Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of February 23, 2018 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of February 23, 2018
- Discover Bank raises interest rates for Online Savings to 1.50% APY
- Looking to rent my first apartment, what did you wish you knew?
- The IRS has a search engine so you can check if your CPA is legit.
- Why would the IRS think my address is in a city I've never lived before?
- Pay your taxes if made money on cryptocurrency. IRS is getting their hands on your trading records.
- Is it safe to log into Chase online now?
- IRS Sending Collections - 3rd Time We File a Corrected Tax Form
- An Auto Dealership Ran My Credit Without My Permission
- Company that previously hired me as a consultant for a project I stopped working on ~1 year ago deposited $60k into my account today. Seems to be a bribe to work again. What do I do?
- Is $50,000 too much to keep in a money market account earning 1.40% APY?
- Found out today that I’m being grossly underpaid. Best next step?
- I have about 8 separate retirement accounts each under $5000! What should I do to avoid rollover fees or combine them to the best effect?
- Pediatrician charge for initial care?
- I’m a student working a paid internship. I don’t like the job and am considering leaving in 2 months from now, but doing so is kind of dishonest and will really screw over my manager. I also may take a pay cut. What do I do?
- Student loan consolidation. I need advice. Go with private company or government program?
- Question... Is there any benefits to BofA that draw people to them? Or is it just due to their size and mind presence? Seems like every day someone is posting another horror story.
- Partner has multiple credit cards and loans and I’m worried it’ll effect our future.
- Credit card debt
- How to choose a good savings account
- First time filling out W4 without parents claiming me and I started a small business?
- Electric vehicle help?
- What are the risks of wire transfers?
- Just moved states and still job hunting. What are some tips for saving money in the meantime?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of February 23, 2018 Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:06 PM PST If you need help, please check the PF Wiki to see if your question might be answered there.This thread is for personal finance discussions, questions, and sharing your success stories:
A big thank you to the many PFers who take time to answer other people's questions! For past threads, please search the Weekly Archive. [link] [comments]  |
| Discover Bank raises interest rates for Online Savings to 1.50% APY Posted: 23 Feb 2018 09:36 AM PST Just noticed the increase this morning, interest increased from 1.40% to 1.50%. CDs seem to have gone up as well, with a 12-month CD sitting at 1.90% APY. Nice to see Discover being proactive with their interest rates. [link] [comments]  |
| Looking to rent my first apartment, what did you wish you knew? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 10:10 AM PST % of income I should spend on a place? Will I feel tight in a 300ft studio? Is walking distance to my work worth it? Or a newer, bigger space and take the subway? What are impending costs that you wouldn't expect? Big no-nos? Best time to sign a lease? Should I get insurance through Lemonade? Anything that comes to your mind please feel free to share, thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| The IRS has a search engine so you can check if your CPA is legit. Posted: 23 Feb 2018 08:12 AM PST https://irs.treasury.gov/rpo/rpo.jsf Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications "Anyone with a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) can prepare a tax return for a client. However, tax return preparers have differing levels of skills, education and expertise. This searchable directory is intended to help you with your choice by providing a listing of preparers in your area who currently hold professional credentials recognized by the IRS or who hold an Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion." [link] [comments]  |
| Why would the IRS think my address is in a city I've never lived before? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 12:10 PM PST To make this short. I've lived in three places my whole life. I grew up in Florida, I went to school in Pennsylvania, and I now live in Virginia. My first job was at school in PA, but I didn't make enough to file a tax return. My current job is in VA, and this is my first year file tax returns. When I tried to find my AGI through a transcript request my address didn't match their records, so I called to figure it out. When I eventually got through to a very helpful IRS employee, she verified my identity, and informed me that my current address was in Orlando Florida. Which is 4 hours from where I lived in Florida until I was 18. I've only ever been to Orlando once in my life. Could this be identity theft? Or did I or my school somehow screw up my W-2 in 2016? I'm still scratching my head... [link] [comments]  |
| Pay your taxes if made money on cryptocurrency. IRS is getting their hands on your trading records. Posted: 23 Feb 2018 05:07 PM PST Notification contents Subject: An important message from Coinbase In December 2016, the Internal Revenue Service issued a summons demanding that Coinbase produce a wide range of records relating to approximately 500,000 Coinbase customers. Coinbase fought this summons in court in an effort to protect its customers, and the industry as a whole, from unwarranted intrusions from the government. After a long process, the court issued an order that represents a partial, but still significant, victory for Coinbase and its customers: the order requires Coinbase to produce only certain limited categories of information from the accounts of approximately 13,000 customers. We are writing to let you know that the above-described court order requires us to produce information specific to your account. If you have concerns about this, we encourage you to seek legal advice from an attorney promptly. Coinbase expects to produce the information covered by the court's order within 21 days. For your reference, the court's judgment can be found here. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. 17-cv-01431-JSC. In addition, we also want you to know that because Coinbase received a summons on December 8, 2016, and more than six months passed before our challenges to the summons were resolved by the court, the period of limitations under sections 6501 and 6531 of the Internal Revenue Code (title 26 of the U.S. Code) were suspended beginning as of June 8, 2017 and continuing through the final resolution of Coinbase's response to the summons. This may be relevant to the tax returns that you have filed for the 2013, 2014, and 2015 calendar years. If you have questions about your tax liability for those years, we strongly encourage you to consult with your tax advisor. Regards, The Coinbase Team https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/2924446 [link] [comments]  |
| Is it safe to log into Chase online now? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 06:22 PM PST I've been waiting since I heard about the glitch and was told to not log in until it's fixed, since it could make me more susceptible to hacking. Is it safe to log in or should I avoid it a little longer? [link] [comments]  |
| IRS Sending Collections - 3rd Time We File a Corrected Tax Form Posted: 23 Feb 2018 03:57 PM PST I'll try to keep this short, but with enough detail to get advice. We won a settlement for wrongful termination in California and were awarded $75,000. Of these $75,000, the lawyer who handled our case took obtained his $32,500 and we received $42,500 of this. The lawyer gave us a 1099 Misc form, which stated that the lawyer had received $32,500 from my mother. He told us we wouldn't have to pay taxes if we just included this form with our taxes. We took this form and went to do our taxes with our regular tax preparer and he said that the form wasn't right and we needed to take it back to the lawyer to get it corrected. The lawyer told us that no it was correct, and to just file it as is and not worry about it. Fast forward two years and we get a letter from the IRS saying we owe them tax money and that the money we reported doesn't match what the defendant in our case reported (we were the plaintiff). The defendant reported that we had received $75,000. Our tax preparer reported that we received $42,500. In addition to this we got smacked with a penalty fee for incorrect taxes. We went to the tax preparer and he basically got pissed and said not to talk to the IRS and that the lawyer messed up and that we needed to go back to him and get a fixed form. We go back to the lawyer who says he'll have his accountant look into it, but that he's never had this problem before in 20 years. Lawyer calls back and says his accountant confirms everything is ok with the form and that it is as it should be. I don't have the form with me right now to link some pictures, but its basically like as if it was a 1099-M meant for the lawyer. It lists his name, his address, and what he received as income. All checks were made payable to the lawyer as well, and from those checks, the lawyer gave my mother her cut. 3 checks of $25,000 deposited into the lawyer's account and he gave us our cut each one. Anyways, we go back to the tax preparer and explain to him that the lawyer said it was all fine and that with that form included it should have been set, and we realize he didn't even include the 1099-M form in the taxes. He charges us $150 to redo them as a correction (lol) so we agree and he sends off a corrected form. Few more weeks and the IRS mails us again that our taxes are still wrong, but that we owe a little less now. We go back and basically the tax preparer kicks us out, so we had to go back on another day when his assistant was there to get all our tax documents and leave, never going back. We found another man to do our taxes, but I believe he's already confused. He pulls out a book on his shelf which says our settlement money isn't taxable, but I've researched this online and all sources I find say that yes, this wrongful termination money is taxable. However, he says that we for sure didn't receive $75,000. The lawyer received $75,000 to his name, and we were given $42,500 as our only income. The defendant however reported $75,000 to my mom's name. It's all very confusing for us. Mom's currently in the kitchen crying, since we just received another letter from the IRS saying we owe $9,405. Previously before this last letter, the confused tax preparer did a corrections for us, saying fine we received $75,000 but of those we got a deductible $32,500 and were only responsible for $42,500. We also paid what he determined to be around $2000 of tax we did owe, so we coughed it up and paid the IRS that. Any advice would be appreciated, I'll stick around with this thread for a while trying to get help on this. [link] [comments]  |
| An Auto Dealership Ran My Credit Without My Permission Posted: 23 Feb 2018 07:36 PM PST A couple weeks ago a local New/Used Car Dealership ran my credit without my express permission. I had gone to see a particular used car (found it online) and it wasn't ready yet (it was listed already, but still needed inspection and detailing). The saleswoman took my Cell # down and said she would contact me when the car was ready to be driven. She called the next day to let me know the car still wasn't ready but that she wanted to get some more of my info because she was trying to be proactive. By the time she asked for my SSN, I reminded her that not only was I looking at other vehicles and not ready to move forward with paperwork, I hadn't even driven the car yet. She said no problem and we got off the phone. 2 minutes later, I had an alert from Credit Karma telling me a Hard Inquiry had just occurred, resulting in losing a point off of my already poor credit score. I then told her that because of that breach of trust I would be taking my business elsewhere. Shame on me, I shouldn't have given her my social. Fast forward to today, I went to another dealership to see about another car. This one I drove and liked enough to proceed with the paperwork. This dealership then informed me that the other dealership ran my info eight times in total. Is there any action I can take, other than filing a dispute? I'm not knowledgeable or experienced enough when it comes to credit, loans, etc and I'm not sure what to do. Thanks for reading. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:51 PM PST So I worked as a software engineering consultant for a large tax company in late 2016/2017. I was working with a friend remotely on the project (for which he was in a short term contract) and he suddenly decided to leave and take on a position of CTO elsewhere. I continued developing software for the company for a couple of months, but then left because it wasn't as exciting when I wasn't working with someone I was close to... They tried to get me back on the project for a few months (I had no obligation/contract) and then it just kind of faded away. Then yesterday I was contacted by the CEO and he mentioned they'd love to have me back on the project. I told him that I couldn't, because I was too busy with other work obligations... Then today when I logged into my banking account I saw a $60k deposit from the company. I followed up right away and was told it was for "previous work done well" and that it was not a mistake and that I should keep it.... then he gave me his personal number and told me to call him if I was interested in working with them again. I was already paid for the work I did last year. This is an unexpected and much larger lump sum. It almost seems like a bribe? My questions are:
[link] [comments]  |
| Is $50,000 too much to keep in a money market account earning 1.40% APY? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 07:33 PM PST I've been adding to this account over the past year - about $15,000 of it is my EMERGENCY FUND and the rest I plan to use for a down payment on a house in the next 6 months to 2 years tops. I add about $1000 to the account every month. I have been told to keep emergency reserves in a liquid account so that isn't going anywhere; however, with the additional $35,000 (which I will continue to grow) is it recommended to keep that in a money market account if I plan on buying a house in the next two years at absolute most? Obviously a relatively short time horizon. I also have long term investments in stock index funds but will not touch that for 10+ Years, and bond rates are so low my house fund doesn't seem worth the extra risk and hassle. Thanks for the help friends. [link] [comments]  |
| Found out today that I’m being grossly underpaid. Best next step? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 03:06 PM PST I've worked for my company a little over 8 years, and have made a lateral move into a new group. During that process, I was speaking to a now-former colleague who showed me the pay scales for various professional levels (he is a manager). What I saw was shocking. The average pay for my current level is almost $20,000 more per year than I'm making now. And the average salary for the level I'm now qualified, is more than $40,000 higher than I make right now. I'm absolutely beside myself with this knowledge. I've asked for pay increases in the past, and have been told that HR and department budgets haven't allowed promotions. What's the best next-step? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2018 09:31 AM PST I have worked for a few companies in the past several years and at a couple of them I have switched contracts, and with those contract switches have come new retirement plans. I haven't always (read: almost never) rolled them over. So basically I have three 401-k plans, a 403-b, and a Roth IRA, none of which my employers or I contribute to anymore. I also have two traditional IRAs and a current 401-k. The companies are TransAmerica Retirement Solutions, ADP Retirement Services, Fidelity, CapitalOne Investing, and TD Ameritrade. Most of the accounts have under $5000 in them and are subject to rollover fees between $25-$50 apiece. Because of that and pure laziness, I have left them in place. I just saw that one of them is going to charge me $35 annually because of its low balance. I obviously don't want to pay that, as I no longer contribute to the account. I think they still get interest and dividends but their balances don't seem to have moved much so I'm not really too sure. What should I do? Should I roll six or seven of these accounts over into one of my IRAs? Are there any ways to avoid the $150-$350 this might cost? Should I roll them into my current 401-k? Has anyone else had this problem? [link] [comments]  |
| Pediatrician charge for initial care? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 08:07 PM PST Hi, personalfinance. I hope I'm in the right place. I had a baby 6 months ago. He was born early and immediately after birth he was taken to a different hospital. All is well other than a small mountain of medical bills that I haven't even begun to chip away at. We don't qualify for any medical benefits from the state. At the time of my son's birth, my husband's company was going through an insuarance change. They actually switched compaines the week my son was born. So, new insuarance says they will only cover from the week after my son was released from the hospital. I am still covered on my father's insuarance as I am 25. So now we have an awesome baby and an awesome $27,000 bill. Anyways, I know I need to start taking care of this stuff soon. I plan to start with his pediatrician. We decided to use the same pediatrician who was on call in the hospital the day he was born. When we received our first bill from his office, there was a charge for $1400 for initial neonate care. Thing is, this doctor literally did not touch my child - he only stopped by the room. The nicu team from the other hospital did everything with the baby. Do I owe this money just because he attended the birth? Is this common practice? I really don't want to be suckered into paying a bill I don't owe, and it feels so crazy to me that he can charge $1400 for just being there. Thanks in advance for any help! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2018 09:47 AM PST Hi everyone, I posted this to the relationships subreddit, but I think that it would make sense to post it here as well from a financial standpoint. I'm a student who's working a (paid) internship in the government. Long story short, there was some shuffling and now I'm in a different department than when I started. I've been here about three weeks now, and I find that I'm really dreading coming to work. I don't click well with my boss- it's kind of awkward whenever we talk. I think it's because we both speak to each other in our second languages to practice them. As for the job itself...I feel like I'm not really learning anything. I think maybe I was spoiled by my old department. They were always really enthusiastic about me sitting in on meetings, learning new skills, going on-location whenever possible, etc. In my new department, they have me on a long-term administrative project. It's not related to my field, and truthfully is super boring. I know that as an intern I'll get the grunt work, but I feel like I'm not doing anything worthwhile for myself OR for my department (it's a lot of 'busy work'). I also just got an opportunity to join on a work trip. I ran the idea by my manager, and she said no right away because it would put me over my work hours in my contract. I totally understand that, but it's a really stark contrast to my old boss, who would have definitely gone to bat for me to get that kind of learning experience. Anyways...I'm working part time now with the promise of working full time during the summer. The thing is, I'm already counting down the days and dreading having to be here 9-5 all summer long. I've been thinking of applying to different departments for the summer, always as a student employee. Here's the problem: my manager has a few projects planned for me this summer and I was only hired for this part-time work now with the unwritten 'condition' that I would work these summer projects. Is it wrong to quit? Would I be screwing them over? I would probably only be quitting at the end of April, so I would have been here about 3 months and would quit right before these projects start (like my team would have put in effort to set the projects up and I would quit on them right before they were started). For reference, I think I was only hired for being a marginalized person. It's a community our department works with, and I know it looks really good on the managers to have a high percentage of workers (especially student workers) who come from it. As a result, I just don't think there's much work around that actually needed to be done. Now for the financial specifics...this is a super well paying job for someone at my level, almost 18$/h. I'm thinking of moving out next year, so working full time all summer at that amount would really help me out. Is it worth it to take a job that I may like a bit better for less of a salary? Also...how will this work for references? If I'm only here for 3 months, should I act like it never happened? So...what do you guys think? Am I being a brat and a screwing them over if I try and find something else, or is it understandable? Thank you! TL:DR I really don't like my student job and don't feel like I'm learning anything. I'm wondering if it's a bad move to quit for something else (possibly in the same building) after giving them the impression I will be here all summer. I also may take a cut financially for doing this. [link] [comments]  |
| Student loan consolidation. I need advice. Go with private company or government program? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:55 PM PST Ok. Everyone here seems to give great advice. I am looking into consolidating my student loans. I have 120k to pay back in total. I am just so confused as to whether I should go through the government(studentaid.ed.gov) or a private company. I found a private program that seems to offer slightly better interest rates but still I am cautious of private programs like that. Is there anyone here that can help? Edit: The private company is called Laurel Road. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2018 07:52 PM PST Just wondering what the initial attraction is, with their well known history of customer treatment. Such as being one of the first to charge teller fees, etc. [link] [comments]  |
| Partner has multiple credit cards and loans and I’m worried it’ll effect our future. Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:07 PM PST Me and my boyfriend have been together nearing on 4 years now, we are currently living with his mum whilst we save for a house, we make pretty much around the same amount of money. So first of all, I have to state that we have had both very different upbringings regarding money in the sense that my parents have always been the position to help me out with money such as buying cars etc. My boyfriends parents were not in that position therefore he's had to get loans/finance on cars and has unfortunately had bad luck with cars in general. As far as I'm aware (and I say that because he's not entirely open about how much he owes) he has three credit cards, all different APRs (again, I'm unsure how much that is) and his car on finance. His outgoings almost outweigh his income and he's left with about £100 each month which goes on diesel. I'm unsure how much he owes collectively because he hasn't told me. I however have no credit cards, owe no money and I'm left with around 95% of my wage each month, which about 60% goes into my savings. The problem I have is 1. What can I do to help, would it help to get a consolidation loan where he'd borrow the amount he owes over the three credit cards and then just pay that off into one place only, hopefully at a lower APR 2. I'm almost positive he only pays minimum each month, does that mean he's only literally paying the interest, therefore hardly touching what he actually owes? 3. Will this reflect badly when coming to get a mortgage - obviously his credit rating will be good but he'll still owe that money. I know this seems pretty vague but that's because the details I have are vague and my knowledge when it comes to loans and credit cards are non existent because I've never had them. If it's helps, we're both 25, in the UK. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2018 05:53 PM PST I'm current a physician resident. Throughout the course of my training I've accrued a significant amount of credit card debt... ~$40,000. I have a few years left in my training and then I'm expected to earn at least double my current salary. Unfortunately my mindset through out has been to bury my head in the sand and hope it all works out when I'm done. But it's caught up to me. I'm in a cycle where I can barely make the minimal payments on my low salary and my 80 hour work week prevents time for a second job. I was looking into a debt relief program, specifically ClearOne Advantage. Does anyone have any advice on these programs? Are they worth it? Is it going to kill my credit even more? [link] [comments]  |
| How to choose a good savings account Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:27 PM PST I have zero clue where to even start looking. Whats a good rate? What sorts of things do I want to look for? What do I want to avoid? I want something I can put small amounts into when I can, and can withdraw from as needed. [link] [comments]  |
| First time filling out W4 without parents claiming me and I started a small business? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 08:14 AM PST So I'm 24 and have been out of school two years now. My parents have told to me claim 0 on my W4 in the past which makes sense to me. I'm single, living on my own and recently started a small business that generates only a couple hundred in profit each month (so nothing major). I make 60,000k a year. I have about 23k in student loans left, but that's it in terms of debt. I've been used to claiming 0 and getting a refund. I'm confused on choosing between 0, 1, or 2 now and if me running a small business plays into that decision. Also, I've used a withholding calculator but I'm not really good with money lingo so I got lost and confused. Claiming 0, they take out the most taxes of my current paychecks which is why I get a refund. If I claim 1 or 2, I'll have larger paychecks (technically) but not the biggest return or may owe money, correct? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2018 04:50 PM PST Hi everyone, so I bought an EV this year for a family member, but it's completely in my name. As tax season approaches, I'm realizing I have no idea how to do any of the rebate or tax stuff for it. I live in California. Can anyone give me a high level overview of the basic steps? [link] [comments]  |
| What are the risks of wire transfers? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 11:48 AM PST Sorry if this is the wrong sub to post this in, I did some googling and am still unable to find a clear answer. When I wire transfer somebody money, am I risking anything other than the amount of money that I send them? For example if I wire transfer X amount of money to someone, I know that the money is gone. But can they use the information from the transfer to make additional charges to my account? Like how if you send someone credit card information they could potentially make fraudulent charges with that information. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Just moved states and still job hunting. What are some tips for saving money in the meantime? Posted: 23 Feb 2018 06:13 PM PST I just moved states (in Australia ftr) and am currently job hunting. Any tips for that would be greatly appreciated. I have a bit of savings and want to make that last as long as possible. The less I have to rebuild in my bank account the better. What are some good tips for saving money that people often don't think about? I've been trying to eat at home as much as possible, not drinking much alcohol. I've never been great at budgeting but always had pretty low expenses until now, so want to start doing a proper budget and getting my money situation in order. [link] [comments]  |
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