval for the upper. My dentist had to re-submit but now for upper and lower partials. He went ahead and started the work for the partials by doing first and second impressions, bite registration, etc. Everything is done, except having the lab make them, which he would do once the approval came through. I will be paying for the crowns myself.

It's been 6 months of nothing but screw up after screw up by his office and today I get denials for both partials as the dentist failed to submit a mouth charting and full treatment plan. I've seen on my chart the bill so far is over $800.

This is the most incompetent place I have ever been to. They've gone through dozens of staff because the Dr. is an insufferable bast@rd. It would take me pages to describe all the crap I've been through with his office. I am sick of all of it and want to take my business elsewhere which brings me to this dilemma. He started work on the partials (without discussing it with me) in anticipation of the insurance company footing the bill. Not he nor anyone else there ever discussed money, prices or bills with me. I verbally agreed to pay $3500 for the 7 additional crowns ONLY. I never was given any sort of paperwork with estimates, etc. I haven't signed anything in regards to any work.

If I choose to never go back and have the work done elsewhere, can I be held liable for the work he did? If he bills me for the work, do I have any leg to stand on against paying it since I never agreed to pay anything for the partials? IMO he never should have taken it upon himself to start work on the partials without the insurance approvals in advance.

Personal Finance Deals

Key Bank $150 - AK, CO, CT, ID, IN, KY, ME, MI, NY, OH, OR, UT, VT, and WA.

Thu, 10 May 2012 11:55:17 -0500

Rating: 4 Posted By: mjoply
Views: 1147 Replies: 5

From Maximising Money

Only available to people with an address in these states: AK, CO, CT, ID, IN, KY, ME, MI, NY, OH, OR, UT, VT, and WA. The account must be opened online.

https://www.key.com/gen/html/mkt-q212may-150cash30-3rd.html

To get your $150 cash reward: open a qualifying KeyBank checking account online and enter offer code ONFT0512 by June 1, 2012, and make at least 30 payments and/or purchases within 3 months of account opening, plus make 3 direct deposits each of $500 or more within 3 months of account opening.

"Payments" seem to be classified as any kind of transaction going on in the account.

To keep the most basic account free you have to either have a total of $500 in deposits a month or have seven transactions post to the account. Key Express Account

It appears that from past threads a push from another bank will count as direct deposit.

*Between 4/28/12 and 6/1/12, you must open a Key Express (this is the basic banking account in NY), Key Coverage, Key Advantage, Key Privilege, or Key Privilege Select Checking Account online and make at least 30 posted payments and/or purchases from the new checking account within three months of account opening, plus within three months of account opening make a total of three direct deposits each of $500 or more to get your gift. One month is calculated as 31 calendar days from account opening date (three months equals 93 calendar days from account opening date). Limit one gift per qualifying account. Limit one gift per individual. The value of your gift will be reported on Form 1099-INT. Your gift will be deposited within 90 days of meeting requirements. Qualifying purchase and payment transactions include checks, MasterCard signature, PayPass and PIN-based purchases, Key Bill Pay, debit card automated payments, PayPal transactions, and Automated Clearing House (ACH) direct payments. Direct deposit transactions are limited to payroll, Social Security, pension, and government benefits. Offer not available to individuals who have had a KeyBank checking account in the last 12 months. Employees of KeyBank, its affiliates, and subsidiaries are not eligible for this offer. If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee. Accounts overdrawn or closed as of at the time of fulfillment are not eligible for this offer. Accounts titled as Trust Accounts, Estate, Non-Individual, and No Access are excluded from eligibility. You must have a U.S. mailing address at the time of fulfillment to be eligible. Offer is subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other offer. Other miscellaneous charges may apply.

Deposits Deals

Chinese Banks Seek U.S. Growth

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:12:49 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: gremln007
Views: 1566 Replies: 9

I am curious what FWF thinks about this issue. I have seen some comment that this is a bad thing - allowing Chinese banks to buy US banks. I don't really understand why... Are the complaints just due to political disagreement? ie US shouldn't allow this. or is there something more involved?

I'm also curious if other countries own US banks. I know that international banks have US branches already so I am unsure of the difference.

Here is one article I read on this.

ICBC Gets Fed Nod as Chinese Banks Seek U.S. Growth
link

General Economics Deals

PayPal bringing new commerce platform into Home Depot

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:49:40 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: alpinewhite
Views: 2617 Replies: 50

I went to The Home Depot this week and saw signs that they are taking Paypal for payments in-store.

Linky

Discussion Deals

Social Security statement available online

Thu, 10 May 2012 08:19:44 -0500

Rating: 72 Posted By: redfortnr
Views: 6792 Replies: 57

You can now get your statement online at www.ssa.gov/ Just create your online account with your personal information

General Economics Deals

Activation Code for Buyers Advantage BOA Prepaid Card

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:38:52 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Joe2836
Views: 640 Replies: 0

Anyone know what the activation code is? I think it may be standard. I just received the card from doing a Buyers Advantage offer a year ago.

Credit Deals

Buying a house thru probate on MLS with cash, what should I offer

Wed, 09 May 2012 22:02:41 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: retirebyfourty
Views: 1817 Replies: 26

Will try to get the facts:

early 30's/single net worth of 200k, found a house I like for 58,000. Price has steadily dropped since appearing on MLS since February (starting at 79k, then to 69, 63, and now 58.)

House facts: Built in 1957, 1220 sq feet with a 180 ft Florida porch added on, over half acre, ranch on a slab, no real attic, 2 bed/1ba, needs major overhaul with outdated carpet/etc (which doesn't bother me), in a nice town and neighborhood, no garage but would like to erect one for under 5k, and has outbuilding in backyard. Older couple owned it, wife died, the executor of the will is a probate lawyer. It is listed on MLS thru a major realtor company in my area. Being sold AS IS.

The house seems structurally sound, its all brick, not much room for expansion with varying roof lines, but I'm fine with that. No plans for kids anyways. Girlfriend loves it (she would move in in another year.) Nice asphalt driveway. Nice trees and foliage.

Looked at the house yesterday, realtor told me another person was in the midst of writing their offer but hadn't submitted it yet (sounds like a typical sales pitch.) I'm to get a home inspection tomorrow, which won't do much since its being sold AS IS, but at least the realtor being there could potentially tell the executor of the will what the inspector says. I want to use the inspection as part of my leverage, though it may not help. It has been at 58k for 4 weeks now, due for another price drop. I'm looking to offer 44k cash. Everything is still in the house too, which I don't care if it stays or leaves.

The way I see it, if your goal is to throw lowball cash offers, its a numbers game. Some will stick. But I wish to win this house with the lowest bid possible. Seeing the quick price drops makes me think they want the money and done. I also am curious how much lower they would take my offer in cash with no contingencies versus a loan. 5% lower statistically?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Question Deals

Setting up for Paying a Nanny

Wed, 09 May 2012 21:35:14 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: hebron1427
Views: 1745 Replies: 22

I found an old topic here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1066857/ , but it seemed that the OP there was already past my point. My sister hired a nanny and said there is some payroll issues that need to be addressed when doing it, but she didn't know what it was because her husband did all the work (and I can never seem to get him cornered to talk about it). So, I'm curious from the membership here, if my wife and I hire a nanny so that my wife can go back to work, what steps do we need to go through to make sure we're meeting all the requirements as far as paying this person, withholding for taxes, paying payroll tax (if necessary), etc. My sister indicated that we would need to set up some type of federal entity. Is this true? All help is appreciated.

Question Deals

3 New BoA Travel Cards - Up to 2.2% CB on Travel Redemption $75 AF, No AF Options

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:43:14 -0500

Rating: 7 Posted By: qwerty12345otron
Views: 1473 Replies: 9

BoA has launched 3 new travel rewards CCs.

BankAmericard Privileges
Of note, this card offers 2 points/dollar for all purchases with a 10% annual bonus if user has a BoA or a few other accounts, effectively a net 2.2% CB on travel redemptions, assuming the rewards are 1pt per cent. The $75 AF, waived first year, will be waived in subsequent years if certain brokerage or BoA accounts are maintained. You will earn 3 points per dollar (consisting of 2 base points and 1 bonus point) for the first $6,000 in airline purchases (up to 6,000 bonus points) made at the Bank of America Travel Center (Travel Center) each calendar year.

Also 10,000 bonus points for $500 spend in 90 days.

Looks like for straight CB, this is 1.6% - GC and other redemption options as well

BankAmericard Travel Rewards:
Of note, this card offers 1.5 points/dollar for all purchases with a 10% annual bonus if user has a BoA or a few other accounts, effectively a net 1.6% CB on travel redemptions, assuming the rewards are 1pt per cent. No AF

You will earn 3 points per dollar (consisting of 1.5 base points and 1.5 bonus points) for the first $6,000 in airline purchases (up to 9,000 bonus points) made at the Bank of America Travel Center (Travel Center) each calendar year.

Also 10,000 bonus points for $500 spend in 90 days.

WorldPoints Travel Rewards for Business
"The WorldPoints Travel Rewards for Business credit card allows you to earn 1.5 Points per dollar of Net Purchases (as defined in the Program Rules). You can earn 3 Points per dollar on Purchases made through the Bank of America Travel Center, excluding insurance purchases which will earn 1.5 points."

Seems like a decent option/alternative to the FIA AMEX or Priceline 2% card, especially if you already have BoA accounts.

Credit Deals

tax filing options for next year... getting married.

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:24:51 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: nwill002
Views: 935 Replies: 7

-Ill be getting married in September, wife to be has a child.
-I make 50K/year she "was" making 37K/year... she is no longer employed as of beginning of May. She is going to be a full time grad student this fall.
-We dont own a home, we both pay student loans($500/month total), we most likely wont need child care.

Im curious on how should we handle our taxes next year... filing jointly, separately, or maybe even claim her as dependent (if possible??) since most of the year we would not have been married. Any ideas? thanks

Question Deals

Capital One ebills

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:06:07 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: grex23
Views: 683 Replies: 2

Does anyone know how to delete Capital One ebills?

I need to delete and readd an ebill and the system says I need to disenroll first but it won't let me.

Question Deals

Hedging Inflation - Buy Gold / Silver, whats the best way?

Wed, 09 May 2012 17:48:40 -0500

Rating: -3 Posted By: ardeus
Views: 1344 Replies: 22

Despite our 401k portfolio suffering the last few days, I am a firm believer that the central banks will continue to print money. I have never been a huge supporter of buying gold, from an downside/upside perspective. Looking at silver right now, and I think that could be interesting given the recent move. Any good ways to buy American Eagle coins? The US mint website does not seem to provide market pricing (or charge reasonable premiums)for their silver coins.

Any thoughts? Thinking about ETFs, but would rather own the physical.

Discussion Deals

buying a condo as primary home and later rent it out - possible?

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:44:41 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: gangt
Views: 1205 Replies: 12

It's not my intention but I'm in a situation where I may have to move to a different city, but right now I'm cool. So, I'm deciding to buy a condo instead of paying the high rent.
My question is, if I buy it now as primary home (and obviously the mortgage interest is less for primary home) and later if I have to move, the only option is to rent it out. How it works at that point? Do I need to tell the bank or how would they know? Can I just keep it as my primary home on papers when really it is not?

Personal Finance Deals

Fidelity AMEX Cashback in May - Not Received???

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:30:24 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: bandyopa
Views: 799 Replies: 4

I have not yet received this month's Fidelity AMEX CashBack in my Fidelity my Cash Account. When I login to FIA's site, it shows the points were redeemed on May 1, but they were never credited to my Fidelity AC. Did you receive this Month's CashBack?

I am worried b/c there is the other thread which says FIA is converting these cards back to BA. Any thought?

Tintin

Credit Deals

Tdameritrade: Do/don't they hard pull when opening a margin/options account?

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:25:36 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: hakujin
Views: 564 Replies: 0

I read online (flyertalk) that they in fact do (at least they did in January). However, I just got off the phone w/ a rep and she is convinced they DO NOT. Unfortunately, I can't check my credit right now but it would maybe be under 'ADV CLERING' or 'Advanced Clearing'

Can any of you w/ an account confirm/deny? If they do, I'd like to have them pull it and just close my account. I hate thinkorswim anyway... really wish they went w/ Java real time quote interface like streamcaster (ETrade) or scottrader.

General Economics Deals

Pay Federal Income Taxes with Multiple Checks?

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:26:06 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: DoanB
Views: 854 Replies: 5

Hello,

I did some research but could not find the anwser... And hope somebody here has experienced this and could help...

I need to pay my federal income taxes by May 15th and I don't have enough time to consolidate money from three separate bank accounts into one. So I would like to send in three different checks to pay for my 2011 income taxes (a total of 26K).

Not sure if this works... Does anybody have this experience before? Does the IRS have any problems with three checks sent in to pay for one Federal Income Tax bill?

Thank you so much for your help!

-B

Tax Deals

HCSA with double insurance

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:26:02 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: solley
Views: 723 Replies: 9

My SIL just had a baby. She is double-covered by her own insurance from her job, plus coverage from her husband's job. She has a healthcare spending account with her job.

The HCSA administrator (apparently) has no insight into her double coverage, so they've automatically sent her a check from her HCSA for what she would've had to pay, if she only had her own employer's coverage. Since she's double covered, she actually had (virtually) no out-of-pocket expenses associated with the birth of the baby.

She's asking what to do with the check. I feel like she's either got to claim it as income on her 1040 (since she hasn't paid taxes on that income and didn't actually spend it on medical costs) or somehow send the check back.

Any one have experience here?

TIA.

Personal Finance Deals

over the limit coverage with no fee?

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:38:42 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: kevinthecoin
Views: 749 Replies: 5

I really want to buy something with a Cash Back credit card. The cards limit is 1000 but the item is 1500. If i over paid the credit card by 500 and signed up for over the limit coverage does anybody think I will get a fee? Wouldn't the card technocally get paid off instantly while the transaction was still pending because of the positive 500 credit?

Credit Deals

Do I pay off my Student Loan or buy a house cash

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:57:22 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: serdine
Views: 2507 Replies: 65

Hi folks , I am not sure what makes more sense financially buy a house for 17K or pay off my student loan. (I have the 17K cash)
interest on Student loan is 3.125% and the house I can rent after that.
can you suggest !! thanks

Personal Finance Deals

5% off ALL credit card purchases (up to $50k per year)!!!!

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:51:49 -0500

Rating: -38 Posted By: dbackerfans
Views: 2912 Replies: 26

This trick requires a Chase Ink Bold business card which earns 5 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar at office supply stores (and is redeemable for 5% CashBack).

The trick to earning 5X everywhere is to use a Chase Ink card at an Office Supply store to buy Visa gift cards and/or prepaid cards. Since you get 5X from those purchases, you can think of the gift cards (and prepaid cards) as giving you 5 points per dollar when you spend them. (Note: Ink Cards obtained prior to mid-November 2011 do not have the 5X office supply benefit).

The one thing that has stopped me from using the 5X trick for all of my spend is that using gift cards is a hassle. You need to keep track of how much is left on each card, you cant easily make large purchases, and some online vendors make it very difficult if not impossible to use them. Further, unlike credit cards, gift cards do not offer purchase protection.

Luckily I stumbled upon a new opportunity that changes everything

The American Express Prepaid Card at Office Depot

The American Express Prepaid Card is not a gift card, nor a debit card, nor a credit card. It is simply a prepaid card. There are several things that make it unique: 1) No fees (except ATM use. More on that later); 2) Reloadable up to $2500 balance; 3) Purchase protection, roadside assistance, and other perks; 4) No credit check required; 5) ATM withdrawals are allowed; and 6) Partners with Office Depot

If you buy the temporary version of the AMEX Prepaid Card (for $4.95) you can fill it with up to $500 at the time of purchase and then you can later trade-up to the permanent refillable version of the card. To trade-up, you browse to the website indicated on the temporary cards packaging and request a permanent card. The new card will arrive in the mail with your name and address registered to it. Once you activate the permanent card, any money left over from the temporary card automagically moves over.

The Vanilla Reload Network Prepaid Reload Card is used to refill the permanent version of the AMEX Prepaid Card. Each card has a $3.95 fee and can be loaded with up to $500 at the Office Depot register. To move this money to your AMEX card, you simply browse to the Vanilla website and enter in the PIN number from the refill card and the card number from your AMEX. You can load up to $1000 in a 24 hour period. Also note a limit of $2500 can be loaded every 28 days. The following is from American Express cardmember agreement:

No more than $2,500.00 U.S. may be loaded to the Card in any 28-day period, and no more than $1,000.00 U.S. may be loaded to the Card on any day using a Green Dot MoneyPak, Vanilla Reload Network Prepaid Reload or other cash funding source or method accepted by us from time to time. The maximum balance of Available Funds loaded on your Card at any time is $2,500.00 U.S.

What this means
◦You can use your Ink credit card to buy $500 reload cards. The purchase shows up on your account as a standard Office Depot purchase so it will give you a total of 5 points per dollar for the purchase. The fee of $3.95 is less than 1 percent (.79%), so youre way ahead already.

NOTE: There is a risk that Office Depot will someday stop allowing these purchases to be made via credit card. An industry insider I spoke with, though, believes that the ability to pay via credit card is not a fluke and should continue indefinitely. Time will tell.

◦Since the permanent American Express Prepaid Card can be loaded up to $2500, it has these advantages:
◦There is no need to keep multiple gift cards in your wallet.
◦You can use it to make large purchases
◦You will get purchase protection. It might not be as good of protection as you would have received with a different card, but still
◦It can be used any place that accepts American Express cards. To merchants, this card is indistinguishable from a standard American Express card. There is one exception: American Express says not to use the card for car rentals.
◦When using this prepaid card, you essentially earn 5X everywhere. This requires no card juggling, and very little hassle. This means that getting 2.14X from the Sapphire Preferred for dining and travel is no longer the best option for these categories! Its not even close!

ATM Use
◦Up to $400 Per Day:
With the American Express Prepaid Card you can withdraw up to $400 per day via ATM machines. You are subject to fees imposed by the ATM owner. On American Express side, the first ATM withdrawal each month is free. Subsequent withdrawals cost $2. This is a great deal even with the fees. For example, suppose you pay $3 to the ATM owner and $2 to AMEX to withdraw $250. That comes to a 2% fee. But, remember that you earned almost 5% in the form of points (or more depending on how much you value those points) so you are still well ahead. Youll obviously do even better if you find a low fee or no fee ATM.
◦ATM WARNING: DO NOT ABUSE THE ATM PRIVILEDGE!
American Express is always on the lookout for suspicious behavior. If a person adds money to the Prepaid Card and then withdraws it all as cash, that would look ridiculously suspicious. Worse, American Express does not make money from these ATM withdrawals ($2 is unlikely to be enough to cover their costs), so with a pattern like that theyre not going to like you very much! If you try to convert your Ink purchases to cash through frequent ATM withdrawals, I believe you will get caught and you will have your accounts closed. Trust me, you dont want that to happen. Use the card for regular credit card purchases and use the ATM feature only for real world ATM withdrawals. Withdraw money only when you really need it. Or, establish a pattern of once per week moderate withdrawals (say $200 or $250) and you should be fine.

How to get the card

There are two ways to get the reloadable Prepaid Card:

OPTION 1: Buy the temporary card in-store at Office Depot (as mentioned above) for $4.95 and then trade up to the permanent card. Note these restrictions (from American Express FAQ):

The temporary American Express Prepaid Card is not available for sale in Arkansas, New Jersey or Vermont. Cards purchased by residents in other states cannot be shipped to these two states. In addition, American Express does not sell or ship the Card outside the United States.

OPTION 2: Order directly from American Express for FREE.
◦Click here: American Express Prepaid Card or simply Google for American Express Prepaid Card to find a non-affiliate link.
◦Note the following restrictions:

The permanent American Express Prepaid Card is not available for sale in Arkansas and Vermont.

LIMITATIONS AND WARNINGS

PLEASE READ THIS!!!!
◦Chase has been known to completely shut down all of a persons accounts when they think they may be a bad credit risk or when they suspect perk abuse. If you put all of your spend in this one category (and this one store), you will be asking for trouble!
◦The Ink Bold is limited to $50K in purchases per year for the 5X benefit. The Ink Cash and Ink Classic are each limited to $25K. As a result, there is no reason for anyone to purchase more than $4K per month of the refill cards with the Ink Bold, or $2K per month with the other Ink cards. Even that amount may be too high if you have a high credit card utilization ratio or if you do not have a long and positive credit history. I consider $4K per month to be the upper limit anyone should attempt, but that does not mean $4K per month is safe. You need to evaluate your own situation and establish spending patterns that you are sure will not trigger alarms with Chase.
UPDATE: There is a built-in limit to the AMEX prepaid card: a maximum of $2500 can be loaded per month.

◦Watch out for American Express too! As I detailed above, suspicious ATM activity is a sure way to get flagged and shut down. American Express has extremely sophisticated fraud detection systems. Dont do anything to draw attention to you!
◦Dont be greedy, please. Even if you only put $1000 per month onto this AMEX card, you will earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points! Thats a lot! If you use this trick in moderation then you should be safe to earn huge numbers of points, year after year, without fear of bank retaliation. If you go too far, you will get shut down. If many people take this too far, the whole deal may get shut down.

Credit Deals

Rebate churning gone too far ($577,000 of rebate)

Wed, 09 May 2012 02:05:24 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: SantaLink
Views: 8090 Replies: 58

"Qiang admitted that she and Zhao submitted 98 fraudulent rebate claims to 3Com, totaling more than $634,000, and received more than $577,000 in rebate money from 3Com"

Palo Alto engineer pleads guilty to fraud conspiracy

This reminds me of the Chiu brothers, but this time the guilty party has actually crossed the line with forged and falsified documents.

Discussion Deals

New player in P2P lending SoMoLend

Tue, 08 May 2012 22:41:18 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: ajainy
Views: 741 Replies: 1

https://www.somolend.com/Default.aspx

I just watched CEO presentation, to win some startup price. When I clicked on their website and read through how it works.
In nutshell, It looked to me, it's similar to other p2p lending sites like prosper.com , which is solely depends upon borrower honesty or whether he is pull off his business.

What FWers think?

Other link: http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-the-awesome-pitch-by-somolend-that-won-75000-at-startup-2012-2012-5#ixzz1uBqEOAsj

Discussion Deals

HELP! - Did my lawyer mess up? Mortgage iib, not supposed to be!

Tue, 08 May 2012 22:32:43 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: riptransam
Views: 1291 Replies: 6

I just downloaded my free TransUnion credit report, and did the myFico Experian report (only got the free in Oct 2011) and I see my BOA Mortgage, of which I am keeping my house, is notated as included in Bankruptcy Ch7 on both reports!!! Bankruptcy was just discharged a few weeks ago. I just got a bank statement from BOA with my checking/savings account, and my mortgage is no longer listed.

Am I misreading something here, or did the lawyer royally screw up and put me in huge harms way???? Please help!

Question Deals

Chase launches Prepaid Debit cards

Tue, 08 May 2012 22:01:11 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Realbrisk
Views: 887 Replies: 3

Chase has launched a prepaid card designed to be an alternative to a checking account as it tries to recoup fees it has lost under recent regulatory changes.
The company said Tuesday that the reloadable Chase Liquid card is available at 200 branches now, and will expand it to branches nationwide this summer. Chase said it the cards are being tested in two markets but declined to say where.
Banks are looking to prepaid cards and other new products to increase their revenue after regulatory changes have curbed the fees they collect.
Consumers will pay a $4.95 monthly fee for Chase's reloadable card. They can use it the same way they do a debit card to make purchases and withdraw cash from ATMs and Chase branches. The company says it is a low-cost alternative to traditional checking accounts.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jG492uvqV34h3v...

Or
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jp-morgan-chase-rolling-out-pre...

Credit Deals

Need suggestions: Vendor doesn't pick up the phone

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:48:39 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: mabrikh
Views: 1335 Replies: 10

Hey guys...I need serious suggestions. I have a wholesale business in California. Recently I send a goods worth of $6000.00 who I prospected from trade shows. Trade shows and referral is how I do my business. I never had encountered such an incident in three years of doing business. Before I sent the merchandise, I called asking if I need to send it. He said to send it.
Later on I received one email stating that he will make payment arrangement after he receives the goods. After he received the goods on third week of last month, he neither returns my emails or calls for that matter. I am slowly starting to think that he doesn't want to pay.

Since this is finance related, I thought I will post it here to get some ideas about how I can handle such situation. Am I out of luck
and take a loss or are there some roads I can take to get at least some of it back.

I looked at the SOS wesbite and the business has been operating for almost 6,7 years. That's the reason, I send the goods thinking that
the person is here for long haul. But who knew. I just did a corporate Wiki and he owns another business as well.
Today I left a message stating that I might have to fly out there to gather my goods if he is not going to pay.

Has anybody had anything like this happened to you? I am starting to think to contact payment recover guys but I want to see if there are any other options.

Last but not least, I have learned a big farking lesson....

Question Deals

Lifetime AA passes: Unintended Consequences for AA

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:15:50 -0500

Rating: 25 Posted By: Kanosh
Views: 7472 Replies: 58

Fascinating article here about lifetime passes for unlimited first class travel which American Airlines sold in the 1980's for $350,000 (plus $150,000 extra for unlimited first class companion rides). The passes were last sold in 1994, and in what might called an early "fatwallet" effect, they have had some rather unintended consequences for AA and for those who bought them. People who bought them wound up flying all the time. One passenger would upgrade interesting people he met in the airport to ride with him, another sold the companion ticket. AA has sued and/or revoked the passes used in this way.

Apparently in 2004 the passes were briefly offered again, in the Neiman-Marcus catalog, for $3 million: they had no takers.

It was an interesting way for AA to finance itself back in the 1980's.

Are there any other such "lifetime" deals that, if the company indeed survives a lifetime, could be lucrative deals?

Discussion Deals

Fell for phishing scam: How worried about ID theft should I be?

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:33:37 -0500

Rating: -1 Posted By: RudolfSchmidt
Views: 1477 Replies: 17

Greed got the better of me last night when I fell for a "You've just won a $1,000 Best Buy gift card! Fill out this form to tell us where to mail it." scam. I'm usually pretty shrewd when it comes to spotting phishing attempts, but I was redirected to a legit-looking website while browsing a legit site, so I figured "What have I got to lose?" I provided my real name and address, an innacurate birth year (off by two years) and a fake telephone number. Afterwards I began to regret it, and a quick bit of Googling revealed that the thing was a scam. it turns out the redirection was probably caused by the trojan Win32/Yabector.A and/or virus Win32/Induc.A, which MS Security Essentials only detected upon a system scan.

The personal details I provided could have been gotten out of a telephone book just as easily, so I hope any potential damage is minimal. Should I be worried? Should I place a fraud alert on my credit reports?

Question Deals

Chase Freedom Application

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:10:12 -0500

Rating: -14 Posted By: CreditAssassin
Views: 831 Replies: 3

Hi Everyone,

I was considering applying for Chase Sapphire Preferred but then a few people in this forum told me not to, as I have a short credit history. So, I finally decided to apply for Chase Freedom instead. I applied yesterday (i.e. 05/07/2012) and it told me that they will get in touch in 7-14 days. Should I wait for 7-14 days or can I just call and ask them about it. If that is the case, which number should I call?

Thanks!

Personal Finance Deals

Looking to buy 1st home - condo. Need some help / info.

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:07:25 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: titan01
Views: 1041 Replies: 11

Looking to buy a 1st home (condo). Approx price will be around 80 to 100k. What costs should I expect on top of the down payment. I'm trying to figure out what up front costs I will have to pay so I can set a budget for the home.

I understand that I would probably get a better interest rate if I do 20% down, so that's what I'm going for. What else should I expect to pay and how much? For simplicity sakes, lets just say its a 100k home.

Lawyer fee?
Inspection?
Sales tax on entire cost or just down payment?
Insurance?
Closing costs?

Thanks for help.

Real Estate Deals

Need Citibank credit department (for credit card) phone number

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:34:45 -0500

Rating: -3 Posted By: tsaosf
Views: 944 Replies: 3

Hi,

I recently request a credit limit increase on my Citi Dividend card
and was declined. I would like to call Citi's credit review departemnt
(something like Chase's reconsideration line) but can not find their
phone number - talking to Citi CSR didn't help - they claim their
credit department doesn't speak directly to consumers. However
I thought I have seen this number on this forum before - Can someone
please share that info?

I have tried the number in this thread already, it is only for status check
for new applications.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/426802/

Credit Deals

Refinance with a 3rd party 2nd mortgage.

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:39:05 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: psyteet1
Views: 728 Replies: 3

Three years ago I lucked into a special offer from my city. They were rebuilding due to hurricane damage and trying to get first time home buyers to purchase homes in the area. My house was new and was listed at 146,000. The city took a 7 year mortgage on 60,000 of which they will erase 20percent a year starting year three and as long as I don't move their $60,000 will be paid of after year 7. I am in year 4 right now and I only had to take an origiNal mortgage of $86,000. After applying the federal 7k credit that year I got a new house for 79k. It was a pretty crazy deal and I am still happy with my purchase. However few mortgage companies wanted to take the original mortgage due to the special circumstances. This left me with close to a 6 percent rate. It's not a real bad rate but with my good credit I know I know I could re-finance and save a lot of cash if I could just find another company willing to work around this situation. Any suggestions? Has anyone here refinanced their home with a second mortgage and have any suggestions.

Real Estate Deals

Fidelity AMEX 2% Rewards converting from FIA to BoA

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:39:31 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: HouseofG
Views: 2555 Replies: 41

I searched the forum and didn't see anything on this yet. I tried calling the number on the back of my Fidelity Investments AMEX card and the system didn't recognize my card number or zip code. Same thing once it rolled over to the (Bank of America) CSR, who was clearly confused. Instead of having him look into it, I said I'd go to the FIA Card Services website and call an alternative number. Same story with that number. This CSR knew exactly what was going on though.

Our Fidelity 2% AMEX cards (much like the dearly departed Schwab/FIA 2% card) are moving from FIA to BoA. The CSR sounded confident that the rewards structure is not changing but that new BoA cards will be sent to cardholders "some time next week". We shall see, I guess. BoA is obviously all about Merrill Lynch, so this is a bit odd, but I know that card servicing makes for strange bedfellows.

Credit Deals

Bank of America Forced Closed My Account Then Swindled My ATM Cash Deposits!

Tue, 08 May 2012 02:17:32 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: dcc82
Views: 1848 Replies: 29

I am in a bit of a dilemma with Bank of America. This post is rather long as I did not refrain from adding excessive detail. I hadn't used my BoA. Checking account for several months. I ended up making two cash deposits into my forced closed account (didn't know at the time) recently due to being misled by BoA's crappy CS rep. BoA won't give me all my money back sooner than 10 business days or straight up admit that this is their fault and expedite their services. I will be traveling to another country for two months and NEED the money back for expenses. Otherwise I wouldn't mind waiting for it so much. Of course, BoA doesn't seem to care.

This is what has happened so far:

On April 10, 2012 I called BoA's customer service number and spoke to a rep to ask about my account balance and also to reset my online passcode. The rep assured me that my account balance was $0.00 and still active. She then assisted me in resetting my passcode. From this conversation, I rightfully assumed that my account was in good standing and ready to use.

On May 2, 2012 I made a cash deposit of $860 at a BoA ATM on the way back home from school. The ATM accepted my debit card, accurately counted all of the bills and issued a receipt for the deposit.

The next day, I made another cash deposit of $800 at the same BoA ATM. Again, the ATM accepted my debit card, accurately counted all of the bills and issued a receipt for the deposit. I noticed that my balance was still $0.00, and even though it was probably too soon to assume it was a bank error, I called customer service anyway to inquire on this.

The customer service rep I spoke to stated that my account had been FORCED CLOSED on APRIL 10, 2012 "probably" due to an overdrawn balance. She said that was all she could tell me because information on my account was limited so she transferred me to the "California" office for further assistance. The rep for "California" pretty much told me the same thing and that there was nothing he could do. He advised me to call the Recovery Unit the next day and/or go into the branch I had made the ATM deposits. I was livid- why did the ATM accept deposits for a forced closed account? Why was I given false information? If I had known that my account was negative, I would have immediately replenished the account with funds. Then I wouldn't have been in this situation.

SO, the next day I went into the branch and was told by a teller and his rude manager that I would receive a cashier's check in 10 business days for the deposited amount(s). They refused to make any phone calls or thoroughly look into my account. I explained to the manager that I will be traveling overseas in 10 days. The manager was very edgy and yelled "I CAN'T GIVE YOU YOUR MONEY!!!" to me.

Immediately after I exited the branch, I phoned the Recovery Unit. The rep I spoke to also refused to look into my account and told me the same 10 business days for a cashier's check crap. I demanded to speak to a higher up. She transferred me to CUSTOMER SERVICE, which has less control on the situation. I had to reiterate the entire situation to the CS rep who then transferred me back to the Recovery Unit but on this occasion the rep I spoke to actually seemed interested in helping me. She took responsibility and waived the overdraft fee to boost my chances of having my account reactivated for the recovered funds. She advised me to file a claim with the Electronic Claims Services department and transferred me to them. After being put on hold for 15 minutes, I was redirected to CUSTOMER SERVICE. I demanded to be transferred to Electronic Claims Services, but the CS rep I was speaking to wanted me to reiterate the entire situation to her so that she could take matters into her own hands. Even though I explained to her that there was absolutely nothing she could do, she insistently pushed for details. After she realized that she was useless, she transferred me to her supervisor who I had to reiterate the situation to again. FINALLY, he transferred me to the Electronic Claims Services department. The rep I spoke to from there assisted me in filing a claim to recover the ATM cash deposits and requested that I fax over the ATM receipts. She suggested that I go into my local branch to speak to the manager and reactivate my checking account so that the recovered funds could be directly credited.

After that 2 hour phone conversation, I went into my local branch and the manager was very helpful and reactivated the account. She also had me purchase a cashier's check to cover the negative balance which she said she would mail to the Recovery Unit.

I felt better after this, but called the Electronic Claims Services department a couple hours later just to check on the fax retrieval and claim status. The rep I spoke to reprimanded me for reactivating my forced closed account. She said forced closed accounts are never reactivated and recovered funds always need to be deposited into a newly opened account instead. She called the branch manager I had dealt with earlier to verify all this. After that she informed me that they have decided to make an exception and that she has sent out an urgent request to the investigator to credit the funds into the forced closed account. She said it may take two business days for the investigator to get the message and that the investigator has to physically go to the involved ATM to verify the cash surplus.

Later that evening, my online checking account information was accessible again and reflected a balance of $800. It has been two business days and there have been no other credits- I am still missing the $860.

Has anybody else had any experience with something like this? I'm going to call BoA tomorrow but am curious as to what your opinions on the situation are.

What should I do? I am so exhausted from dealing with BoA! It is so simple to just give me all my money back.

Question Deals

How to put financial sense into relatives' brains

Tue, 08 May 2012 02:11:32 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: undies
Views: 3267 Replies: 56

Relatives of mine have the latest-and-greatest when it comes to smart phones and tablets. They live paycheck-to-paycheck. Not homeowners. They are/were deep in CC debt.

I know it's none of my business but I wish they would wake up and smell the coffee. I love them dearly but am afraid that the train wreck has to happen for them to wake up from the mess they're in.

Discussion Deals

Facebook IPO, how many stock options does an average employee have?

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:16:38 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: SFcapitalist
Views: 1646 Replies: 16

For those joined in 2008, 2009, 2010, and later, anyone know what their stock option packages look like?

Facebook currently has about 3000 employees and news articles are claiming 1000+ of them will be turned into millionaires. Anyone have any insight?

Question Deals

40,000 TYP for opening CitiBusiness Streamlined Checking Account + 1 service

Mon, 07 May 2012 23:21:46 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Waffles
Views: 798 Replies: 2

LINK

website said: Make your business more rewarding with 40,000 ThankYou Points*, redeemable for up to $400 in gift cards.
*Simply open a CitiBusiness Streamlined or Flexible Checking account between 5/1/12 and 6/30/12
*Within 60 days of account opening:
- Enroll your business checking account into Citi ThankYou Rewards
- Obtain an eligible cash management or credit solution

Hurry, offer expires 6/30/12.

*ThankYou Points will be credited to your Business ThankYou Member Account within 90 days from the end of the statement period in which you satisfy all offer requirements.

A quick inspection of minimum balance requirements seems to imply that if $5,000 is kept in the checking account for a year, this is roughly equivalent to 8% APY.

Personal Finance Deals

Verizon Third Party Billing - Class Action - $40 or Full Amount of all unauthorized 3rd Party Charges 4/2005 - 2/2012

Mon, 07 May 2012 22:02:41 -0500

Rating: 5 Posted By: Yankees
Views: 4663 Replies: 6

I just got a postcard in the mail. Details below. Especially timely since I just realized they've "crammed" $30.98 / month into my existing bill for "Unlimited Games + Starz Play Pak" and "Security and Backup Bundle/50 GB"

https://www.verizonthirdpartybillingsettlement.com

If you were billed for third-party charges on your Verizon landline telephone bill, you may be entitled to a payment from this class action settlement.

The Settlement will provide for payments to all class members who properly submit Claim Forms by November 15, 2012. The payments will be either $40 in the case of approved Flat Payment Claims or the full amount (i.e., 100%) of unauthorized Third-Party Charges you paid in the case of approved Full Payment Claims. Some class members may have a claim for less than $40. Class counsel contends that some class members may have a claim for hundreds of dollars, or more.

The Settlement affects the rights of all Verizon land-line customers who were billed for Third-Party Charges from April 27, 2005 through February 28, 2012.

Submit a Claim Form: This is the only way to get a payment. You may submit a Flat Payment Claim for $40 or a Full Payment Claim for 100% of all unauthorized charges you paid. To file a claim, you must complete a Claim Form either online here or download a Claim Form here, print it out and mail it to the Settlement Administrator by November 15, 2012. You can also obtain a copy of the Claim Form by calling 1-877-772-6219. To help identify unauthorized Third-Party Charges for which you were billed during the Class Period and decide whether to submit a Flat or Full Payment Claim, you can request a free summary of all Third-Party Charges for which you were billed, by clicking here or calling 1-877-772-6219.

Personal Finance Deals

Validating cash transaction during night hours

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:37:17 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: megaFat
Views: 1860 Replies: 37

I am planning to sell my car to couple of folks who are out of state. They said they will come in the evening after hours - they are located 3 hours from where I live and would either pay cash or money order . I know they work for a reputed software company and I did validate their employee ids. After noticing that I am uncomfortable with money order option they are proposing to pay with cash . Since BOA closes around 5:00pm is there any way I can validate the cash and ensure it is not counterfeit. The amount in question would be $15000. Please advice

Question Deals

How to Buy Facebook at IPO?

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:35:52 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: bandyopa
Views: 3152 Replies: 43

I have accounts in Fidelity and Schwab. Can I buy Facebook common shares at its IPO on Thursday 17th market opening? For example, can I setup a limit-order Tuesday/Wedneday so automatically my order get filled at IPO on Thursday? What is the ticker?

Thanks,
Tintin

Question Deals

Tenant sustained water damage from sewer backflow, Remedy?

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:26:36 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: yupkisama
Views: 1731 Replies: 28

Hello,

I have a condo which was built 2008.
The unit is 2nd floor in total 10 floors, and there is a laundry room below mine.

Recently, tenant experienced water backflow from kitchen sink,
and damaged the electronics including computer and air cleaners
which were placed on top of islander where kitchen sink sits.

I had similar experience last year when I lived there but water never overflow.
It stopped at certain level, then drained very quickly.
Normally, sink drained very quickly, and it occasionally slow down during morning or night
when upper units drain a lot.

Last year, when I complaint to Condo Management, they had brought plumbers
who take a look at drain pipe and main pipe below my unit.
Best they could do was cleaned the pipe as a temporary remedy, and I believed problem resolved
I advised tenant about this, and warn them for sound of gurgling which usually occurs before water backflow.
I thought if they hear gurgling sound again, then I would call the condo management again.

Anyway, this time water has overflew, and tenants and hardwood floor sustained damage.
I have Condo Insurance so I may be able to get the hardwood floor fixed,
but tenant does not have a rental insurance.

I felt bad, and I am willing to help them.
During overflow, they claimed they had used their down comforter to suck up the water
to prevent further damage on hardwood floor. Wood plank is not cupped yet, but discolored after water soak.

They are claiming total $1500 for the electronics and comforter, towel they had used.

My question is, will Condo Management be liable to all these damage
since they were not able to fix the problem initially?

If not, will my Condo Insurance pick up the tenants loss under my liability coverage?

What would be professional way to handle this so my tenant can re-coup some damage.
Can I hire attorney to write a complaint letter? Do they charge up front or charge after?

Worst case, I am willing to give $500 for the damage as good will but am I responsible for total loss legally?

Please advise

Question Deals

Bank vs mortgage broker

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:36:41 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: fatwallet21
Views: 721 Replies: 1

5 months back I went with a mortgage bank and now looking to refinance with a broker......I see their rates being better than the banks......any disadvantages with going with brokers instead of banks? Please advice. Thanks

Question Deals

TD Bank Card with 5% groceries, dining, utilities for 6 months

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:10:48 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: ProfessorEd
Views: 1171 Replies: 7

TD Bank is advertising a credit car4d that offers 5 points back back on "dining, groceries, gas and cable, phone and utility bill payments for 6 months. The points appears redeemable for $100 gift card at a penny per point value, along with other options.It is the usual 1 point per dollar spent on other items and after the offer expires.

How valuable this is depends on what other options you have. 5% on groceries is available through several cards (especially if you use rotating categories). An AMEX fee card offers 6% on groceries. 5% on dining can be gotten through CITI Forward cards or rotating categories. Gas is available through several cards. Utility and phone are harder to get 5% back on, although the CITI Dividend card had 5 points on utilities for the first quarter, and will probably offer that again.

TD bank has the virtue of not being one of the biggest card issuing banks. Thus, if you have all the credit firms such as CITI, Chase, BOA. or AMEX wish to extend you, this card may be easier to get than others. If they don't like the way you use the card, and take adverse action you are less likely to have other cards you value affected, or even be in a "Black LIST " that prevents you from getting cards you may badly want in the future. Even if you do not use the card much after 6 months, the added credit line may slightly improve you percentage utilization.

I know nothing about what size credit lines they offer. Charter and Citizen' are offering 5% on groceries, drugstores, and gasoline, but their credit lines have been very small, often inadequate to accommodate even the spending needed to fee a large family (see the relevant thread). CITI has what for many may be a better offer, but there may be problems getting the card for those who have recently taken advantage of several CITI offers.) see the relevant threads for the Thank You Preferred card, including my posting at the end.

In my particular case, I may hold off applying because most of the benefits can be obtained through an AMEX Blue with 6% on groceries, CITI Forward cards with 5% on dining, and assorted cards with rotating categories. While the utility and phone category is not now covered, I prepaid the next few months using my CITI Dividend card (in the first quarter when it offered 5% on utilities and phone).

Link:
http://www.tdbank.com/personalcreditcard/easyrewardscard.html

"TD Easy RewardsSM Visa Credit Card

TD Easy Rewards Credit Card

5x rewards for the first six months*

Card Features

* Earn 5x rewards points on eligible purchases including dining, groceries, gas and cable, phone and utility bill payments for 6 months!*
* 0% introductory APR on balance transfers for 12 months after account opening After that, your variable APR will be 9.24% to 23.24%*
* Earn 1 point for every $1 spent everywhere, every time*
* Unlimited rewards No point caps, points do not expire**
* Use your card for all your monthly bills including cable, phone and utilities to earn more rewards points plus ensure your bills are paid on time when you set up recurring payments with your service providers.
* Easy redemption No blackout dates, restrictions or fees
* No annual fee
* Redeem points for over 400 rewards electronics, gift cards, travel rewards and more starting at just 3,500 points
o Round-trip airfare starting at 25,000 points
o Hotel room or car rental 15,000 points "

Credit Deals

Trying to dump PMI - which rules apply?

Mon, 07 May 2012 16:11:35 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: nic3456
Views: 1161 Replies: 9

Looking to pay down 9 month old mortgage to below 80%. At time of purchase my LTV was 90% based upon purchase price & ~85% based upon appraisal. Fannie owns the loan. There seems to be 2 ways to cancel it, but not sure which apply. I will re-fi if I have to , but would prefer to just keep current loan. It sounds like I should be able to cancel if I hit 78% LTV based upon original purchase price or 80% LTV based upon appraisal (and 2 year seasoning)? I'm getting confused comparing Fannie's rules with the Homeowners Protection act of 1998. Trying to find a way around/clarification on the 2 year seasoning...

Question Deals

BBVA Compass $100 Promotion (AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, NM, TX)

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:52:41 -0500

Rating: 5 Posted By: CreakyWallet
Views: 1140 Replies: 10

I've taken advantage of a lot of offers found on this site, so figured I should give back at some point. New offer from BBVA Compass now through June 30, 2012. Establish a direct deposit of $300 OR make 3 online bill payments of at least $50 each within 60 days of account opening. Minimum to avoid fees on the lesser of the two accounts is $1,500.00. Application pretty simple, and larger bank so might even have some convenient locations if you're in the footprint.

Important things you need to know

* $100 Bonus Terms & Conditions: New consumer checking accounts opened online from May 4, 2012 to June 30, 2012 may be eligible to receive a $100 bonus with qualifying direct deposits or online bill payments. Within 60 days of online account opening at least one of the following requirements must be met: (1) receive at least one qualifying direct deposit of at least $300 from an unrelated third party; OR (2) make three online bill payments of at least $50 each. Transfers made from PayPal, ING Direct, or accounts you own at other financial institutions do not qualify. To receive the bonus offer, you must be a new checking account customer, or have not had a BBVA Compass consumer checking account within the last 90 days. Offer available for new Build-to-Order and CompassLink Checking accounts opened online. Limit one bonus totaling $100 per household. Account must be open for at least 6 months or your account will be charged the amount of the bonus. Other limitations may apply. Bonuses will be deposited into the new checking account within 90 120 days of when requirements are met. Account must be open at time of payment to receive bonus. Bonus may be subject to income tax reporting.

Products, features, and benefits offered with accounts are subject to change. Build-to-Order and CompassLink Checking accounts and check cards are subject to approval, which may include credit approval. $25 minimum opening deposit required. Additional terms may apply. Refer to your account disclosure for details. Miscellaneous fees and service charges may apply. Standard messaging and data rates may apply for mobile banking check with your carrier for details.

** For Build-to-Order Checking, to avoid a monthly service charge of $10.95, maintain a recurring monthly direct deposit of at least $300 or an average daily collected balance of $1500 or more. For CompassLink Checking, to avoid a monthly service charge of $20 maintain a combined average daily collected balance of $5,000 in your CompassLink Checking and Compass Preferred Money Market accounts, or maintain a minimum daily balance of $7,500 in your linked loan accounts (excluding mortgages.)

Deposits Deals

HSBC EasyView (Yodlee) status?

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:49:50 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: fwratz1
Views: 1148 Replies: 13

Seems to have gone poof! Disappeared off the face of this earth.

URL https://easyview.us.hsbc.com/ gives a file not found.

Am unable to reach a live person at HSBC even after several tries.

Anyone here have an idea what's going on?

Am a long time user, so this is distressing.

General Economics Deals

New Barclays online savings accounts

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:45:52 -0500

Rating: 8 Posted By: BarryAndLevon
Views: 2732 Replies: 10

FYI: Barclays launched online savings accounts and CDs in the U.S. today. Current rate is 1% APY--not as good as TIAA-CREF, but better than ING. No minimum deposit, no monthly fee. Unlimited transfers and remote deposit capture.

https://www.banking.barclaysus.com/index.html

Deposits Deals

WSJ : Donald Luskin: The 2013 Fiscal Cliff Could Crush Stocks

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:06:40 -0500

Rating: -7 Posted By: CyBaba
Views: 1229 Replies: 16

Interesting piece in the weekend WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304743704577381851...

Thoughts !!

General Economics Deals

One of the craziest calls in the history of financial talk radio. Also... the value of knowing when to call a lawyer.

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:29:59 -0500

Rating: 19 Posted By: BADADVICE
Views: 8347 Replies: 42

Guy calls the show on the way home from giving $35,000+ to an extortioner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOW1NRdOo70

General Economics Deals

Questions about purchasing 2nd home before selling the first.

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:15:55 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: NonReturnable
Views: 2778 Replies: 35

Hi, I have some questions I hope people here can help me out with.

I currently own a home that is about 70 miles from my employer. I bought it because it was close to my old job, but I switched jobs about a year ago to where I am now, and gas and driving time are killing me.

The home I currently own has a payoff of around $69k. I paid $72k for it 4 years ago.

Due to the housing market conditions in the city, there are tons of cheap houses for sale. I am considering buying one for around 25k. Just looking on realtor.com, there are over 100 listings in the area I am looking at. Looking through them, there are tons of nice little homes that just need some TLC for that price. My only requirements are 3+ bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

I took out an FHA loan for my current home. It is my understanding that I can not qualify for an FHA loan again.
If I purchase another house, are there still other loans I can get that are standard 30 year fixed rates? Or are these exclusively for FHA type loans?

My plan is, buy a cheap but livable fixer-upper, move, put old house on the market, and after the old house sells start fixing up the new place.

Taking a close look at my finances, it seems like I can alocate about $400 a month extra right now if I factor in what I'd save in gas as well. I'll take a loan from my 401k to cover a 20% downpayment so I don't have to pay PMI. A mortgage calculator online says a $25k house would have about a $150 payment, leaving me with $250 for taxes and insurance. Is this a resonable assumption?

I really want to move and quit commuting for over an hour each way to work, but I want to make sure I'm not getting myself in over my head. Any advice from anyone else that has gone through a similar scenario?

Real Estate Deals

7500 Mileage Plus Mile to Switch to Energy Plus Electric

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:21:01 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: flowindex
Views: 912 Replies: 7

Anyone used Energy Plus as their electric supplier? I received an email from United for 7500 award miles plus 3 award miles for each dollar spent on the supply portion.

LINK

Choose Energy Plus as your electric supplier and earn a one-time bonus of 7,500 MileagePlus award miles. Then earn 3 miles per $1 spent on the supply portion of your electric bill.* You get valuable award miles and the same reliable utility service you get today.

Note: Offers are available only to new Energy Plus customers.

You have the power to earn vacation travel and more.

MileagePlus and Energy Plus have teamed up to provide you with more award miles just for doing what you already do paying your electric bill. Become a new customer of Energy Plus, keep your service for a minimum of two months and watch the award miles add up.

Energy Plus enrollment bonus:

Earn a one-time bonus of 7,500 award miles.*

Energy Plus bill pay bonus:

Earn 3 award miles for each dollar spent on the supply portion of your monthly bill.*

Credit Deals

(Real Estate) Request for Ideas

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:14:47 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: saver0513
Views: 1450 Replies: 25

Hello Everyone,

I have searched for answers, but was able to find only bits and pieces of information. I do not need to be spoon fed, but would like to draw on the collective knowledge of FWF in the hope of solving my problem. Would anyone like to help me solve a puzzle?

We live in California. We currently live in a townhome that we purchased in 2004. We would be content to live here as long as possible, except my wife has a movement disorder called Dystonia that has recently started getting worse. She starting to have trouble with stairs and has taken a couple of tumbles while weve lived here. We also have a 5 year old and despite our tricks to keep things organized (including garage sales, etc.) her things are taking over.

Our goal is to get into a single level house with a bit more space. There are such houses just down the street that would adequately suit our needs. We would like to stay in our current area because of the schools.

The subdivision is small, so the single stories do not come on the market as often as other subdivisions. The city is planning to build a large park (complete with boating, etc.) nearby and I worry that after the abandoned gravel pit is replaced by the park, well be completely priced out of those homes (if we arent already).

We are a bit underwater on our townhome. Ive considered renting it out and buying the single-story house, but given my financial picture (and the need for rental history to count incoming rent as income), I doubt that option will work. I feel my biggest hurdles are time, money, and the fact that if I sell the townhome the deal would be contingent.

Walking away is not an option because Im the only bread winner and I have a family that needs a stable situation.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I might be able to structure things, Id really appreciate it.

Townhome Value: ~$300K
1st Mortgage: 293K balance, $1587/mo payment
2nd Mortgage: 34K balance, $779/mo payment

Taxes: $300/mo
HOA: $184/mo
Insurance: $60/mo

Current Savings/Emergency Fund: $14K
Retirement (401K, ROTH): 174K --Prefer not to touch retirement

Income: $87.4K (annual gross) + $11K (annual disability for wife) = $98.4K

Our target house will cost ~$430K-$440K.

Personal Finance Deals

credit card question - $21k in debt

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:11:21 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: wotus
Views: 1343 Replies: 13

I have $21K in card debt. My goal is not to become 'debt free,' but rather to have improved my score and credit utilization ratios to the point where I'll be eligible to apply for some of the good 0% intro apr offers again. How much of the $21K must I pay off, and how soon? I'm about 95% utilized right now, so obviously I do plan to pay down about $3k of that this month, but how much further reduction over the next few months is required before my credit bounces back? (At around a 580 right now.)

Thanks!

Personal Finance Deals

Pain and Suffering - How to Pursue (or not)

Mon, 07 May 2012 09:03:32 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: throwaway1234
Views: 1866 Replies: 25

This almost seems comical - but was looking for some feedback from the community. Several months ago I was in a car accident where another driver ran a stop sign and I broke my toe pretty badly on the brake pedal bar (I was wearing sandals). The other drivers insurance company paid for an ER visit and a follow-up. They have now informed me that since the accident involved a fracture I can make a pain and suffering claim, and they want to know if I would like to.

I did have to hobble around for a couple weeks and missed out on some things I like to do (cycling, hiking) because of my toe, but it seems pretty minor. I'm wondering if I should say yes and see what they offer? I'm also having a hard time doing this philosophically knowing it drives up insurance rates and just doesn't seem like a big deal. I read somewhere else that you could use 1.5x medical expenses as a rule of thumb. I'm also questioning the wisdom of leaving a few hundred bucks on the table if I don't claim. Any thoughts?

Personal Finance Deals

Rental Car @ $50.76 for 3 Days Versus Driving Own Car for 620 Mile RT?

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:23:29 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: mikeg1
Views: 1455 Replies: 15

Approximately once every four weeks, I make a personal weekend trip to Austin, TX. I drive my Honda Civic.

The trip is 310 miles each way (620 miles roundtrip), plus the occasional incidental miles.

Enterprise would rent me an economy car (apparently perhaps a Chevrolet Aveo) with unlimited mileage for $13.93 per day plus tax. A rental from 5PM Friday through 5PM Monday would cost approximately $50.76 total after all taxes and fees. I could use this car for the trip.

While I hate the notion of spending $50.76 for the rental car each time, it may be a logical choice given the mileage savings on my personal car (e.g. not putting 620 miles on my car each trip).

The obvious downside is that if there was any kind of damage (even if minor, such as a car ding) to the rental car or a car accident, despite my comprehensive and collision insurance, I imagine that the costs could skyrocket.

What do you guys think?

-mike

Question Deals

Free Delta flight

Sun, 06 May 2012 16:25:14 -0500

Rating: -4 Posted By: wotus
Views: 2420 Replies: 20

Details here. The card is an AMEX - 30,000 bonus miles - $0 intro ann. fee for the first year, and I've confirmed w/ Delta you can use the points for a flight and then cancel the card before the second yr rolls around to avoid fee.

Deal Deals

Insurance Questions

Sun, 06 May 2012 15:05:32 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: atvguy64
Views: 924 Replies: 4

I have USAA as my Insurance & banking institution. My scenario is that I recently had $2500 taken out of my account via illegal use of ATM card.. the bank is reimbursing me the stolen money, so no problem there... At about the same time, I reported a Vandalism claim on my vehicle (broken window and dents to the car).. so I have had two recent claims... Now, my dog attacked the neighbor dog, and I have been asked by the dogs owner to pay for the vet bills, which my liability (homeowners) will cover... All of this within the past three months...

My question is, how will these three recent claims most likely affect my insurance rates, or will they, since none of the claims are comprehensive?? I have not yet submitted the dog bite claim($800) until I get some feed back from FW as to how it may affect my rates.. would it better for me just to pay out of pocket the dog bite costs???

Thanks!!!

Personal Finance Deals

Citi Thank You Preferred Card - CLI declined

Sun, 06 May 2012 14:17:27 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: hnynhny
Views: 1313 Replies: 19

I've Citi Thank You Preferred Card for more than an year now with 6k credit limit since its opened. I've two more cards with Citi: Thank You ( formerly Diamond Preferred ) and Forward both at 17k and 8k Credit Limits respectively.

I've used online Credit Limit increase request option to bump it up by 1k for the TY Preferred card but was declined. I had no problem increasing the limit by 1k for the other two cards.

This is the second time in an year that CLI request was declined. I'm wondering "what am I doing wrong here".

I got the card when they were offering 2 points per dollar for an year which is over now. The card is barely useful now that the promotion expired and with no luck in increasing the Credit Limit, I'm contemplating whether to close this card or keep it.

Just wondering what the forum experts thoughts are...

Credit Deals

Landlord by Circumstance

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:34:08 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: dangelo411
Views: 1514 Replies: 12

K-12 school issues will have us rent out our home next summer and rent a home in neighboring county. Selling isn't an option because of the market.

1. 2011 AGI is 146K. MTB=24% ETB=11%
2. 2012 AGI will be 152K because of guaranteed raises.
3. We are already maxing out retirement savings.
4. Although we have good income, we have little wealth.
5. Renting will result in a net loss of approx $6K a year. (Assuming it's rented every month).
---Rent vs. Mortgage
---Property Management and maintenance contract
---Increased Home Owners Insurance
6. We understand that we won't be able to take the losses in the current year because our AGI is above $150K.
7. We will be able to carry the losses forward if we sell the property at a profit.
8. We are not Realtors and cannot honestly put in the 720 hours to make this an Active Activity.
9. We have found the $6K in our budget through a paid off vehicle.
10. We'll be renting for 40% more than our current mortgage due to market conditions in new neighborhood (Schools make it worth it).
11. Mortgage interest deduction on current home yielded $3500 in reduced taxes on 2011 Fed Income Taxes.

Questions:
1. Even with the 6k/yr loss will the rental income raise our AGI even more?
(My guess is it should zero itself out because of the net loss)

2. Anything else I should be doing to prep ourselves for the shock?

Note: Somehow I messed up and this got posted as a standalone thread, not in the RE thread. I don't see a way to delete my original post.

TIA! D.

Personal Finance Deals

HARP II Refi w/2nd Mortgage issues

Sun, 06 May 2012 07:43:00 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: bbgarcia
Views: 797 Replies: 3

Can someone recommend a broker who is knowledgeable about doing a HARP II refi in NC when the property has a mortgage and a HELOC (used to purchase the property)? The property is now an investment property. I was beginning the process of doing a refi when the broker found out that the HELOC was also used as funds to purchase the property and then told me that I cannot use HARP II because of that. Now, from my research, I don't think that's true because the HELOC is with USAA and they supposedly will subordinate. I also believe I meet all the other requirements, but my problem has been finding someone knowledgeable about how to proceed with a refi and subordination. Thanks for the help.

Real Estate Deals

Starwood Hotels Card: 25K Points Bonus/Free Nights

Sun, 06 May 2012 07:40:25 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: wotus
Views: 1455 Replies: 19

This sounds tempting; enough pts. for up to 6 comped nights at their lower category hotels.

Credit Deals

Mortgage Alternatives

Sun, 06 May 2012 07:22:16 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: caliness
Views: 1359 Replies: 4

Has anyone tried alternatives to traditional bank mortgages? Apparently, there are methods to purchasing a property without interest (or what some call, usury) by allowing the bank to buy a property that the end-buyer is interested in and thereafter selling the property to the end-buyer at a premium but with "zero interest". The point is, this is an alternative for those whose beliefs are against buying/selling using interest.

One such alternative is called "murabaha" offered by, inter alia, Devon Bank.

The problem is, I can't find enough reviews about this thing and I don't know anyone who purchased a property using these methods. Can anyone here shed more light on it or share his/her experiences with us regarding traditional mortgage alternatives?

Thanks.

Question Deals

Sigfig - Financial tracking software

Sat, 05 May 2012 23:08:51 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: hana2005
Views: 1968 Replies: 10

Came across this website for financial tracking - https://secure.sigfig.com/

Has anyone used it? How are they? (in terms of security, features, support)

Thanks for any inputs ..

(Pardon me if this has been discussed ... A Forum search on "SigFig" didn't return anything ...)

Question Deals

cheapest way to get the best roadside assistance

Sat, 05 May 2012 22:06:15 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: davidbeckham
Views: 1552 Replies: 17

any idea? I don't wanna spend more money with Geico.

Question Deals

Is anyone worried about their brokerage and Penson financial going bankrupt?

Sat, 05 May 2012 21:45:33 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: retirebyfourty
Views: 1237 Replies: 7

I could have posted this on individual stock discussion thread, but I figured I'd get more visibility here. So basically, there are about 15 or 20 brokerage houses using Penson financial as part of their operation. Well, following Penson (ticker: PNSN) shows its stock price having dropped from 30$ a share in 2007 to 0.44 CENTS. Lots of speculation that they are going belly up (though I do not know any details as to the state of their business or "why" there are problems). Does anyone see this being an MF Global type scenerio? And if you do NOT think anything will happen, then why would not choose to place a large bet on buying a large lot of stock?

As I see it:

Scenerio 1, they do NOT go bankrupt. Right now buying the stock yields a lot of upside if you have a long horizon.

Scenerio 2, they DO go bankrupt. Short the stock (if you can stomach it) or simply just pull all your funds out now while the getting is still good and place into Vanguard, etc.

Too simplistic type thinking? Thoughts?

Question Deals

Do FW'ers tip for takeout? How about delivery?

Sat, 05 May 2012 21:14:16 -0500

Rating: -7 Posted By: AndroAsc
Views: 2928 Replies: 67

Another tip post... this time focusing on TAKEOUT and DELIVERY...

Do you guys tip for takeout (ordered from a traditional sit-down restaurant)? I usually don't, since I am not served.

Do you guys tip for delivery? I usually tip about a buck or two (which translates to about 10%), and this is on top of the "delivery fee" the restaurant usually imposes, which I'm guessing does not go to the driver. So the combined tips + delivery fees works out to be about the same as in a sit-down restaurant.

Finally, do you guys tip differently if it is a full-service restaurant vs a buffet dinner (i.e. self-service)?

Question Deals

Advanced mortgage calculator

Sat, 05 May 2012 21:12:30 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: hawaiian2002
Views: 836 Replies: 5

I have an existing mortgage that I started in 2009 that I am paying an extra $1000 a month to from day one. I was planing to put another $1000 a month to the mortgage starting in June of this year. I am trying to find out when my last payment will be with the extra $1000. The reason is that I weighing refinancing to a 15 year mortgage with a lower interest rate and putting in the equivalent amount of the $2000 extra payments. If there is a decent reduction when my last payment will be, I will go the refinance route. Mahalo.

Real Estate Deals

Help find a EMV (Chip & Pin) CC in US with no fee

Sat, 05 May 2012 20:01:14 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: skelem
Views: 1329 Replies: 17

Travel a lot, would love a card that worked in more places. There are several ribbon EMV dual cards in US (like the BA one) but they all have around $100 a year fee. Anyone heard of any that don't (charge a fee) - no forax fees too!

Thanks

Credit Deals

Gift Fund Documentation Question

Sat, 05 May 2012 17:38:46 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: rvdmp3
Views: 684 Replies: 1

Hoping some experienced FWF members or any folks with mortgage experience could weigh in.

Recently my Grandfather gave me $10k as a gift for closing on my new house, something he's done for all his children and grandchildren. Because I'm going with a Homepath Mortgage it was allowed with proper documentation.

I've provided the mortgage company a copy of the check, the signed gift letter, my bank statement showing it cleared and another check image copy from my bank account after it cleared. The check that I provided images of clearly have my Grandfather's name, his address, credit union, account #, etc.

Now the mortgage company also wants to see 30 days of my Grandfather's checking and savings account. Unfortunately, his statements are cut at the end of the month and since the funds were deposited 5/2 the mortgage co. asked for a '30 day bank review'. My Grandfather (81 yr old vet) tried to send me his 30 day transaction history but the mortgage co. said that wouldn't suffice. All of the back and forth and him trying to navigate his online accounts has really frustrated him to the point he now is telling me, "It shouldn't be any of their business to see all of my account statements, if the check has my name and my address and I signed my name to that gift letter, that should be all they need." He then proceeds to go on rants about Fannie Mae, the government and current administration while I try to calm him down.

Does anyone know if the bank statements are absolutely necessary? I read up on FHA loan guidelines on gift funds here: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=4155-1_5_sec... and it says verification needs to be "a copy of the withdrawal document showing that the withdrawal was from the donors account, and the borrowers deposit slip and bank statement showing the deposit."

Would the copies of the check I provided not suffice for this? Are there any other ways to verify the funds? I'd really like to figure out some sort of solution because right now I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Closing is scheduled for 5/15 so I know we won't get his May statements before then...

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Question Deals

are financial goals easier to achieve than other goals?

Sat, 05 May 2012 13:50:01 -0500

Rating: 5 Posted By: fusionz
Views: 1528 Replies: 18

Like many of you, I've always been pretty good with financial goals, whether dealing with net worth, income, etc. But when it comes to other goals, such relationships or health, I am not as good with. I think financial goals are easier because there are always numbers to keep track of progress and that makes it more straightforward. Whereas, for things like having good friendships or good mental health, it is more difficult for me because I cannot quantify it as easily and harder to keep track of progress.

Personal Finance Deals

Moving abroad- how to transfer savings?

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:17:30 -0500

Rating: 4 Posted By: lollavid
Views: 3525 Replies: 38

I'm moving to Europe in a couple weeks and am wondering about the best way to transfer my funds to a German account. Does anybody have an idea about the safest way with the best exchange rates?
Thanks.

Deposits Deals

Choosing a good Realtor for Selling a house?

Sat, 05 May 2012 11:24:57 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: carl1864
Views: 1267 Replies: 14

I did quite a few searches on here and surprisingly didn't see this covered much as far as "Selling" a house.

Anyone have any good advice for choosing a good realtor for selling a house? I've done google searches on this already with mixed results, but I figure the fatwallet forum members are a step ahead of the rest when it comes to intelligent financial decisions, and can likely offer much better advice.

Any good tips or advice would be much appreciated. I keep hearing things like "get references from friends, etc. Well, I don't know any friends who own a house, let alone sold one. I've heard to look for reviews and references. Well very few realtors have reviews I find online (at least not where the house is, its in a small town). Sure, you can ask for references, but any references provided by the realtor would obviously be biased. right now I don't seem to have too to go by other than look at the other houses they are selling, see what their personality is like, and in general just make a gut decision. I'm just not a fan of gut decisions based on minimal evidence.

Also, a couple questions in particular.
1. I heard "Realtors" are more trained and held to higher ethical standards than simply "Real Estate Agents". Is this really true, or is it just a marketing gimmick? Should I only deal with a Realtor.
2. I hear its good to have all real estate paperwork looked over by an attorney. At what point should an attorney get involved? Right at the point of the listing paperwork, or later on during the sales paperwork.

Thanks.

Real Estate Deals

Citi Forward Retention Offer: 3% back on top of thank you points

Sat, 05 May 2012 10:15:49 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: cashistrash
Views: 1894 Replies: 5

I called to cancel couple cards and Citi offered me 3% CashBack for 3 months on top of the regular thank you points. Limit is $150 CashBack. Since Amazon already gives me 5% TY points, I will be earning 8%. Looks like my gift card balance will be growing even bigger. Anyone know if there is a maximum Amazon gift card balance?

Credit Deals

Citi AAdvantage Cancellation Retention Datapoint from early May 2012

Sat, 05 May 2012 09:59:02 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: mikeg1
Views: 1268 Replies: 14

I called Citi to cancel a Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage Visa Signature Card. The $85 annual fee had just been charged 3-4 weeks prior on the current statement. The retention representative made note of the fact that a 0% APR was active on the account (BT/purchases), which may not have helped. Nonetheless, the retention offers were:

- $25 statement credit if $500 spent within three months (keep the existing AAdvantage Platinum Select Card, but end up paying the $85 annual fee - $25 credit = $60 essentially).
- Switch to a no-annual-fee Citi AAdvantage Bronze card (lose the Platinum Select perks, and only earn 1 mile for every $2 spent, but save the entire $85 annual fee).

Later in the call, a final offer was made:

- Switch to a no-annual-fee Citi Thank You card, and receive 6000 points if $300 spent within three months.

I just wanted to post this so that the datapoint would be out there. I was hoping for an $85 statement credit if I kept the AAdvantage Platinum Select card, but no such offer was forthcoming.

-mike

Credit Deals

When do you pay?

Sat, 05 May 2012 09:54:14 -0500

Rating: -5 Posted By: talonthegreat
Views: 1921 Replies: 22

I just recently payed off all my credit card debt. I've read that it's a good idea to use credit cards for big dollar items, though, so the same week I bought a new refrigerator with one of the two cards I decided to keep. My question.....when do you pay the bill, to avoid interest rates, but still gain the benefit of using the card?

Credit Deals

$200 Citibank Checking Account Signup Bonus

Sat, 05 May 2012 07:47:11 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: passwd
Views: 1361 Replies: 6

Citi said: As a new Citi cardmember, we hope youre into extra savings. Like the up to $200 you get after opening a regular checking account in The Citibank Account or Citigold Account Package and completing everyday banking activities.*

Here's How It Works:
To qualify for your $200 bonus, first open a new regular checking account in a Citigold Account Package by 5/31/12. Or, to qualify for $125, first open a new regular checking account in The Citibank Account Package by 5/31/12.

Then, for either offer, within 45 days after opening your regular checking account, complete both of the following qualifying activities each month for two consecutive calendar months:

One or more direct deposits

One electronic bill payment

Received this email. Trying to analyze the deal. The first two monthly service fees (30$) are waived for the Citigold account. Not sure if there are any closing fees. Has anyone here capitalized on this offer? Any thoughts? Couldn't find any information via search. Thanks.

Credit Deals

What is the medicare code for icing in physical therapy?

Sat, 05 May 2012 00:47:42 -0500

Rating: -5 Posted By: confused200
Views: 1130 Replies: 17

I hope this is the right forum for this question. If not, please let me know if there is another forum for this question?

TIA

Question Deals

Capital One - Overcredit of .50

Fri, 04 May 2012 23:53:18 -0500

Rating: -3 Posted By: grex23
Views: 830 Replies: 7

Turns out Capital One in the interest year to date figure overcredited me 50 cents. Yet they give me an ambiguous statement since it doesn't specifically say its for the year to date amount which I see was wrong.

On top of that it costs them .45 cents to mail out the letter because of a .50 overcredit. The amount they gave me for interest looked right to me.

They did this with my taxes as well last time and mailed out sort of a similar letter. I wonder why all these mixups. They haven't hurt me but they keep hurting themselves by sending out postal mail which isn't free.

Discussion Deals

How do I find "this type" of 529 Plan?

Fri, 04 May 2012 20:25:39 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: jimmywalt
Views: 874 Replies: 4

I recently heard that there are many types of 529 plans - 4 of which are:

1. Prepaid college tuition - I was advised not to do this type
2. They fix the investment, you're not allowed to move it around at all or control it - I was advised not to do this one either.
3. Those that move the investment for you based upon the age of the child - This is also not recommended and this is what I'm currently contributing to.
4. The one recommended would opperate much like the ESA, but with slightly different guidelines. Meaning that you can pick a mutual fund and if you don't like it you can move it over to another mutual fund. You have the ability to move and you control when it moves. It doesn't move unless you move it. Also you are allowed to put up to $10,000 into one of these and there is no income limit on it. (Yet, via Google I can't find a limit on any 529 plans).

So how do I find #4 above? What would it be called? Any examples (links) that can show me the type in #4 above?

Thank you.

Question Deals

Home mortgage underwriting booboo, any recourse ?

Fri, 04 May 2012 19:38:51 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Alamgirian6329
Views: 1096 Replies: 8

I had offered to help my folks with their mortgage process, and did bulk of the lifting in regards to submit documents electronically.

Now despite the fact I had told the applicants, not to do any change in their overall financial picture - I got a call today from lending bank that today when they were about to send the loan to closing, they found out that one of the borrowers had quit their job. Lo n behold, It was confirmed - so now after 2 months of all my work, I was upset to see it going waste.

The resonponsible borrower contacted their HR and cancelled the notice to quit and is continuing at their current position. The HR then called the bank back and afterwards told us that "its all set"

Now since it was just the matter of canceling the notice to quit employment - and there is no gap in employment, because the borrower worked today, and is scheduled for next whole week, and then the weeks onward , my question is that can this have an adverse effect on the outcome ? Can anything be done to improve our position ?

Believe me, I have conveyed my feelings, so I would appreciate if we could get some feedback on what to do next as oppose to what should have been avoided.

Thanks

Question Deals

Which broker should I use/transfer too? your opinion

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:26:38 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Trinimd1
Views: 1435 Replies: 31

Hey guys I have 1 week to decide.
I currently inherited an account through ameriprise.
I have about 20k in stocks and about 1,300 free cash in the account.

Ameriprise trading fee online is $19.99
Ameriprisebroker over the phone is ?? I have to find out

I just called ETrade
E-Trade trading fee online $9.99
E-Trade broker over the phone is $45.00

It looks like ETrade is much better

Can you tell me what other fees I should ask about when making my decision?
I know I have to ask how much is account transfer fee. (pending question)
What broker do you use? and why?

Thanks again

Investing Deals

I need an advice!

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:15:41 -0500

Rating: -10 Posted By: tatzasypkina
Views: 713 Replies: 5

Good evening!

Any suggestions on how much money I have to have just to start stock market trading? What is the fewest amount?

Investing Deals

Claim for damaged fedex package without insurance

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:58:43 -0500

Rating: -14 Posted By: deesw8
Views: 1461 Replies: 25

Hi all,

I recently got a package that is severely damaged-outside and inside, delievered from FedEx.
It seems like the FedEx guy just threw it against a piece of rock and knocked it with a hammer 50 times- and I am not exaggerating. I had a piece of antique inside which is valued about 3000 dollars and now it's basically all torn apart.

I can probably do a claim, or even sue FedEx, but the bad thing is I didn't put down an insurance value when i had it shipped to me.
I wonder how FedEx will deal with if i file a claim for 3000 dollars though I didn't purchase insurance? I know it was stupid of me to not put down a value, but nonetheless, i feel FedEx should take responsibility.

I also suspect that, they used a FedEx ground driver to pick it up instead of express, which is what I ordered. I heard the ground drivers are not as good and if that's the case, would I be able to have more leverage on the claim/case?

Please advise what the best option is.Thanks a lot.

Personal Finance Deals

Mold found in rental home, How to proceed to properly cover myself

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:56:59 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: 07pilot4me
Views: 2316 Replies: 23

i searched and found a few mold related topics in the archives, so decided to make a new post.

short story:

moved into rental home in California, bathroom DOES NOT have a vent fan (which i thought was weird) 1990's construction

Oct 2011, move-in inspection notes cracks in shower and bath tub tile

Dec 2011 - noted to property management that cracks seem to be expanding and new cracks are showing up (most of the cracks starting from partition/glass between bath tub and shower)

Feb/March 2011 - property management sends out a contractor to inspect cracks in tile. contractor says that they are most likely from the foundation shifting and that the prop manager will probably opt to NOT fix the problem.

May 2011 - contractor calls and sets up appt to fix the tiles (surprised by this), he tears appart tiles and reveals:
1) some water leakage from ???
2) mold
3) more tiles/foundation that are starting to crack
4) question as to how far the leak/mold has spread

needless to say, more problems than what I/property management/contractor expected

what are some of the things/steps that i need to make sure i do to:
1) protect myself/family and my security deposit
2) make sure the problem is fixed in a TIMELY MANNER (as it stands right now we cant use bath/shower for a week, possibly longer if owner balks on paying for repair)

basically asking what savvy FWF members (renters/landlords/lawyers etc...) would do in my situation

Personal Finance Deals

ING Direct Mobile Deposit... Finally.

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:27:38 -0500

Rating: 13 Posted By: sublimebri
Views: 3130 Replies: 34

I did a search for this but didn't see anything.

For all of you loyal ING Bank lovers, they finally have come out with mobile check deposit. I have been using Fidelity for a while now to deposit checks where before I had to have a brick and mortar bank just to deposit checks and then transfer them to ING. This feature should make a lot of people happy.

Couple caveats:
1) Only $3000 or less per check
2) The first $200 of your deposit will become available the next business day. However, your total deposit might take five business days to complete.

That should be pretty handy for most folks. I checked it on my Android and it is there and ready to use.

Here is where I saw this:
linky

Deposits Deals

Lender for small pledged asset loan?

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:14:11 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: SamAdams
Views: 833 Replies: 11

Does anyone have recommendations for firms that can provide a small (<$150k) pledged asset loan tied to 1-month LIBOR? My bank, JPM, only offers those rates for >$500k and anything lower is offered at Prime (and prime for a fully collateralized loan seems steep). From a google search it looks like Schwab requires >$250k and some of the other search results looked too sketch. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Personal Finance Deals

Using Amex points to book plan ticket from LAS(las vegas) to MKK (hawaii)

Fri, 04 May 2012 12:42:01 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: mysteryAgain
Views: 663 Replies: 1

I have 5OK points on my AMEX card and want to book trip to hawaii from 7 days in the beginning of june. What's FW way to do it?

Credit Deals

What % do FW'ers tip in a restaurant ?

Fri, 04 May 2012 12:14:51 -0500

Rating: -6 Posted By: vinayabc
Views: 5875 Replies: 268

I've been having issues with tipping, I feel like the service is one of my favorite restaurant in Houston is getting worse everyday.

I go here regularly, and tip around 14-15% every time I go, and I noticed that the service is getting bad every day since the waitstaff know how much I am going to tip them.

Not sure if this is the right forum to post, but what do you think ? Is 15% bad ? Should I just avoid going to the same restaurant every time ?
I've been to a few restaurants where I got cold food, and my glass of water was never re-filled, I had to wait 20 minutes to ask them for water.

A waiter gets 15% for serving the customers, that's their only job, why don't they work properly ?
If they are unhappy with their job, they should probably be doing something else, am sure these people earn about 50k-60k yearly in tips.

I calculated: Waiting 50 tables a day - average 30 dollar check per table (4.5 tip), so 50*4.5*250 days = 56,250 plus the minimum wage ($2.13 an hour)
They make decent money, why do they have attitude ? I sometimes end up going to places like Chipotle where I get food I want and I don't have to tip.

I just had this "tipping etiquette" question, and wanted to see what Fatwalleters think about it. Am I being cheap ?

General Economics Deals

Home Insurance Price Increase

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:43:11 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: frugfrog
Views: 2059 Replies: 49

I have my home insurance with Allstate. The policy renewal premium went up by 25%!! There were no claims in the past, so that is not the reason for the price increase. I called my agent and she told me that Allstate has increased the premium due to the increased cost of fixing the home.

Anybody else seen this happen? Home is in CA.

Thanks!

Personal Finance Deals

Help with Transferring Land from Parent to Child

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:23:47 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: toadcat
Views: 990 Replies: 14

First let me say thank you for the help!

Background. My wife's parents own 33+ acres in Kansas (I'm guessing land is going around $2000/acre) that they are letting us build a house on. It's time to get the land in our name and I want the least amount of tax problems as possible.

The attorney we talked to wrote the deed up as a gift from the parents to my wife. I did not know this and when I read it it threw up a red flag of TAXES, TAXES and more TAXES. The attorney says "you won't be paying any taxes as it is gifted. Plus, there is no way of the IRS finding out."

I then called a CPA friend that says "we should have her parents gift $24000 worth of land to us now. Have it surveyed off then when they pass the rest is passed on to us. That reason is the land is valued at $2000 now and in 20 or so years it may be worth $8000 meaning if we ever sell the land was obtained at a higher price so you will pay less taxes."

Another friend I called that does taxes says "they can gift it to you now and there will be no repercussions on taxes. It will be on the sale of the land that you will pay the taxes." Meaning a huge tax bill if we ever sell. Which we don't plan on doing, this house we are building is going to be our forever home.

Just a throw in, if you know, does Pen Fed do 0 closing costs with a construction loan. Or do they do construction loans? I've been meaning to call them but this thread got started first. We are borrowing about 165000 to build this 200000+ house. We have 45000 for the down payment.

Thanks!

Personal Finance Deals

Best practices for investment property mortgages

Fri, 04 May 2012 04:20:15 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: dontforgetzion
Views: 1337 Replies: 10

Was hoping we could put together some info about obtaining investment mortgages.
I am personally in the hunt for an investment property and would need a mortgage. I've tried applying to Penfed but couldnt get anything approved, (I tried a 30yr mortgage with 30% down).

Are there banks that will count the income from the property as a part of the mortgage qualification?

Real Estate Deals

Real estate attorney pricing and short sale related services

Fri, 04 May 2012 04:09:43 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: daud
Views: 663 Replies: 0

I need a quick feedback from the community what is customary pricing for attorney's fees.

I am sending description of my case to a local real estate attorney and can expect a request for retainer fee on Friday. At this stage, I need him to write a strong worded letter to the seller and/or listing agent threatening to sue for a specific performance. I am the buyer who accepted at the end the bank's counteroffer (at market value, I paid an appraisal just for myself)
I believe towards the final stage of the short sale (after the bank's first counteroffer), the listing agent took and has submitted other offers. He is claiming those were not above my and bank's price.
He violated the contract - such action was not allowed. We sent him a "cure notice" to correct this infraction but instead he has just forwarded today a cancellation of the contract from the seller (just one sentence and empty line for seller's signature, obviously he has prepared this for the seller).

Time is of essence as the bank can accept any offer at their asking price submitted by the seller/listing agent. Only the seller is contractually bound to me.
I think we have breach of contract (the sellers actions) here. The agents actions (parallel submitting) could be considered "intentional interference with contractual relations" ?

I hope that immediate strong posturing can bring this to close. I possibly would not pursue a law suit as it may be difficult to specify my loss = missed opportunity of another purchase. (The market here is hot and this is a special property which I still want)

Please feel free to comment beside the legal services pricing also on other aspects of the situation.
First flag was that there was a pool repair done well into the short sale process. Makes no sense to pay $3k if I am loosing a house in short sale. Also, the short sale is being decided by a second lien holder, as the first bank comes out whole and is still being paid (! why?) I suspect the listing agent wants double dipping by dual agency with some investor and I am an obstacle. Or, the seller has changed his mind, maybe wants to do a transaction with a relative or might be pursued for a deficiency by the bank (he is out of state and used this only seasonally, but had mortgage address here)

Real Estate Deals

How long it takes to get paper I bond replaced?

Fri, 04 May 2012 00:19:32 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: ussrfw
Views: 704 Replies: 2

I lost my $5000 paper I bond purchased last Oct.
I mailed the replace form to the treasury on Mar. 24, 2012.(I attached a copy of my original I bond)
I haven't receive any replace paper I bond in the mail.
Is that normal?
How long it takes to get paper I bond replaced?

Thank you very much!

Investing Deals

(Vanguard) Relatively "safe" investment for non-withheld funds that will be taxed next year?

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:58:29 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Muscle
Views: 951 Replies: 4

I'm going to be receiving some income which will not have tax withheld (will be getting a 1099-INT) and I'd like to invest it into something relatively safe that will still yield decent return with relatively low risk (maybe low-medium risk with low-medium return) as I will need a portion of this money next year to pay taxes on it. I'd like to avoid having to jump through too many hoops if possible, which could put some high yield checking accounts out. I was thinking of investing it in Total Bond Market, but maybe it makes more sense to invest it in a particular type of bond that will have a more certain return around tax time next year. Thoughts?

Question Deals

IRA/FAFSA Question

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:14:23 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: scoutconnor
Views: 760 Replies: 3

I have a Roth IRA open and am currently a student in college. I don't have much savings but am considering adding more to my IRA that I opened. Does money that is in an IRA count towards what is reported on the FAFSA as "Student Savings?" or is it not to be included because it is in an IRA?

Question Deals

chase online access temporarily down

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:26:41 -0500

Rating: 8 Posted By: estiel
Views: 2990 Replies: 19

I tried to log into my personal chase accounts, and got this message:

"Your User ID and Password are inactive. To reactivate your online access, please call Customer Service at 1-877-242-7372. If you live outside the U.S., please contact Customer Service at 1-713-262-3300."

I tried to log into my "business" account and got the same message. I feared the blacklist.....

But after calling the number on the back of my card, turns out they're doing system maintenance. CSR advised to try back in a couple hours.

Deposits Deals

Auto insurance companies that only look at 3 years of driver history

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:18:09 -0500

Rating: 47 Posted By: dynoFurby
Views: 3182 Replies: 41

I have an at fault accident that occurred just over 3 years ago. I am repricing auto insurance and found that many (in fact most) auto insurance quote forms I have come across ask for incidents in the past 5 years. These companies have been quoting me out higher than those only looking at 3 years. I searched previous topics here and searched google without much luck finding a list of insurers that only look at the 3 previous years of a driver's record.

I did most of the legwork to start a list that may help others that are in a similar situation. Keep in mind this may be state specific so YMMV but here are my results for drivers in Oregon. Please add any others to the list that you have encountered as this could be a useful resource in the absence of any other list out there that I can find:

AAA -OR (3 Years for an at fault accident; 3 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Farmers -OR (3 Years for an at fault accident; 3 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
GMAC -OR (3 Years for an at fault accident; 3 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Kemper (Unitrin) -OR (3 Years for an at fault accident; 3 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Amica -OR (3 years for all accidents or violations; 5 years for a claim)
Statefarm -OR (3 years for minor accidents, claims, or violations; 5 years for a major violation)
Progressive -OR (5 Years for an at fault accident; 3 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Allstate -OR (5 Years for an at fault accident; 5 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
MetLife -OR (5 Years for an at fault accident; 5 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Nationwide -OR (5 Years for an at fault accident; 5 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Geico -OR (5 Years for an at fault accident; 5 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Travelers -OR (5 Years for an at fault accident; 5 years for not at fault accidents, claims, or violations)
Ameriprise (Costco)-OR (3 Years for accidents or claims; 5 years for traffic violations)

Discussion Deals

Earnings Season coming to an end, one more big one I'm watching...

Thu, 03 May 2012 17:17:38 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: hakujin
Views: 885 Replies: 3

Rackspace

I don't know if this is the proper venue since I don't see much talk in Finance related to stocks but wanted to get some opinions, if possible. Yahoo finance boards are kinda ho-hum on this particular cap as well.

I'm up in the air on this company as a sound short term investment. As I see it, their P/E is high and they the earnings whispers seem extraordinarily high for a company that trades on par with Equinix. They also seem to move in tandem. Equinix beat top and bottom but seems the bar was set a lot lower. I also fear guidance may lowered.

What I wanted to gauge is what folks really felt about the Monday report? Crush earnings? I'm starting to get cold feet after looking at this same quarter last year, and also at the insider sales of late. It's really disproportionate to previous quarters and the notion of a very good Q1. That and this earnings season has been very illogical and fed by a mass amount of emotion.

Thoughts to anyone short or long on RAX?

I have no position in RAX as I write this but may initiate one either tomorrow or Monday before earnings release.

Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/narrativescience/2012/05/02/forbes-e...
http://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1180262.htm
Q4: http://seekingalpha.com/article/365261-rackspace-hosting-s-ceo-d...

Question Deals

Best used luxury car under $15K and buying cars from an auction

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:32:44 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: li83arskiy68
Views: 3197 Replies: 55

I am planning to buy used Luxury sedan below $15K. I am looking at 4 cylinder car (2004-2008), preferably under 80K miles. I am going to use family friend car dealer, who is going to buy a car at an auction for me (service fee $500). So, hopefully I will get a car for at least $2-3K below dealership cost.

Below are the models I am considering:

- Audi A4
- Lexus IS (or others in the cheaper range)
- Acura TSX
- Volvo S40 (or others in the cheaper range)
- WV Passat
- Infinity G
- BMW 3

1.Can someone please recommend from personal experiences which of these cars would require least maintenance?
2.Can someone share their experience buying cars at auctions?
3.Can someone, who financed their car through PenFed let me know if they just give you a check, so you can pay the dealer in full?

I dont know much about cars, so any information is greatly appreciated.

P.S. Please dont suggest vic crown or ask me why I need luxury car. I just need it.

Personal Finance Deals

Hire direct as a contractor or go through a staffing office?

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:47:36 -0500

Rating: -2 Posted By: dowxp
Views: 1102 Replies: 13

I have been given the option to either hire on as a contractor or to go through a staffing office to obtain benefits and insurance. I am in my late 20's and married. Currently, we rarely use health insurance and I'm wondering if it'll be better to self-insure (or not insure at all) and obtain the higher rate as a contractor or just keep it 'safe' by going through a staffing group.

Thanks.

Personal Finance Deals

MasterCard Extended Warranty - New Admin Company - Looking For Old

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:02:01 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Lappie
Views: 923 Replies: 9

Ive got a Macbook Pro purchased on my Carnival MasterCard with Extended Warranty protection.
The catch is that this purchase was made in November 2010. The new administrative company doesnt
honor the warranty from that long ago. That company can be reached by calling the number in the
Guide to Benefits pamphlet. That pamphlet and number is what is reached on the Baclays website
today.

Calling that number, I was referred to another number, which then refers me to yet another. Of course that number just
goes to basic Barclays Customer Service and those Chinese people have no idea what I am talking about.

Just wondering if anyone else has had experience with this issue and got a number that actually
will help me start a claim.

The Macbook Pro has a dim display, bad backlight or such and im being quoted $700 to fix it, so
i would really like to take advantage of this protection.

General Economics Deals

BB&T $100 Bonus - AL, DC, FL, GA, IN, KY, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:56:53 -0500

Rating: 9 Posted By: CokeSlurpee711
Views: 2288 Replies: 31

Only post I saw was from 2010 with a bogus link.

BB&T is offering a $100 bonus for opening a checking account with promo code AIEAP. In order to qualify for the $100 bonus, new customers must open a BB&T checking account and set-up direct deposit OR make 3 online bill payments. Apply by 5/31/2012.

Unsure on the usuals i.e. ACH count as DD etc... Never used BB&T in the past.

BB&T Linkage

From their site:

Eligibility: This special limited time offer is available to new clients that open a new personal checking account between 03/25/2012 and 05/31/2012 through BBT.com. A new client is a person who is not currently a signer and who has not been a signer within the last 6 months on any BB&T personal checking account. Offer is subject to change or be withdrawn at any time without notice, and cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer is limited to one incentive per household, and does not apply to second or multiple personal accounts. In order to receive the $100 incentive, new clients must do at least one of the following: 1) Use BB&T online bill payment service to initiate 3 online bill payments (minimum payment of $25) from your new checking account within 90 days of account opening, OR 2) Enroll in and receive 2 recurring direct deposits (minimum of $100) to the new personal checking account within 90 days of account opening. Any accounts not in good standing, closed, and/or with a balance less than or equal to zero at the time we review account eligibility will not receive the $100 incentive. Normal minimum balance opening requirements apply. Some BB&T checking account options accrue interest. For example, an Elite Gold account earns 0.02% annual percentage yield in North Carolina; rates good as of 02/01/2012.

Eligible in:

Florida
Georgia
Alabama
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Deposits Deals

Sending $500 to Hong Kong - best wire????

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:33:02 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: MaxMojo
Views: 1037 Replies: 14

What would be the least expensive way to securely send $500 to a company in Hong Kong?

Most of my vendors there accept PayPal, but there's this one that insists on credit card or wire. With the CC my bank charges a transfer fee, plus the exchange rate difference, and the vendor tacks on another 5%.

Thanks!

Personal Finance Deals

Money + Happiness + City

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:24:07 -0500

Rating: 9 Posted By: GazerOne
Views: 4430 Replies: 49

Interesting numbers...

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/09/07/what-salary-buys-happi...

General Economics Deals

Free service to detect child ID theft

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:14:21 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: turtlebug
Views: 991 Replies: 4

Link

It's not foolproof & only involves TransUnion at this time, but it's a start.

Note: Maryland parents have an even better option to stop ID theft before it happens. Last month, state lawmakers passed a law that allows parents to place a freeze on their children's credit report as a preemptive measure against identity theft.

General Economics Deals

Help me eliminate CC Debt, while gaining a wife

Thu, 03 May 2012 08:43:59 -0500

Rating: 4 Posted By: USScouser
Views: 4138 Replies: 56

I know the consensus on marriage from lurking these forums, but all arguments regarding that topic aside, here's my situation.

Getting married in a month. Future wife has zero CC debt, credit score around 750, and is overall in good shape.

I'm in considerably worse shape. I have completely cut out all unnecessary purchases, and have been living very frugally for the past 3 months. Eliminating the debt has become my #1 priority, but unexpected car bills, and living beyond my means for my single years has caught up with me...

Credit score - 743
Savings - $0

My take home - $3150 monthly
Rent - $1150 monthly. This is a huge portion of my take home, but I moved into this place in December, thinking ahead to when we get married in June (she doesn't live with me currently).

Car - $5500 balance, 4.99% - $227 monthly payment
Car's worth about $9000 selling private party, so I'm not upside down, and I bought it used in 2009. Major maintenance was just completed, so no more money should need to be spent on it for the foreseeable future beyond oil changes and routine maintenance.

Utilities/Bills - $285/month
Student Loans - $350/month, various APRs, max is about 6%. These loans are already consolidated, and are through 3 lenders, 2 private, and federal.

CCs:
Chase Sapphire
Balance - $4000
APR - 12.24%

Discover
Balance - $2780
APR - 0.0% (balance transfer, it expires in Nov. 2012)

Jeweler's Card through Wells Fargo Financial (engagement ring)
Balance - $3200
APR - 0.0% (19 months no interest financing, contingent on $357 monthly payment)

I have 3 other cards, all with zero balances. 2 of which are recently opened. Adding all of this up. I'm left with about $600 a month to feed me, clothe me, and gas up my car (which requires premium octane), plus any unforeseen expenses. Any extra income remaining at the end of a pay cycle (not much) has been dumped onto a card to lower the balance.

My plan(s):
1) Open Chase Slate, transfer total balances from all three cards (pending approval & limit of course)
0.0% APR on balance transfers for 15 months
With my wife's income coming into the picture in a month, this should allow a considerable load to be taken off my shoulders, and focus more on paying down the debt.

If that's not aggressive enough;

2) Sell car, use proceeds to pay cash for a considerably cheaper used car.

Proceed with plan 1, and use additional funds from car payment savings to attack the debt faster.

Regardless of which plan I go with, I expect the debt to be payed off completely within the 15 month promotional period offered by the Slate card.

I've gotten a lot of great info from reading on here, and I just wanted to see if the plan I pieced together fits with what the majority of you think, or if there's any advice (again, other than not getting married) that could help me.

Personal Finance Deals

Help with Credit Report - Collections

Thu, 03 May 2012 06:29:51 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: stovetop24
Views: 684 Replies: 3

I reviewed a copy of my credit report this morning with Equifax and noticed there was a potentially negative item listed on it. It appears an eye doctor that I used to visit turned me over to collections. The deliquency seems to be from July 2007 but was just listed on my credit report recently. Here's the thing...I never received as much as a single letter in the mail or a phone call about it. I had no idea that I owed the doctor any money. I've always carried insurance and am not sure why my insurance didn't cover the visit. I have moved since 2007 so would have no way of knowing if they sent a letter to my former address. What would you recommend? Pay it in exchange for them agreeing to remove it from my report?

Question Deals

Wells Fargo Home Loan Specialist calls me from his home after hours to ask for docs

Wed, 02 May 2012 20:54:23 -0500

Rating: 17 Posted By: christy461
Views: 7149 Replies: 89

I applied for a HAMP in Feb. after having my income reduced by 2/3. At the end of March,with my file complete, my "Home Preservation Specialist" kicked it out of the system instead of sending it to underwriting. Two other random "specialists" I spoke with said it looked like a mistake, since there was no notation as to why it happened. Two weeks later, my guy says I was on a payment plan and didn't pay. And that's why it was closed.This is not true, but it is now the notation he has added to my file. He refuses to remove it, and will not send me what he claims is my signed payment plan. At first he claimed someone else put the notation in, then he said he did it.
Fast forward to the present. After faxing him my complete file 3 times and sending 3 hard copies certified, my application is still with him. Tonight he called me from his home, after hours. He told me he was calling from his home, and the number showed as "private" on my phone. He said, "I'm not supposed to be doing this, but I wanted to go the extra mile for you. I hope you aren't recording this, because I could get fired and then I would need a Home Affordable, yuck, yuck." He also said, "Since I'm calling from home,I don't need to go through the verification process." So he goes on to ask me to fax him pieces of the file AGAIN, claiming he never got them. He said many times he wanted to get this done for me. He also stated, "I do need other documents from you, but I can't remember which ones right now, so just fax me the ones I ask for and I will call you tomorrow from work and let you know what others I need." This is very strange, because Friday he said his manager was working on my file.
This creeps me out. I do not know this guy. For one thing, why call me from home? What is he doing with my info. at home? What is happening that he doesn't want this call routed through the Wells Fargo "This phone call may be recorded or monitored for customer satisfaction..." And why did he discuss my loan without verifying who he was talking to?
Yesterday I faxed him a summary of the past few months and cc'd it to the Attorney General's office. Maybe that has something to do with his behavior.

Why would he be doing this?

Real Estate Deals

BoA card = free museum admission

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:14:17 -0500

Rating: 2 Posted By: UncaMikey
Views: 1425 Replies: 8

I suppose this might go in Hot Deals but FWF is my home, so...

I'm one of those who had the Schwab 2% Visa. When BoA took over the card, I moved most of CL over to Fid AMEX and sock-drawered the card. Every once in a while I log on to BoA to make sure nothing funny is happening in the account. Today I logged on and found this:

BoA Museums on Us

Now, it so happens this weekend we're visiting Boston -- the Museum of Fine Arts is one of the most expensive museums in the country ($22 per adult). But thanks to BoA it looks like we'll get in free.

Has anyone used this program to get free museum admission?

Deal Deals

House paid off! Need investment advice!

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:53:50 -0500

Rating: -4 Posted By: vjsinha
Views: 2431 Replies: 28

Now before anybody flame me, I want to set the records straight. I am not looking for "get-rich-quick" scheme, or buy investment property game. Here is my situation. I had a 4% 15-year fixed mortgage for over $200K. Since I was not getting anywhere close to 4% in banks, I decided to pay off the balance. It is almost 10 years since I am paying the mortgage. I was paying some principal each month from Day 1. I have reward checking with Bank of Blue Valley but they have decreased the payout to 2% at 25K. Still was not making sense at 2% loss even if I opened one or two joint accounts. My wife is a doctor but decided not to work and take care of kids. I was(am) not ok with her decision, but life is life. I have come to peace with her decision. My income is not very high (about 120K) but with business deductions and kids, I come under 15% tax bracket. I live in Central CA, and I have some capital loss on my house (means I paid in interest and principal more than it is worth now) though not like others. My net worth is about $500k (mostly in passive retirement accounts-traditional IRAs, solo401(k) IRA, Roth IRA etc. I am heavy into international ETF (I believe future lies there) and some SPY. I have some play money (20K) into AAPL, MA and US REITs (recently purchased). So I feel I do not have to expose myself into investment property. Although it is quite enticing. I am about 46 and would like to retire at 50 to some cheap place. Kids' education is secured and separate.

Now the question. If my situation does not change (which is highly unlikely), what would be the ideal investments from now on for next 4 year? I can take some risks, but not too much. I like to understand the investments before I leap. So, I need to understand the cash flow and business model of the business before I can invest. I am a graduate engineer with MBA and hope to get my CFA by 12/2013. I am open to all ideas and I believe Fatwalet is a great crowd sourcing platform.

Investing Deals

Impending Used Car Purchase

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:36:11 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Dus10
Views: 1368 Replies: 15

In 2005, I bought a 2002 Chevy Malibu LS (3.1L v6) with 48k miles on it for $7k. It has served me well despite my abuse and is getting ready to hit 200k miles. It has tons of normal maintenance work coming up (tires, suspension, brakes, etc) and just recently had the fuel pump go out (because I never changed the filter... despite the fact that I bought one that had been sitting in my garage for three years). It has also been in two wrecks for which I have done no repairs. It is time to put 'er down.

I found a 2003 Chevy Malibu LS (3.1L v6) with 48k miles on it... and they want almost $8k for it. I haven't seen it in person, let alone driven it... so I don't know its true condition. It is being sold by a local Toyota dealership, so I trust that they aren't just completely misrepresenting it (although there could be some small inconsistencies.

From what I have seen, they may be a few hundred over KBB. I don't feel comfortable with the price despite the other positive aspects of this deal. I am familiar with the vehicle and have done all of the regular maintenance. Assuming it isn't worse than they state, I should be able to get it to 200k miles easy enough... probably further if I treat it better.

Which brings me to my next point... this will be my daily driving car for the next 2 - 2.5 years, until my kids start driving, and then they will be the drivers. I feel that it is a safe car and it should be reliable. I put 22-25k miles a year on my car with my current commute, and I don't see it changing during the time I would be driving it, then it will have far fewer miles, but it will probably be abused more than I would.

Based on that situation, what price would you feel comfortable paying if you were in my shoes... and what is the reality that I will be able to talk them down?

They also have a 2006 Chevy Malibu LTZ (3.5L v6) with 48k miles for just under $10k. Being the LTZ trim pack, it is fully loaded. It is a different platform than the model I drive, so I don't know about the reliability and such, and I have never driven one. If I can't talk them down closer to $6k for the 2003, I think I would rather go with a newer model that is loaded. For those that actually have a significant amount of driving experience with the newer platform, is it as reliable as the older platform? It has a larger engine that I would assume would take my foot pedal abuse with more ease.

I am ready to pay cash for the 2003 if I can get it to $6k... I would have to save up a couple more months or take out a short-term loan for the 2006, which I don't mind doing as I would have it paid off within 2-3 months and would be able to get a good rate.

Discussion Deals

Lender on property in foreclosure with questions about BK

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:52:22 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: mchas
Views: 1104 Replies: 12

Before anyone says to consult a BK lawyer - I definitely plan to. However, I am trying to get a better understanding of the basics first.

My partner and I own a note on two commercial properties in CA. The owners are in default and we are 2 months into the 3 month NOD process. Next month we plan on filing the Notice of Sale and either working out a deed in lieu or having it go to auction. We would be fine owning the properties and knew this going into the deal.

My question is - what happens if the property owners file BK? It is my understanding that we are a secured lender and should be ok, but I would like to know all of the possibilities. There is definitely equity in the properties and they provide their primary source of income. My questions are: How long can they drag this out? What happens to their payments to us in the mean time? What risks should we be thinking about?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance!

Personal Finance Deals

Need advice - mother in laws house in wife's name ready for foreclosure

Tue, 01 May 2012 23:24:13 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: 1yardaway
Views: 3013 Replies: 41

I need advice on where to go with this...

my mother in law was divorced and had no credit, so several years ago, my wife applied for a mortgage(my wife had great credit) with her mom paying the monthly mortgage and her name was on the deed.

fast forward several years, we partnered on a condo in Fla and split the mortgage/maintence fees equally

we had a fight with her mom that caused us to be on non talking terms - from this, her mom stopped paying her portion of the condo leaving us with all the bills.

a few years ago, I lost my job and since have taken a job making about 28k less due to this job market(sys admin) - I have trouble keep my head above water with my own house/bills and now have maintenance fees and assessment fees backed up, and have been receving letters from lawyers putting a lien on the condo...

on top of this, we recently found out the house my moth-in-law lives in under my wife's name... HASN'T BEEN PAID in 22 MONTHS and is about to go into foreclosure!

I am at a loss of what to do here - she is an evil person and because of the blowout we had some time ago, she is ruining her daughter's credit and name in spite!

My main question is, since this is a 2nd property, could the bank that owns the loan, go after our house after it forecloses?

this is a mess I'm in, and haven't spoken to an attorney yet, and was hoping for some sound advice.

thanks in advance.

Real Estate Deals

Joint checking account with girlfriend

Tue, 01 May 2012 22:54:04 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: elprofessorlin
Views: 3583 Replies: 104

I moved in with my girlfriend and have made it clear that I want to split our spending (going out, etc.) and we're also splitting rent. So far, we've been taking turns and also adding up groceries, etc. and paying whoever is owed money. We had a couple arguments in the past over who pays for what and today my girlfriend suggested opening a joint bank account where we fund a percentage of our incomes for things like groceries, shared entertainment, eating out, etc. and also the rent. We'd then just pay for those expenses with a debit card and there is no question over figuring out who pays for what later on.

I'm wondering if people think this is a good idea? Or, any alternative ways to make things easier for us?

Personal Finance Deals

Discover 2% Cash Back on Phone/TV/Internet Bills?

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:23:26 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: mikeg1
Views: 1119 Replies: 5

From My DiscoverCard.com account (I am not sure if the offer is targeted):

Get unlimited 2% CashBack Bonus through 2012 when you pay any of these bills automatically with your Discover card:
Cable & Satellite TV
Phone
Internet
Satellite Radio

Offer Details

Sign up to earn 2% unlimited CashBack Bonus on cable TV, satellite TV and radio, phone, and Internet service provider bills that are set up for automatic bill payment with your Discover card from the date you sign up through 12/31/12. If a bill is classified to a category other than those listed above or is not coded as an automatic payment, it may not qualify. If you choose to cancel an automatic bill payment, you must contact your service provider. Purchases earning 2% CashBack Bonus will not count toward your total annual purchases to determine your tier level. Rewards are added to your CashBack Bonus account at the end of your billing period. See CashBack Bonus Program Terms and Conditions for further details.

TV bills are classified as cable and satellite. Phone bills are classified as landline local and long distance services, cell phone services and voice over IP phone services. Internet is classified as Internet service providers; Internet marketing and selling services, website and domain hosting, anti-virus and Internet security, Internet search advertising, web design, and online data storage/backup are not included.

Question Deals

Stolen Check

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:13:33 -0500

Rating: -1 Posted By: ecrtpp
Views: 3001 Replies: 59

I would greatly appreciate if someone can help me. I recently gave someone a $84,000 check which she mailed to her bank in California. The check never got to her bank and it was stolen and deposited into a Wells Fargo account. The back of the check does not say a name or anything. The person I sent it to signed it and wrote her account number. Now Wells Fargo says they are not responsible since it was endorsed. Does anyone have any advice? My bank has sent them a letter demanding that Wells Fargo reimburse us but they have not responded. Is there a agency that I can contact?

Personal Finance Deals

Quick Q re: paying off BTs & Credit Score

Tue, 01 May 2012 16:37:21 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: jd2010
Views: 1342 Replies: 14

This question should probably go to credit boards but I'm too lazy to make a user ID there and I <3 you guys.

I've got 20k or so on 0% BT until about october. I have the cash to cover it now, with little to no need/access to short term CDs until then.

I will be in market for first house in next 6 months, so am trying to keep credit score as high as possible.

Basically, question is this: Will credit score be impacted depending on how I pay this off, whether its 20k at once, or spread out, or gradually now until october, etc etc. I don't understand whether there are algorithms that dictate anything other than just pay off asap to reduce allocation usage.

Pics of the only woman I'd ever consider marrying attached:
1
2

Question Deals

How long does it take to get approved for AMEX True Earnings Card from COSTCO

Tue, 01 May 2012 16:17:45 -0500

Rating: -3 Posted By: Just4u
Views: 987 Replies: 10

I applied for the card on Friday and she said we will confirm your membership and get back to you. Today when we called up they said we dont have your application and it will take 10 business days for Costco to reply back. Is it real ......?

I dont have any email of any sort to say we are in process of approving either and the CSR refused to confirm with an email. I have excellent credit and use the Costco membership decently.

Is anyone in the same boat?

Question Deals

Stock Rover investment research platform - currently free

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:51:35 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: 90C4
Views: 1002 Replies: 9

According to this article in the current Barron's, it's a pretty amazing product and currently free for people who sign up now.

Here's the text from the article:

Go Fetch, Stock Rover

By MIKE HOGAN
Impressive new equities Website is an able portfolio manager and likely a tough competitor to Wikinvest.

If you stumble across Stock Rover's landing page in your Internet travels, you might be inclined to move on: It looks like every other airy, Web 2.0 social-media sitecomplete with a warm-puppy logo. But if you skip the free registration and don't log in, you'll miss the "Wow!" moment I enjoyed.

No Website I've seen packs so much useful, context-appropriate information onto a single page. Lots of sites are crammed with disconnected bric-a-brac that tries to lure you into clicking on somethinganything. Rover's (stockrover.com) dashboard/portfolio page is packed with information that's not only valuable, but relevant, too.

Wikinvest (wikinvest.com) is the only other stock dashboard/portfolio manager that successfully combines anything close to this functionality with such ease of use. Another site, Personal Capital (personalcapital.com), has a very good dashboard, but offers a more wide-ranging perspective encompassing a variety of asset types for your larger personal-finance "portfolio." It's more akin to Quicken software's home view (intuit.com).

ROVER IS A FOCUSED stock-trading tool still in beta. It isn't as roomy and welcoming as Wikinvest, mostly because of a smaller typeface necessitated by its data density. But unlike the fairly static views on most financial analysis sites, Rover is infinitely customizable, easily topping your next best option. Move over, Wikinvest, there's a new big dog on the stock-research porch.

It starts with Rover's dashboard, the centerpiece of which is a very spreadsheet-like portfolio manager. Its column-and-row matrix offers granularity and flexibility that surpass even Quicken's portfolio view, on the way toward something comparable to Microsoft Excel. Resize, reorder, add, remove and sort Rover's columns; you can train this portfolio to behave any way you like. This is as good as it gets on the Webat least in a retail tool.

And information is stacked in a third dimension, too. Place the mouse over a ticker or fund name, and up pops a fly-over thumbnail of key characteristicssay, PowerShares QQQ Trust's (ticker: QQQ) 0.95 beta. Okay, that's an easy one, but you might have to check three or four sites to find up-to-date betas for most tickers, even for large-caps.

Rover's data are continuously updated, and extend to very lightly traded small-caps like the $162 million iShares Morningstar Small Value Index Fund (JKL).

Rover's exhaustive filtering and screening includes 11 preconfigured views of as many portfolios and watch lists as you can fit on a screen. Each includes a battery of metrics commonly associated with a portfolio perspectiveone focused on returns, another for valuation data, and so forth. Clicking among the views changes the portfolio's data columns to different combinations of some 250 stock parameters.

These views also can be applied to the constituents of several popular stock indexes the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, S&P 100, Nasdaq 100 11 commonly-used market sectors and their industries, or any of seven major classes of 900-plus exchange-traded funds.

So, for example, at the click of a mouse, you can view a portfolio of the Dow's 30 holdings or any of 178 diversified domestic ETFs that can then be broken down by asset class or industry.

Are you kidding me? The volume of information being fetched in near-real time is incredible, and available in few places that don't charge institution-sized subscription rates.

Many of Rover's numbers are the results of custom calculations that produce unique information you can't find on Yahoo!, Google or Thomson Reuters. For example, choose a return date-range from one day to five years, or display the annual amount of cash you can expect from each ticker's regular dividend. The latter will endear the dog to income-hungry investors who realize that total return, not just share appreciation, matters.

The portfolio sits atop a highly interactive price/volume chart, where you can plot the histories of multiple tickers against popular benchmarks. You can overlay both common fundamental and technical indicatorssplits, earnings, and dividends as well as moving averages and Bollinger bands.

Granted, it's a basic collection of technical indicators. On the other hand, it would take a dedicated charting application to meet the needs of true technicians, says co-founder and CEO Howard Reisman, a long-time investor and software engineer who grew frustrated with existing portfolio systems and constant shifts among different windows. Rover's indicators are those that even fundamental investors often use. You can, for instance, plot the nine SPDR ETF market-sector proxies against the S&P500, and, in a couple of mouse clicks, follow investors' rotation into and out of different sectors over a variety of time periods.

THE OTHER MAJOR component of the dashboard is a sidebar whose tabs provide information about the ticker being highlighted in the portfolio manager. Besides the standard intraday market data, there's a summary of the ticker's peers, the latest analyst estimates, and a real-time news feed that, once again, is entirely coordinated with other elements. You can even make notes linked to a tickerthe first time I've seen this capability. Notes can be dated and sorted alphabetically or by date.

Highlight a different ticker, and all these elements change before your finger rebounds from the mouse click. Charts and sidebars are easily toggled on and off to make room for lengthier portfolio views; and every panel can be resized just by dragging its border.

One thing Rover doesn't do that Wikinvest does is fetch holdings from your brokerage accounts so they can be continuously, automatically updated. That's on the to-do list, says Reisman. Currently free for anyone who registers, the site will be in beta until year-end, when a reasonably priced professional version will be offered.

Far from fully grown, Rover already demonstrates what can happen when people who know the market, such as Reisman and Chief Technology Officer Andrew Martin, wield Web 2.0 tools. Rover goes beyond the usualsocial-media platitudes to deliver real bred-in-the-bone functionality. Good boy.

Deal Deals

GOT A MAY BIRTHDAY?? Get Double Cashback at DISCOVER with sign up

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:57:00 -0500

Rating: 5 Posted By: MISTERCHEAP
Views: 2291 Replies: 11

www.discovercard.com

may not apply to all types of discover cards.

Credit Deals

how to convert visa/amex gift cards to $$?

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:56:35 -0500

Rating: -18 Posted By: Al224
Views: 1839 Replies: 26

Dear FW Gurus and Members,
I understand this has been discussed many times before here, but by reading them, I couldn't get my answer, so if you could please help me with your advise, I really appreciate that

How can I convert large value of visa / AMEX gift cards to cash?
a legal way which doesn't need luck and a super friendly CSR which does the thing and doesn't call his/her boss

Thank you again

Personal Finance Deals

Free Mercedes-Benz when you open a $1M 5yr CD (1.2% APY)

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:47:49 -0500

Rating: 9 Posted By: discoganya
Views: 10660 Replies: 87

Free Mercedes-Benz when you open a $1M 5yr CD (1.2% APY)

Cars to choose from:
2012 SLK350
2012 E350
2012 ML350 SUV
2012 E350 Convertible

Deal Deals

Financial Preparation for Moving from Corporate Job to Self-Employment

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:13:39 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: drmyrongains
Views: 1109 Replies: 18

Hello FW,

My friend and I are making preparations to start our own small business within the next 6 months.

My question to the community is: What preparations should I make financially? I mostly concerned with the implications of going from a normal, decent-paying W2 job to self-employment where my income may be unstable For now, let's assume that the small business itself will require little capital.

My breakdown:
Age: 30, Single, No Kids
Annual Income: $120k
Liquid Savings: $190k
Retirement: $105k
Student Loan $8k
Car paid off
Don't own primary residence or investment property
No CC or other debt

Since I'll be moving away from a W2 job, my instinct is to buy my first residence (around $50k for down payment) and possibly buying a positive cash flow investment property ($30k down) because I can easily qualify for a loan while I'm at my day job.

What would you do?

Personal Finance Deals

Rent, Sell or Stay Put?

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:32:45 -0500

Rating: -1 Posted By: gbucki
Views: 1095 Replies: 6

So I have been reading these boards and found some pretty helpful and interesting information on the housing market. I hope this community can help me figure out the best plan of attack. My wife and I want to move from Charlotte, NC to Pittsburgh, PA. We have a family now and want to be closer to home.

We bought our house in April 2008 for $185k. We bought at the worst possible time and the price has dropped since our purchase. We had felt confident that in 5 years we might be able to move and make a small profit (but the times have changed. We got a 30 year fixed loan at 5.75%, we currently pay about $1200/month and have 26 years yet to go on the loan. We owe $166k still on the loan.

The house is currently valued at $145k on Zillow, but similar homes in the neighborhood have sold in the $160's-$170's. We have a foreclosure in the neighborhood which is bringing down prices. But overall it is a good area, mostly owners and a few renters. Good area, growing area, good schools. But the housing market has really been hurt in Charlotte since the recession.

My wife and I are not really too sure where to go. We don't have a lot of cash on hand, I am the working with wife at home with child. I make about $80k/year. We have been trying to see if we should rent, sell or stay put. We are also wondering if we could refinance to get a lower mortgage payment. If we rent, we would have to get a property manager because we wouldn't be local. We think we could rent at about $1000-1200.

I guess we are looking for any input on where to go from here. We aren't sure if we should put a little money into fixing up some little things (master bath needs new shower) or just some cosmetic stuff. I would like to avoid selling and losing 20k.

It seems like all the input I have read says to try to avoid being a long distance landlord if possible.

Any thoughts would help. And if I forgot any important info, let me know... Thanks

Personal Finance Deals

Tax lien filed by State on closed business....now on credit report....how to handle?

Tue, 01 May 2012 07:23:30 -0500

Rating: 4 Posted By: RhizzleBop
Views: 1152 Replies: 7

I had 2 business entities back between 2006 and 2009.
I sent in paperwork to close them back in early 2010 and never heard from them till recently.
Late last year I got a call about oweing taxes and the Dept of Revenue guy helped me send in a paper that allowed him to wipe that out as paid.

A few months later, Around Feb 2012, I got a sudden tax lien on my pay check. After digging into it, it was the same issue, with the second business license, except no phone calls, as they only sent mail to an address I havn't lived at in 4 years.
I delt with that, filed papers to show there was no business activity and nothing owed just as the other and a guy at the DOR helped me get that one killed.

Just last week, I get word when applying for the SW RR card that the liens were on my credit file.
Sure enough 2 of the 6(the DOR reported them to the county by quarters thats why its 6) are on my Experian and TransU.
I have the PDFs downloaded from the county court site showing the liens were filed in Feb 21, 2012, and the documents showing they were satisfied on Feb 24 2012.

The county told me they don't report to the CRAs but that since its public record, they seek them and add them in.

I'm not sure if I should A. just dispute the records and see if they can be deleted, or B. if I should do the dispute document and send in the lien satisfied form from the county with it.

My hope is A would get it completely deleted as the debt was never actually owed, and clear them completely.
B. Might do that, but since it says "Satisfied" instead of debt never existed, then it just looks like I paid them so they will remain on my credit report for years for something I never owed or paid.

I have been all over credit boards and not finding the exact thing as most liens actually are owed. I'd appreciate a little feedback from a few folks here.

Also, since the county site showes 6 filed, and now 6 satisified documents, and the CRAs only show 2, if I don't send in all the satisfied docs for all 6, will the others likely show up soon?

Tax Deals

Roofer screwed me - ideas/options?

Tue, 01 May 2012 06:49:32 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: rev613
Views: 2680 Replies: 28

I engaged a contractor to replace a roof. His bid was 10k. As per the contract I paid half when the job was halfway done with the balance due at completion.

Before paying him the balance I insisted that it needed to be inspected by the local code official.

He failed the roof for multiple reasons.

I refused to pay until it was fixed.

Roofer took off. (It was so bad that it needs to be ripped up and done again)

Roof started leaking 6 days later and water damage is accumulating.

I want to sue him for at least 5k in small claims court. I think I can figure out how to do that from google/ehow etc.

I already sent him a demand letter for 5k with a deadline for May 3 to pay back my deposit.

Other pertinent details:
1. It does not look like he is incorporated (although he claimed he was)
2. he was advertising that he is insured (Our state's attorney general database listed him as insured as well) but when I filed a claim his ins. company told me that there is no active policy for more than one year.
3. the check was made out to his company's name and deposited. SO i think i have his account number
4. He was advertising that he was BBB accredited. the bbb website says that he is not accredited.
5. I did get references before he started the job. they all said he was competent.

My questions are; 1. what do i do after i win in court? 2. is there something that I am missing? I have already filed complaints with the BBB and the State Attorney General's office.

This is in PA.

I have learned my lesson to thoroughly research every contractor and insist on proof of insurance before he begins working.

Question Deals

Check Your PenFed Visa Spam, Easy $30 for 3 billpays, Targeted

Tue, 01 May 2012 03:32:44 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: mapen
Views: 1165 Replies: 6

Quoting the targeted email:

Earn up to a $30 statement credit when you set up automatic bill payment with your PenFed Visa Card

For a limited time, you can earn a one-time $10 statement credit for each automatic bill payment you set up with your PenFed Visa (up to three) between May 1-June 30, 2012. That's an easy $30 off your statement for doing something that simplifies your life! Phone service, insurance, cable TV, even utilities ... you can pay all kinds of bills with your Visa card. Its easy. And youll save time and hassle every month.

Offers current as of April 2012 and are subject to change.

*Covers U.S.-issued cards only. Does not apply to ATM transactions, PIN transactions not processed by Visa, or certain commercial card transactions. You must notify your financial institution immediately of any unauthorized use. For specific restrictions, limitations and other details, please consult your issuer. Identity Theft Assistance offers access to a toll-free number. Consult issuer for details.

Offer valid in the U.S. only. This promotion is not transferable. The offer is only applicable to the account number referenced above. A $10 statement credit will be applied for making at least one qualifying Card Not Present Visa bill payment transaction with a U.S. merchant at any time during the Offer Period between May 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012 using the PenFed Visa Card referenced above. One-time and recurring Visa bill payment transactions qualify for the Offer. Maximum statement credit award is $30. To qualify, the Visa bill payment transactions must: (i) be completed a using the full PenFed Visa 16-digit Card number referenced above during the Offer period; (ii) be identified to Visa by the biller as a one-time or recurring bill payment based on the information available on Visas proprietary network (VisaNet); and (iii) post to the Visa PenFed Card accoun t referenced above by June 30, 2012. Note: Card Not Present transactions are transactions in which the Card is not physically present at the time of the transaction because the cardholder is not physically present or the card itself is not presented. Such transactions can be carried out through ecommerce, MOTO (mail/telephone order) or recurring payments/installments transactions.

Please allow up to 60 days after the end of the Offer Period to receive your statement credit. Account must be open and in good standing at the time the credit is applied.

Credit Deals

1042s tax return

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:40:54 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: kevinthecoin
Views: 1036 Replies: 12

is any body familiar with filing this type of form?

I received $3500 from bofa on a 1099 mics with box 3 checked. I split the money with my girl friend (she was entitled to half) who was on a student visa and thus had no id numbers. I paid the taxes on the full 3500 though i only got the benifit of 1750. now i am trying to figure out how to amend my return taking into account the 1750 I gave her. In my searching I came upon a 1042s which details payments to foreign persons, any body have any info on if that would work?

Tax Deals

Platinum AMEX -Read this BEFORE you apply!!

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:08:19 -0500

Rating: 18 Posted By: mjkrost
Views: 7307 Replies: 84

As a regular on Fatwallet and someone who feels like I have benefited from the forums, I want to share my experience with the Platinum AMEX for a variety of reasons. First, because the referral link I clicked on was from Fatwallet, and second as a warning to those who might apply for this card.

The offer I applied for was this one:

Get 50,000 Membership Rewards bonus points after you spend $1,000 in your first 3 months of Card membership. This offer is still available for applicants on the AMEX website.

Click Here

To make a long story short, after I spent my 1K, AMEX indicated they were only willing to offer me 25K points, not the 50K points advertised on the site I applied on. After communicating via secure message and then spending hours on the phone with countless reps who could do nothing for me, a supervisor said she could look in to it and would send me a response via US mail in 7-10 days. Then we conveniently got disconnected.

I called back and canceled the card. Not only because they wont honor the 50K points that is on their website, but because the Platinum AMEX is supposed to be the most elite card you can apply for (Cant apply for the Centurion) and for a card that has a concierge service bundled with a $450 annual fee, I have had better customer service on a Visa that I pay no annual fee on an was issued by my bank. I simply could not justify giving my business to a company that was willing to treat a long time customer, I have had AMEX for years, just not platinum, so poorly and not even attempt to keep my business. In fact when I called back and said, I am calling to cancel my card the reps response was Definitely. I cant express the level of frustration I went through in the last 48 hours with AMEX, I was truly treated like a second rate citizen.

I caution Fatwallet members to not apply for this promotion as it will cause you nothing but a headache. By the way, I consider myself to be a very good negotiator and would like to think if I could not persuade AMEX to honor what they offered me, most people wont have much luck.

I applied for the card for the same reasons many people do, the travel benefits, the concierge, etc, and I am sincerely disappointed I barely got to use the card. However, after dealing with so many unpleasant people at AMEX the card has lost a lot of the luster it had two weeks ago.

Credit Deals

Local energy provider offering $75 prepaid to select them as carrier, no enroll/cxl fee ... thoughts?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:53:44 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: Muscle
Views: 1131 Replies: 12

Got a letter from Direct Energy (Ohio) offering a $75 prepaid Visa after 1 month of service with them for electric/gas. No enrollment fees, no cancellation fees. I looked at their rates and it's 5.99c/kwh though, whereas my bill now says distribution energy charge at 2.21c/kwh, less than half of that. Or does this charge that is quoted on their site also include the Rider?

However, on my bill it says:

"The charges associated with Generation Riders are applicable to all customers in Duke Energy Ohio's
service territory, including customers who have chosen a supplier for their generation. Also, the PUCO
approved adjustments to Rider RECON and Rider SCR effective March 30, 2012. A typical residential
customer using 1,000 kWh per month will see an increase of approximately $1.07 or 1.0%.
PRICE TO COMPARE: In order for an average residential customer to save money, an electric supplier
must offer a price lower than 6.07 cents per kWh. Your Price to Compare may be different based on
your usage. Visit www.duke-energy.com to calculate your individual Price to Compare or contact Duke
Energy for a written explanation."

So I'm thinking this is actually a lower price AND a $75 Visa prepaid card.

amiright? Seems like I should jump on this unless I missed something ...

Question Deals

How to tell your employer/boss that you're job hunting?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:51:45 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: OmarLittle666
Views: 4367 Replies: 53

I have a good relationship with my immediate supervisor and can trust him that he'll be supportive of any decision that I'm reviewing. Currently, I've been in my position for five years and don't see any opportunity to promote. I enjoy my job and co-workers, but I see little growth in career advancement. I've started the job-hunting process and only received low-ball offers from other corporations. My benefits, vacation time and flexible schedule is worth more to me than a 10% pay increase (a little over 5k). I don't have to worry about any retaliation of seeking other employment.

Here are my concerns.

1. I want to stay where I'm at, but financial and career advancement is slim to nil. But I do have job security.
2. If I lose my boss, I'll be more willing to accept the low-ball offer because of the people and relationships I've had and worked with, even if it means 10 more hours.
3. How do I tell my employer that I'm job hunting, but want more opportunities to become a better candidate for when the opportunities come forward?
4. What's the best kind of scotch for long days like today? Buchanan's?

Thanks

Question Deals

Do merchant returns posted as statement credits reduce minimum due amount?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:03:36 -0500

Rating: 1 Posted By: EugeneV
Views: 952 Replies: 9

Recently, a few issuers charged me late fees when I paid less than minimum due. I reduced my payments by the total of merchant returns which posted as statement credits during the current cycle. In the past, such returns always counted towards minimum due and when they exceeded it, there was no payment required at all. However, in the past few months, Chase and Citi charged me fees and interest for paying less than minimum due. BofA and Sallie Mae did not. Citi reversed their fees upon request. Chase reversed them the first time, but refused to do so subsequently.

Was there a resent change that impacted these calculations?

Question Deals

Work in CT Live in Mass ... No state Tax ID

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:12:33 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: dylankirkotron
Views: 864 Replies: 3

I tried to search this topic but my situation is a bit different..

I live in CT and have for over 10 years. For the first half of 2011 I worked in CT, and the second half I started a new job in Mass. I understand this should be simple however the company I work for doesn't have a CT Tax ID # and refuse to do this. So I am wondering if I need to do something on my end in order to not owe a ton to both states. When I did my taxes this year all other things aside I ended up owing both CT and Mass way more than usual.

Please advise if possible.
Thank You.

Question Deals

Endorse 2.0 coming soon

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:24:38 -0500

Rating: 5 Posted By: LiquidSilver
Views: 1571 Replies: 5

The first version of Endorse! was a program that paid 10% back on goods purchased anywhere after you "endorse" them ( similar to a Facebook like) through their Facebook app. For example, if you like Chobani Yogurt you would "endorse" Chobani, and then anytime you purchased Chobani yogurt you got 10% back. It was great at the start because gas stations, department stores, grocery stores, and even some car purchases counted (for two lucky people). It didn't matter what form of payment you used, cash, credit, or check. The only catch was you had to mail in your receipts to get credit for the purchase. Version 1.0 closed a few months back.

Version 2.0 is coming out soon, and you can go to the link below to sign up for an invite. The new model looks like it combines the old with some features from Envaulted like 100% back deals. Also receipts can now be sent in via a photo from an iphone or android device. I was able to clear a few hundred dollars through the program before it shut down. And unlike Envaulted, it looks as though everyone has been paid that participated the first time.

Endorse Website
Endorse Blog

Deal Deals

New credit line during refinance

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:19:41 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: wfay
Views: 962 Replies: 11

So I'm in the middle of a refinance and it won't close for another 2-3 weeks.

We are flying on Delta for Memorial Day and just got an email from them to apply for a Delta Skymiles Visa card that will allow me to avoid bag fees. Since there are 3 of us flying and we will all have a bag, this is $75 each way so $150. The card is free for the first year and $90 after that, or a few bucks more for an upgraded card that comes with a free roundtrip passenger ticket.

I'd like to get the card but my refinance banker says it is a really terrible idea to open a new line of credit right now. I don't think there is enough time to get the refi done and THEN get the card before our trip.

Curious if anyone has any advice... would they issue a Visa to my 2 year old? His name isn't on the refi.

Question Deals

Health coverage gap (Abroad trip)

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:42:01 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: pavi123
Views: 901 Replies: 7

I pay for the self employed health insurance for the family of four and the premium is around $1000 per month. It is a highest deductible HSA plan in California. We do not have any pre-existing condition, but do have history of surgeries.

We are planning to live outside of the US for around a year. Is it recommended to continue US health insurance coverage during this period? If not, would this gap create any issue or increase the premiums when we apply for health insurance after coming back to the US?

Thanks

Question Deals

Ally Bank Mobile App

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:36:52 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: adion4157
Views: 840 Replies: 4

The long awaited mobile app for Ally Bank has finally been released. Link

I just downloaded it. It doesn't have many features but this is finally a step in the right direction.

General Economics Deals

Theory: annual fees are the next BT fees

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:28:56 -0500

Rating: 0 Posted By: naas
Views: 1280 Replies: 13

Premise: It used to be that all you had to do to get out of a balance transfer fee was to try. But lately, the banks seem to have decided that they're darn well going to get their money on those fees, and while it's undoubtedly still possible to avoid the fees, it's harder and requires a little luck

Proposal: I think maybe now they're starting to do the same thing with annual fees. While it used to be easy to "play dumb" your way out of annual fees, it's going to get harder and harder

Evidence: in the past month I've had 2 annual fees come up, cap1 and citi. Cap1 let me downgrade my card, but told me that doing so wouldn't void the annual fee, even though the fee is for the upcoming year. I chickened out and canceled my downgrade, since the fee was a small one. Now I'm getting the run-around from Citi, first by email they kept making retarded mistakes like pretending I was asking about a different card and saying "there's already no fee on that card" and then pretending like I didn't already downgrade the fee card and saying "we try to keep the fees low so just pay it", ignoring the fact that I already did the downgrade to the no-fee version. So I called and asked the question afresh, and they told me that my downgrade (that I already did) would take 45 days (conveniently just enough time for my annual fee to kick in and the bill come due), and THEN the conversion would reverse my fee. This will be fine if true, but it sounds like they're yanking my chain just to make me pay the fee so they can play dumb (again) afterwards.

Discussion: 1. Has anyone else been told by Citi (or other) that a product downgrade would take 45 days, and THEN a previously charged membership fee would be reversed, and if so did it actually happen?
2. Has anyone else noticed it becoming harder to avoid annual fees?

-Thanks

General Economics Deals

Graduating in May - Deciding on job / living arrangements

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:16:38 -0500

Rating: 3 Posted By: caveman017
Views: 2535 Replies: 42

I'll be graduating in May with a degree in Marketing and Finance with 2 years of internship experience in the marketing/communications fields. I have a few good job prospects (three of which I just finished 2nd round interviews).

I don't know the exact salaries being offered, but I know they are in the low to mid 40's (I'd assume 41-46k). I am from the Chicagoland area and all these positions are located in the suburbs. I grew up and my parents are still in the western suburbs.

Anyways, I'm trying to figure out what to do as far as savings / living expenses. One of the positions is located about 20-25 minutes from my parents house. I already have discussed with them the possibility of living at home for a year or so. We haven't come up with a solid number, but $500/month for food/utilities/rent seemed to stick out in our discussion. This would save around $600/month if I rented by myself.

The other two positions are located 50-60 minutes away, assuming traffic is flowing, if not, then 75-80 minutes each way. I wouldn't mind that commute over the summer, but in the winter, I wouldn't want to do it. I'm an active person (I run and bike a lot), so spending two hours in a car a day when I could be using that extra hour to work out seems wasted. Also, with the two other jobs, I would be incurring an extra $150/month in toll and gas expenses.

I've thrown this example budget, assuming I live on my own. If I can find a roommate (which I would like to do), I would take that option, lowering my monthly expenses by around $300/month. I'm not sure what I would do with the excess income. Probably save 50% of it, and then maybe use the leftover for short-term savings. I have about $18,000 in the market/bank with no debt. Am I missing anything that stands out?

Salary 44000
Fed Tax 5512
State Tax (5%)2200
FICA (7.65%)3366
Net Income32922

MONTHLY EXPENSES
Rent 700
Utilites 150
Food 300
Gasoline 100
Cell 45
Car Insurance 110
Health Insurance 130
Emergency Fund 85
Internet/cable 50
Savings +401k 400
Entertainment / Spend250
Vacation Savings125
Total Monthly 2445

Yearly Expenses29340

Excess Income3582

Personal Finance Deals