Personal Finance Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of October 21, 2019 |
- Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of October 21, 2019
- Owe 1300.00 to Verizon because my sister removed herself from my plan. Tried to make payments on the bill but they never showed up to pay them.
- Does anyone use 100% only online banks? Seriously considering ditching Chase all together
- Parents said they’d take pay for vet bill, didn’t pay, and now vet sent bill to debt collector in my name.
- Someone I don’t know just Venmo’d me 1000 dollars.
- [Question] When US citizens say they receive a certain salary ...
- New grad with salary, thinking about taking loans from parents
- Learning how to invest
- Job dilemma... WWYD
- What can my parents do about the IRS killing them?
- Got a letter from the IRS that I'm being audited- some confusion?
- Charles Schwab vs. Fidelity
- [Question] Is it advantageous of me (tax reasons) to start a $1,000 yearly scholarship fund for my local community?
- Lost 401K Due to Age
- Best way to borrow $7,500 with bad credit?
- Is it better to have savings or be debt free?
- Employer overpaid but is asking for more back than expected
- Dental company requiring employees to purchase dental insurance valid only at it's offices
- Can my mom afford to retire?
- Just bought a new (used) car, got played hard with extended warranty and changing interest rate, have some questions!
- I got a scammy sounding call from a student loan company and I can't make heads or tails of it
- 21 year old that needs help deciding to buy house or other money option.
- What is your favorite expense-tracking site?
- Out of the red for the very first time! Now what?!
- Pushy Credit Union lender....need advice
| Weekday Help and Victory Thread for the week of October 21, 2019 Posted: 21 Oct 2019 04:06 AM PDT If you need help, please check the PF Wiki to see if your question might be answered there.This thread is for personal finance questions, discussions, and sharing your success stories:
A big thank you to the many PFers who take time to answer other people's questions! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 03:56 PM PDT Edit: Thanks everyone for the advice. There are definitely some mistakes on my part. I want to thank Mckebb01 and Majahzi. I'm more confident on going forward with this situation. I'll keep this post up for people looking for better providers too because there are a lot of helpful information about it. So timeline: Pixel 3 comes out and Verizon is running a promo buy one get one free. Little did I know it had to be with a new line. So I add my sister to the line and get a free phone for my wife, and I get one too. So now 3 pixel 3 in my account. Family dispute and my sister moves out from my house and removes her line. My bill is increased by 500. I was able to recover the phone and go to a Verizon store to check if I can do something about my now 800 bill. Verizon associated can't get the bill lowered but added the phone back to my account but with a ghost line¹. Seeing if I can get a hold of customer service on the phone later (iPhone 11 launch date so the lines are flooded. My bad timing) Later in the week I get a hold of finance and they can make the bill stretch for 6 weeks 140 a week². I agree but I never see the change in my account to pay the 140. I wait another week to see if I would be able to pay 140. But my account still says 800. Forgot about it for another week and my account now says 1300. 500 added because of the ghost line I added. I don't really have the finance to pay more then 140 a week. Living barely paycheck by paycheck because of lower hours this year (work in the RV industry) then years past. I honestly don't know what my next moves should be. I'm thinking of definitely switching over carriers. But I don't know how much this bill will affect my chances of doing so ¹:The phones screen is very cracked so trading it in was not going to help the bill at all. If I recall it was worth less then 100. ²: Because the phone was a part of the promo it was a forced buyout and nothing can be done about it unless I can get my sister to return the line back to Verizon. I asked her but she is not willing to cooperate. [link] [comments]  |
| Does anyone use 100% only online banks? Seriously considering ditching Chase all together Posted: 21 Oct 2019 11:51 AM PDT I don't remember the last time I needed to go into the bank, and sick of paying account fees. Should I keep one brick and mortar bank account open just in case? I can't think of why I would need it though. Any insight would be helpful, thanks *UPDATE - I'm a freelancer with no direct deposit. Thanks for all the info on Chase policies but really looking to hear people's experiences with online only banks :) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 20 Oct 2019 11:30 PM PDT Hi, I'm 19 and I'm a full time community college student that doesn't have any income because my parents don't want me to have a job so I can "focus on school" and this recently happened. My dad recently got a puppy without telling anyone about it and kind of dumped all of the responsibility on me to take care of it. Eventually the dog got an infection and I took the dog to the vet with my parents approval and set up the dog's file at the vet under my name (I've previously went to the vet to get shots and my parents paid for it with their card). Next thing you know they do some lab work on the dog that ends up being around 500 dollars and my parents refused to pay it because they "only wanted to pay for the treatment and didn't approve of the lab work" Anyways, my parents try to dispute it and end up just not paying for it all together and fast forward to now and I got a letter in the mail from a debt collecter asking for the payment because my name was on file at the vet as the owner (because I'm the only one that has ever taken the dog to the vet); however I have no way of paying for the bill as I have no income. So a couple of questions, I don't have a credit card, so will this affect my credit score? Is there a way that I can get out of this situation? What should I do? I feel like I really got screwed over because my parents constantly told me they'd take care of it when I told them that they needed to pay it off but they didn't. [link] [comments]  |
| Someone I don’t know just Venmo’d me 1000 dollars. Posted: 21 Oct 2019 07:45 PM PDT I don't know who this person is and I'm assuming they sent it to the wrong user. Obviously, I'm going to return it but I just want to make sure this isn't a scam or something... thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| [Question] When US citizens say they receive a certain salary ... Posted: 21 Oct 2019 10:40 AM PDT ... like for example in the phrase "I make 50.000 a year", is this your net income after you paid income tax, health insurance, etc.? Like you can spend it on anything you want? That would mean your actual salary before taxes is around 90.000 USD? If this is usually not the case then how much would your net income be (approximately) for example based on a salary of 50.000 USD a year? Sorry, if you regard this as a stupid question to ask but oftentimes I'm rather confused when people claim they paid off their six figure debt on a mid five figure salary within very few years, because even though I believe to keep a pretty tight budget wouldn't be able to achieve that. Edit: Thank you all for replying so quickly. In addition to your comments I took a look at some basic paycheck calculators (for Florida because I love it there <3) and things are making more sense now. Based on my current salary as a EU citizen living in the US I would receive roughly 30% more as net income but would have to pay for health insurance, retirement and other social security insurance myself in total costing me more than the 30% I would safe (assuming I would buy the same coverage living in the US which I probably wouldn't). Thanks all, this helped a lot! [link] [comments]  |
| New grad with salary, thinking about taking loans from parents Posted: 21 Oct 2019 04:47 PM PDT I just got a tech job offer in a city with very low cost of living and a huge $115k salary. This is a big change for me because I'm a 20 year old with a childhood as low to low middle class background. To go to college I took on $70k in debt, but my parents always said they want to go half on it. Now seeing what my take home pay will be (about $6.5k each month), I'm thinking about taking them to dinner and surprising them by taking on the entire $70k. It seems like I could comfortably pay it all off in a little over two years while paying $450 in rent, $300 food, savings and the rest, but I'm not the most savvy when it comes to debt and how it works. Is this a smart plan? Is there more info I should understand before making a decision? Thanks for the help! :) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 04:05 PM PDT I want to get into investing. I'm good at saving money and I wanted to put some away into stocks. I noticed that the only way to truly grow your wealth is to put it into real estate or to invest. Do any of you do this? Does anyone know a good place to start? I wouldnt mind putting a little away each month. No one in my family does anything with their money, they just spend it or put it in savings to spend for later, I want to break that cycle. Any tips, links, websites, are appreciated. I'm young and still in college but I want to be better than my parents. My grandparents were able to pay for my first semester with war bonds, and that stuck with me. My mom was never able or so willing to invest and now she isnt struggling but I feel like it would be easier for her if she did. So i want to make that difference in my life. Even if i dont have enough to put away right now i want to learn as much as i can. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:01 PM PDT I am a 28F, married with 2 kids. No degree but over 8 years professional experience in customer service, transportation and for the last 3-4 years accounting. ETA: Job location suburb of a large metropolitan area in Ohio. I started a new job in August. When I originally interviewed it was for 3 different positions in AP. I was offered the one that I honestly felt the least comfortable in, but wanted to give it a shot. The company is in the middle of a huge merger and transitioning multiple offices into ours. Overall there is very little structure of how things are supposed to work due to the fact that the people who previously held my (and my teams) positions had been there years and had lots of "tribal" knowledge. Extracting information from our counterparts is difficult, especially since they are across the country. We have some training manuals and sat through classes but they were mainly system based classes vs process based. The more and more work we have taken on the harder it has been to get answers from them on how to handle situations or how to fix things that are messed up. I'm overall starting to get extremely frustrated with not knowing what to do and not getting the answers I need. I also feel that we do not have enough support in our department, making the load heavier for everyone. Everyone has voiced concerns, and we have been told to "get used to not finishing your work" or to "be patient because things will be different in 6 months, and different again in a year" and etc. I started to look at other jobs, and received an offer with a smaller company. Doing a job closer to my previous roles. Pay is very close, but the drive is about 10 mins more. Was ready to accept until today.... My boss pulls me aside at the end of the day to talk. She wanted to know how last week was because she was out and just wanted check in. While we were talking she mentioned that there will be some changes coming sooner rather than later, and that "If everything works out the way I want it to, you will be promoted to lead". It was something that she said in passing about a month into my job, but told me it wouldn't be for at least 6 months per company policy. Today she said that her and her boss were talking and were working to make it happen sooner due to "the needs of the department". She said that "We've seen all your hard work and good attitude and appreciate" and to be patient and it will all work out. Do I stay now in hopes of a promotion? And hopes that once the transition is over and we can change how things work/are a fully functional department, that I like the job more? Or do I leave now and go work for a company that is smaller, less/no growth opportunities, but the job more aligns with me and my work style? TLDR: Do I stay at a job I don't like in hopes that I get the promotion that my boss "says" "is coming" or take an offer for really similar pay in a job that more aligns with my work style but has less/possibly no opportunity for growth? [link] [comments]  |
| What can my parents do about the IRS killing them? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 05:46 PM PDT About a year ago my parents got something in the mail but they didn't take it serious because they assumed it was some sort of scam. Well I guess it was real. They owe the IRS around $7,000+ and I'm not sure what's the best way to handle it. My mom and dad both work but my dad works crazy hours trying to make it by. He just got paid $2,000 and they took everything except $400. He is paying off 2 cars, has to pay rent/utilities and feed us. I'm not sure what to do. I'm 19 and moved out. I don't have a job though so I'm in no shape of helping. Any advice I can give them? Or best routes they can take? [link] [comments]  |
| Got a letter from the IRS that I'm being audited- some confusion? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:03 PM PDT Hi there, my wife and I both just got a copy of a letter from the IRS (we filed jointly) saying we were selected for a compliance research examination for 2017. This is a sample letter like the one we got: https://www.taxaudit.com/irs-letter-2205b-sample-2 I'm planning to call them first thing tomorrow to identify what items on my return they will be examining and then will schedule an appointment since it says I need to come in but my main concern is that I received this as a "small business owner/self employed" and I filed as an individual and did not claim any business expenses or income. Has anyone experienced this? Any tips? I'm freaking out a bit since I've never experienced anything like this. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 04:49 PM PDT I currently have an account with Fidelity and find their customer service to be great. I was thinking of opening a second account with Schwab and wanted to see how they compare with Fidelity on: 1) Customer service - Fidelity has very knowledgeable reps who pick up the phone right away and can even explain mechanical issues such as EFT and wire transfer steps in details. The few times when something has gone wrong, Fidelity customer service has been great 2) Online security - Fidelity has 2 FA, money transfer lockdown and decent (not great) security for phone call-in verification 3) Website - Fidelity website is well designed and easy to navigate Curious how Schwab stacks up especially on 1) and 2). Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:57 PM PDT I am currently making $110,000 base pay per year. Would it be worth it for me to donate $1,000 per year for upcoming HS graduates in my hometown? I like the idea of giving back to a community and even more so if I can benefit from a tax break. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 11:35 AM PDT Hey guys, I really have no idea what to do at this point and I'm looking for some advice on how to move forward right now. I'm new to posting here, so let me know if I wrote this incorrectly. When I started at my current company I was eighteen years old. Apparently, there is no legal requirement to have a 401K plan for full time employees under the age of 21 (for context, I turned 21 a few weeks ago) My HR rep brought me into a room and told me that they didn't realize it, but they had a 401K plan for employees 21+, and they discovered that all of my contributions and their match contributions were void in their last audit. They've refunded me all of my contributions, but told me there was nothing they could about refunding me the match contributions. I'm not really sure the best way to proceed. I feel like my employer is wrong about not being able to refund me the match balance. I also had a Roth-401K, so I'd assume that taxes won't be ridiculous, but I'm not sure about that either. I don't know much about finance, so anything anyone can tell me, I'd really appreciate. tl;dr: Employer found out I was 18 when I signed up for my Roth 401K and took all their money back and refunded mine. What do? [link] [comments]  |
| Best way to borrow $7,500 with bad credit? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:12 PM PDT I'm in a situation where I need $7500 before December. I asked my bank for a personal loan, but was rejected. They gave me a limit on the amount I can borrow, which was around $1200. I was suggested by a friend, maybe I can borrow from multiple banks for the total amount then pay off each bank. Is this the only way to go about it while minimizing the interest? I did go to one of those quick loan companies, and they charged me a total of $9000 for borrowing the $7.5k. So I would have to pay back a total of around $18k.. I'd strongly prefer not to go that route. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Is it better to have savings or be debt free? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 07:38 PM PDT Is it better to build up savings while slowly chipping away at debt or to put the savings on hold while aggressively paying off debt? I've got $9,000+/- in student loans, $400+/- in credit card debt, and $600+/- in medical debt. Currently I'm saving about $300 a month and making just slightly above the minimum payments on all my accounts. I often wipe out whatever I have in my savings to throw at some of my debt, but I'm wondering if I should just flat out commit to one or the other. Either save money and let the savings build up while paying just the minimum on my debt or throw every extra penny I have at my debt to get debt free. Would taking out a loan/second credit card to consolidate everything be a good idea? What are you guys' thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Employer overpaid but is asking for more back than expected Posted: 21 Oct 2019 10:59 AM PDT So my wife was overpaid over two years ago. She has finally gotten the attention of the corporate office and we are working on getting it reconciled. Essentially she was paid more hours than she worked, at a higher wage than what she should have, due to system error. It amounts to about $4,800 - including all taxes. $3,750 was actually deposited, we are good paying it back - its an error - but the office is asking for ~3,900 stating they cant go back and change their (2018?) taxes. They are asking to be reimbursed more than they paid in error and expecting us to take the hit until we get it back on our taxes next year. Any thoughts? Edit: changed the numbers for accuracy. [link] [comments]  |
| Dental company requiring employees to purchase dental insurance valid only at it's offices Posted: 21 Oct 2019 02:42 PM PDT I'm in the USA. I can't believe they'd be allowed to do that. It seems like a huge Ponzi scheme especially given that the said insurance is essentially a discount plan and is priced higher than most expensive PPO dental insurances. Is this allowed? What are my recourses? Edit: to clarify they are requiring not offering this dental "insurance" during open enrollment [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 11:07 AM PDT She's 62 and hates her job working retail. Through some smart investments in real estate...and some money from divorce she has $1.5M right now. Home is paid off and she's generally in good health. Assuming 30 years to go, is that enough? I know there needs to be much more detail to give a definitive answer but just wanted to see from a general perspective. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2019 07:02 PM PDT Ok, so I just bought a 2018 Toyota Sienna at a Toyota dealership. List price was like $22,500. I was approved for financing for 4.74% for 72 months, $3000 down. Payment was going to be $357 per month. So then the finance guy starts trying to sell me the extended warranty, service plan, gap coverage. Monthly payment would go up to $421. I said absolutely not I can't afford that. Kept saying that, he kept "punching numbers". Got rid of gap, got rid of service agreement. Something happened because we were Costco members??? I don't even know. It was all a blur. Somehow got down to a price that would be $407. My husband was leaning towards getting it because it was a rental car, the guy kept saying how there are 74 computers operating the thing, if they break its thousands to repair. Also they threw in the maintenance oil change thing for "free". Aaaaanyway. We fell for it, agreed to it. Was about to sign everything when he realized he didn't have our down payment factored in, so the price actually came down to $367. Sure, fine, that sounds fine, let me leave. But when i was signing the final stuff I saw that the terms of the loan had been changed to 5.99 % for 84 months. At this point my kids had been miserably waiting for two hours, I'd changed 4 poopy diapers, the finance guy was like "the difference over this small of a loan is only a few hundred dollars over the term of the loan, it's better to have a smaller payment for longer" etc etc. So we signed it, and now I wanna puke. I know it was stupid. So, after reading posts, I'm pretty sure I can probably cancel the warranty, and it will get refunded to the lender. Buuuuuut, there is also a 5 day money back guarantee... I'm wondering if I could/should take it back under that guarantee, just so I can get a new loan with my original 4.74 terms for 72 months? All in all I realize this is just an expensive learning experience, and I've also learned to get a babysitter when buying a car. Would love any advice or thoughts. [link] [comments]  |
| I got a scammy sounding call from a student loan company and I can't make heads or tails of it Posted: 21 Oct 2019 04:09 PM PDT So I am in the grace period of a 50k student loan debt. I need to start making payments January 1st. I got a call today from what sounded like my federal loan servicer company NelNet, as I had recently submitted an application for and IBR program. I checked my online status and it said I was denied because you can't apply while in the grace period. So I called back the number assuming it was NelNet. It ended up being a company called Student Loan Federal Assistance, and it was an American lady claiming her company works to help you apply for an appropriate repayment schedule based on your federal loans. Now this seems super sketchy, but all of the questions I asked her she seemed on the up and up and seemed pretty legit. I didnt sign up for any of their services though, because I wanted to reference the company name with any scams, but their name is so generic I can't find anything on google. She recommended based on my income I sign up for the PAYE program, and offered to help me through the application. She claims at which point my loans would be removed for nelnet and sent back to the department of education as they charge a lower interest than private servicers. Is this all bullshit? Why would a private company offer to do this for people? Cant I just apply for PAYE myself? Where the hell would they make their profit? Like if this is a scam, I'm seriously impressed on how legit they sound on the phone. [link] [comments]  |
| 21 year old that needs help deciding to buy house or other money option. Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:50 PM PDT Hello! I'm at 21 year old male that just graduated with my assiciates from a university in Wisconsin and decided to move back home to a lower income county in central Wisconsin and now need to figure out the best course of action in deciding whether to buy a house or keep saving money. I literally have no monthly expenses as I have moved home and currently have no debt at all(parents have been a blessing). I have about $10,000 to my name in savings. I have a good entry level construction job that will allow good growth but make about $2500 a month atm. I'm basically asking for advice on how i can make the most money in my life outside of work. Should I try to get property as early as possible? I don't want to live at home for any longet and could just find a place to rent soon if needed but am also very excited to buy a house soon. Anyone that has any past experience of what they have done or wish they did would be awesome. I have a vehicle at my disposal given to me by parents so that $10,000 can go toward a down payment. [link] [comments]  |
| What is your favorite expense-tracking site? Posted: 21 Oct 2019 06:49 PM PDT We've pretty much always tracked our expenses with paper receipts and tracking, and I'd like to switch to something a bit more hands-off and streamlined. I'm currently torn between Mint and Quicken, which are the ones my friends recommend the most. We mostly want something we can safely link to our bank account and credit cards. I'd love it if I can customize some of the categories, (e.g., marking a specific vendor as "charity"), but that's not 100% necessary. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Out of the red for the very first time! Now what?! Posted: 21 Oct 2019 07:18 AM PDT Hey PF, long time lurker, first time poster! I'm happy to say that yesterday when I checked my balances, I came out on the positive when comparing my debts to my savings! I couldn't be happier, and it has been a long time coming. So, what next? I have appx $6k in student loan payments debt, $500 left on a personal unsecured loan from my credit union, with $6800 in my checking. I also have $2k in cash in the safe as well, for emergencies where plastic isn't going to work. I have $200 no interest left on a credit card that is 4 auto payments from paid. My goal 3 years ago was to be debt free in 5 years, so I am a little early on that front. My living expenses have gone down to $500/month plus food (down from $900/month the last 2 years). My girlfriend and I decided to move in together, and both of us are loving the benefits of splitting the bills. I sold my car and started walking everywhere at the start of this journey, and it has worked very well to get me extra money to pay down the debts, but I'm starting to weigh the convenience again now that I am able to breathe freely. So, what should be next? How do I start growing wealth now that I have balanced the books? Should I actually pay off my remaining debt now, in a sum? Or continue to make the payments as scheduled? Should I look into raising my credit limits? Should I get a new card with rewards? Should I just hole up like I have been and grind out another $10k and see where the economy goes over the next 6 months? I've considered a couple of high yield savings options, but I don't know if I should use the sum of money I currently have to invest in something like that, or should I use that sum to pay off he debt in full and start over from $0? Any help is welcome! Thanks for all the advice to this point! This sub has gone a long way to getting where I am today, and I recommend it to people all the time! Thanks in advance for the input! Edit; some numbers: Credit score: 720ish 2 student loans: one is 930.27 unpaid principal with 10.125% variable rate. The other is 5,029.81 unpaid principal at 8% variable. Personal loan: 452.27 payoff amount at 6.99% Credit cards: One from credit union; $1500 limit - $0 balance (use daily and clear daily) One from Best Buy: $1000 limit, $200 balance (6 months 0% left, auto pay $50/month, so I'll beat this by 2 months) [link] [comments]  |
| Pushy Credit Union lender....need advice Posted: 21 Oct 2019 08:36 PM PDT The Mrs. and I intend to buy a home imminently. We intend to put 5-10% down. This is not a post asking for opinions about that aspect of our decision. This is a post asking about lender. We qualify for a great credit union for certain public sector employees, don't want to say which. It has a great reputation locally and we were told it's tough to beat. We are about ready to submit our preapproval application. However, every time I talk to the lender handling our application, he tries to gently steer me towards a 0% down loan, which is not an option for us. The interest will be a full point higher, along with 90 other reasons to avoid it. When I speak with him, he will mention certain criteria or something that sounds strange, for example that a cash gift we are receiving won't be acceptable as part of our down payment. When I ask why the hell not, he says the 0% loan doesn't allow for it. DUDE, I say, again - please listen, we aren't interested in the option. This has happened precisely 3 times now in the span of 2 days. The realtor we are working with - who we love - has a preferred lender who she recommends. Usually, my brain would say: trust credit union, distrust realtor recommendation. Given my bad gut feeling about the credit union lender, would I be off base starting this process with the realtor lender instead, when I am constantly told this credit union is among the best options in our region? [link] [comments]  |
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