Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of January 24, 2020 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of January 24, 2020
- FICO Introduces New FICO Score 10 Suite
- Buying a home in Los Angeles with less than 20% down vs waiting
- Just got hit with some credit card fraud, but...
- cash back credit card recommendations NO ANNUAL FEE, ideally no foreign transaction fees
- Does it make financial sense to own a truck and a car, versus just a truck?
- How much should I save for kid's college in 529?
- Can someone confirm that I'm becoming an independent contractor the right way?
- Not sure what to do with multiple high interest student loans, student loan advisor?
- Is it worth it at 27yo to leave money in a traditional IRA instead of moving the funds into an existing Roth IRA?
- Used entire $1600 savings to pay off credit card before promo period ended and increases to 17%, is that the right call?
- Jobs for 66 Year Old Dad who just moved to the US?
- Credit Reporting Issue
- My foreign ( no insurance) 89 yr old Grandma just fell down the stairs.. we are in the hospital - Doc says she probably broke her hip.
- Want to start paying off some long dormant student loans that were sold to debt collectors. Is there anything that I should or shouldn't do when dealing with the debt collectors?
- Does it really make sense to buy a cheap car with cash and then save and buy another better car with cash over just financing a decent one in the first place?
- Does it make sense to pay off low interest loans to free up more monthly cash flow?
- How to not get demoralized by unexpected hurtles?
- Craigslist Scam Check
- Retirement Strategy
- No employable skills, ~29k in debt. How should I go forward?
- Does anyone have good credit after bankruptcy?
- 17k high interest debt, 30k a year income. What are my options?
- [Need Help] How to get the money back from the scammer
- Pre-tax vs Roth 401k?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of January 24, 2020 Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:05 AM 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 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]  |
| FICO Introduces New FICO Score 10 Suite Posted: 24 Jan 2020 05:41 AM PST FICO unveiled the latest version of their FICO credit score via a press release on Thursday, January 23, 2020. A summary of the changes and how they can impact your score taken from this Yahoo! Money article:
[link] [comments]  |
| Buying a home in Los Angeles with less than 20% down vs waiting Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:46 PM PST Hi all, As the post says, I'm saving to buy a house and am feeling a bit overwhelmed looking through posts- Hoping for some advice for my situation. 28M in Los Angeles and have been renting for quite some time. I see myself in the LA area for at least the next 5 years and was wondering if it would be smart to buy? My gross income is between 130-150K depending on company bonus. I'm expecting a small promotion this year which should give me an additional 10-15K, however it's not set in stone. My girlfriend makes 100K as a government worker and by the time I buy a house she'll be my fiance. That would bring gross household to about 230K conservatively(in case bonuses aren't good). Credit score is a tad under 800 according to discover and credit karma(taken with a grain of salt). Pretty solid borrowing history(multiple vehicles paid off, a personal loan, student loan). No debt now with about 100K in credit lines available. Putting 12% into 401K and maxing roth ira, however dont have any other investments currently. My current rent plus utilities is about 2K. Unfortunately I dont see having 20% down anytime soon, however could probably put a downpayment of about 50K in about 18-24 months. This equates to about 6% down on a 750K townhome or something similar. 1) is it smart or should I just wait another 3-5 years to get to try and hit 20%? Given the LA market it seems like that number just keeps getting further and further away 2) I'm reading about FHA vs other types of loans- any suggestions? I'm open to continuing to rent if that's the smart thing to do [link] [comments]  |
| Just got hit with some credit card fraud, but... Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:23 PM PST So I just got hit with some charges on my Chase Freedom credit card. I'm not exactly sure how since the card was in my possession the whole time, and I generally cover my tracks online pretty well. It may have been because I bought somethings from a non-established e-tailer but it was still a "name brand" e-tailer. Anyway, fortunately my card only got scammed a couple hundred in Target gift cards. I locked my card immediately and called Chase and they said they'll take care of it, I don't have to pay a thing, and my credit score won't be affected since a lot of people get hacked and it's totally out of their control. End of story right? No. A few days later I receive a package in my mail from Target, with my name on it. I don't shop at Target so idk why there's a package to me from them. I open the package up and there's a $100 giftcard for me. Wtf? The only conclusion is that whoever stole my credit card info decided to buy me a nice present of a $100 Target gift card. Why would a thief do that? Now since I'm an ethical person so I am not going to spend that $100. So I called Chase and told them the situation. They told me since the fraud charges are already settled in my favor they aren't gonna do a thing, it's case closed. So should I go to Target and try to return this gift card to them? I feel like if I just shred the GC it's effectively the same but idk. Has anyone experienced this before? [link] [comments]  |
| cash back credit card recommendations NO ANNUAL FEE, ideally no foreign transaction fees Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:56 AM PST I loved my uber visa card (4% restaurants/bars, 3% travel, 2% online purchases/uber 1% else) But they're changing the rewards so it's uber cash back and not real cash back I have mid 700s score, early 20s college, no debt, I use credit cards responsibility to maximize rewards I also have Discover 5% rotating rewards. CapitalOne 1.5% on everything. I'm looking for a card with no annual fee, ideally maximizing restraunts/bars and ideally no foreign transaction fees but not a deal breaker Thanks in advance for your recomendations! [link] [comments]  |
| Does it make financial sense to own a truck and a car, versus just a truck? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 05:31 AM PST My current vehicle is an 04 Dodge Dakota with 125k miles. It's rusting underneath, but by and large it still gets the job done when I need to tow a trailer, move some lumber, pickup equipment etc... Of course, it isn't as reliable as it was and I could see the suspension needing to be rebuilt soon. KBB estimated that this truck is worth 2,000 as a dealer trade-in on a new vehicle. I have been entertaining the idea of replacing my truck with a new Toyota Tacoma. This would become my new daily driver for my work commute of approximately 35 miles and I would end up trading my old truck in. This vehicle is ~ $33,000 new. Lately, I've also been considering keeping my truck and instead purchasing a commuter car for work. Something like a Honda Civic for $25k. I wouldn't get the measly $2k trade-in credit on the new car, but it's still much cheaper than the new truck would be. Where I'm having trouble is comparing apples to apples. With each scenario, there is probably a lot of hidden costs I'm not thinking about. In one scenario, only 1 vehicle is having to be covered under insurance, registration fees, maintenance costs, etc.. I'm wondering if anyone has done the math on this before, and figured out if there's a break-even point that makes one better than the other? Disclaimed: I know this sub will be quick to point out that I don't need, and in fact shouldn't buy a new vehicle. For the purposes of this decision, I wanted to compare apples to apples and this was the easiest way. Toyota Tacomas and Honda Civics also hold their value better than most vehicles, and if you look at the used car market for each you will see that they are not far off new car prices *ducks*. [link] [comments]  |
| How much should I save for kid's college in 529? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:30 PM PST I live in Indiana which has the nation's most generous 529 plan where you get a 20% tax credit for every dollar you save in a 529 with the max per year credit being $1000. I've been maxing this out every year because someday I might have to move due to unforeseen life changes and I wouldn't be able to take advantage of such a generous program. I don't have plans to move, but if I lost my job I would most likely have to move to another state. My kid is only four and I already have more than $20k saved and it is invested in a fairly aggressive portfolio of stock and bond index funds. If I were to withdraw the funds for non-qualified expenses I would have to pay the credit back and a tax penalty. I feel like at some point soon I will need to decide to stop investing in the 529 because, after some assumed compounding, I will have more than enough to fund an entire college education. How do I go about deciding when to stop investing in the 529? I won't be having any more kids. [link] [comments]  |
| Can someone confirm that I'm becoming an independent contractor the right way? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:22 PM PST I'm sorry this is going to sound so un-googled, base level, elementary - but I'm having a hard time finding anyone who can just answer my questions without trying to explain all the tax stuff to me. I know the tax stuff, I just need some help understand step one: what to do before you actually do the work as an independent contractor/freelancer. ... I will do some work for a few different clients soon. They want to pay me through paypal.
Or do I need to fill out some government form first to state that I am an Independent Contractor? I don't have a business, it's just me. I would really like to establish a relationship with someone who can advise me on this stuff locally. What type of professional should I look for? Is this all CPA stuff? Do I need an attorney? Are there businesses that just have a bunch of CPAs? I never thought I'd escape corporate jobs so this is all brand new territory for me. I can't ask friends or family for help. Is there another subreddit that might be more helpful? I feel like the only person who doesn't know how to do this stuff but when I ask friends or colleagues they just clam up and act like asking for help is taboo. [link] [comments]  |
| Not sure what to do with multiple high interest student loans, student loan advisor? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 04:09 PM PST I just feel so overwhelmed by all the information out there and trying to figure out what is best for my situation. So here is a breakdown of what I owe: Im 30, and making ~52k Citizens bank loan 1: 8.9% 4k (I didn't realize this loan had creeped so high and plan on paying it off in the next month or two). Navient loan 2: 5k, ~8.5% nelnet: 33k, between 3.5-6.8% The largest is 10k at 6,8% American education services: 13k 6.7% Do I just consolidate, go to income based for the federal loan? The navient is going to be my next focus to get rid of obviously, but I'd like to get the interest down across the board. I don't have any other debt, moved back home to save money, have ~6k in savings and no 401 or other investments, and have a 730 credit score. I know there are tons of resources out there, but I'm the kind of person that gets very indecisive and overthinks. I'd really like someone to just tell me what would be best to do for my situation. Of course I need to read and learn and be informed about this, but I appreciate personalized guidance. Thank you for any help. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 10:33 AM PST I have a traditional IRA that was created when I rolled over funds from a previous employer's 401k program. When I was opening the account, I was told I could not open a Roth IRA since the money was coming from a 401k. The traditional account is currently sitting at around $11,500 dollars while the Roth is around $4,500, and I am 27 years old. Is there some math I could do to figure out if it makes more sense to leave the account where it is or pull the money out and pay the penalty? I figure if I don't take the money out now I'll just leave it as is and contribute later in life when I'm closer to retirement, but at the same time I don't know if I'm wasting more prime investment years that I have right now. Thanks for any advice. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 01:11 PM PST Basically I had $1600 in savings and promo period on card ending 1/31 then APR would be 17%. I used the $1600 to pay it off to avoid interest. I have tax refund coming so I can replenish savings. Smart move or nah? [link] [comments]  |
| Jobs for 66 Year Old Dad who just moved to the US? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:36 PM PST My 66 year old dad had worked for as a manager for a casino in the Philippines for almost 40 years and retired in 2018. We moved here in the United States 7 months ago, and until now, it's been a struggle to find a job for him let alone get him interviewed. I tried applying him for a nearby casino (there's only one), Walmart, Target, Hope Depot, and so many more and had no luck. Also since he is old, he can't adapt to computers and doesn't fully understand them. He can speak English but just needs to build up his confidence. He's willing to do almost anything just to earn money. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:31 PM PST Hello everyone. I needed some advice as I'm stuck in a situation I'm unsure of how to solve, I'll try to keep it short. backstory Had a car loan with Westlake Financial Services that I was eventually unable to pay due to job loss several years ago. They repossessed the vehicle, charged off the debt, then sold it to a third party. dealing with third party The company that purchased the debt went out of business and ended up selling it to another third party: Capital Link Management, sometime in 2019. I settled with CLM in October of 2019 and expected that the debt would be updated on my credit report to show as paid off, or possibly removed. current problem When the report was never updated I started to call around, submit disputes to the reporting agencies and so on. But every time I dispute the validity of the Westlake account on my credit report the agencies always come back saying the information is verified as accurate. I've provided them with payment receipts but apparently that doesn't work because all they do is send that information to Westlake, who ultimately makes the decision regarding validity. The thing that concerns me is that Westlake does not own the debt and should not have any say or involvement in this matter. They have admitted to me multiple times that they do not own the debt. I'm stuck in between a rock and a hard place because Westlake won't fix the report, and CLM won't report it on their end because I paid them quickly before they got the chance to report. At this time, they have no incentive to report a settled account. With all of that said, is there any way to force one of these three entities (Westlake, CLM, credit reporting agencies) to fix this? The information on my report is not accurate and dealing with these parties is becoming a headache. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:22 PM PST We are awaiting to see the Xrays, and Im worried since she is very poor and foreign - what can she do ? I mean I can help her out but we all know a surgery like that will be 60k plus and theres physical therapy on top of that. She was here visiting for 2 months. Should I go on California healthcare ( obamacare) and look for a plan for her immediately ? Is there anything I can do? I just want her to be able to get treated but also dont want my mom and I stuck with a 60k+ bill.. Please anything helps [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:00 PM PST My partner and I are now financially stable enough that we can start thinking about paying off some of their student loans. For a decade out of school my partner was living in or near poverty and so never made any student loan payments that were not directly garnished from their wages. My partner had no information about who is holding the loans so I called their parents, who said that sometimes people will call asking about the loans. The parents have never given the callers any of my partner's contact details, to prevent their child from having to deal with debt collectors. I would like to start paying off the loans, or at least figuring out how much is owed, but I'm afraid that by inquiring about the loans I will somehow reveal personal information that could lead to my partner being harassed by debt collectors, and I would like to avoid that. Has anyone dealt with debt collectors before, specifically for student loan debt? Alternatively is there way that I can find out about and pay off the debt without ever having to deal with the debt collectors? I've found https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/student-loans/articles/how-figure-out-your-total-student-loan-balance/ , which suggests pulling a credit report, but I'm afraid that by doing so that I will accidentally do something to alert the debt collectors. Do I have anything to worry about? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:09 PM PST Curious because im car shopping. I see a lot of posts that say "don't finance that 13/14k car and instead buy a cheap civic for 5k instead and save and buy the 13k car in cash later in maybe 2/3 years" I mean, with any decent rate. wouldn't you spend less in interest than the cost of cheap 5000 car and in theory end up in a more reliable newer car anyway? [link] [comments]  |
| Does it make sense to pay off low interest loans to free up more monthly cash flow? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 10:01 AM PST I have these debts: $24,000 in federal student loans with a 3.9% interest rate, 8 year term $15,000 auto loan at 1.9%, 5 year term $4000 in other student loans at 0%, 8 year term With both my wife and I working, we end up with about $1500 leftover per month after paying the minimum on these loans, saving 12% for retirement, and paying for all bills and necessities. We want to have a baby in a year or two, and have decided that my wife will become a stay at home mom when that happens. When my wife quits her job, our leftover money per month drops to $150. I usually get a decent raise every year at my job, so future raises may increase this monthly cash flow a bit by the time the baby arrives. What I'm concerned about is possibly needing to increase our budget a bit to accommodate the baby and that $150 in cash flow per month could get surpassed and put us in a situation where we have negative monthly cash flow. In this instance, does it make sense to pay off as much of the loans as we can with our $1500 leftover money, to increase our monthly cash flow? I am aware of the math that says that if I just continue paying the minimum on the loans and invest all of our extra monthly money in low cost index funds, I'll most likely come out ahead since the S&P 500 averages a 10% (7% adjusted for inflation) return every year which beats my highest loan interest rate of 3.9% (and student loans are tax deductible). At the same time, I don't want to be caught with my pants down by investing all the money and then be slowly losing money later due to having a negative cash flow. Any advice would be great. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| How to not get demoralized by unexpected hurtles? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 05:33 AM PST I'm working so hard to pay down my student loans and credit card debt but it feels like every time I start to make progress something happens, last time it was an emergency $2000 vet bill and this time $700 car repair. I mean I literally just got done paying off the vet bill, now I'm gonna have to tackle the car repair before I can go back to working on the credit card debt. It all feels so crushing. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:25 PM PST Looking for some advice here -- I posted a for sale ad for a desk on craigslist. I got a text message saying they're interested and can send a cashier's check. I went against my gut and said it was OK because they used a female name (in retrospect very smart) and said they would wait until I cash it so I can have peace of mind until their "movers" come to pick it up. I was even given a tracking number. I got a cashier's check for way above asking price (I asked $150, they sent $995). That's when I knew it was a scam. I have not or do not plan to cash it. I reported it to the FTC and to craigslist. I am wondering if I need to do anything else? They have my first and last name and physical address. Any advice is greatly appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:13 PM PST Hi all, I graduated a little over a year ago. Over the past year I've paid off most of my student loans and have approximately 5 months of payments left. During the past year I've been making high contributions to my 401K at approximately 20%, with the first 6% company matched $0.50 to each $1.00. They also contribute an annual retirement bonus of 2% of compensation. Recently I've been thinking about how limited my 401K investment opportunities are, and I've considered if I should drop my contribution to 10%, set aside 10% of each paycheck in a separate account, and invest on my own. Is this a strategy that makes sense? [link] [comments]  |
| No employable skills, ~29k in debt. How should I go forward? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 02:14 PM PST Currently I'm in a situation where I formally make $10/hr, but because of the way employees are chased off the clock before 40 hrs, I'm effectively making $7.75/hr. My average monthly income is $1267 after tax. My expenses per month are ~1200 including rent, bills, food, and my student loan payment. I pay over the minimum on that each month. I have $29300 in student loans to pay off, total. They look like this, if it matters: 5450 at 4.66% 5449 at 4.66% 983 at 4.45% 5443 at 4.29% 5539 at 3.86% 3721 at 3.76% 2716 at 3.76% and I have about $1500 in savings. The debt is for a B.S. in Kinesiology that I don't use for a variety of reasons: a) I don't want to work in the fitness industry b) there are very limited opportunities for undergraduate kinesiology degrees even within the fitness/health industry c) graduate careers in exercise science/kinesiology generally have an awful ROI compared to other paths also circle back to (a). Needless to say, I wish I had known beforehand what I was getting into, but I didn't even understand interest rates when I took these loans out much less industry or the professional job market. Here's my problem: with my income now it would take me 5-6 years to pay off these loans & that's only if I'm shoveling pretty much everything I have into them each month. I can't save, I can't invest. My rent now is extremely cheap because I have 3 roommates in a rural, low pop town in a fly-over state, but I don't expect it to stay cheap over that entire period of time because we're all in our late 20's and people move around at this age. If any of us leaves, my payments go up. I see something like two options: 1) There is an online post-bacc program in Computer Science offered by Auburn that costs ~35k, which would double my overall debt, but increase my earning potential. I see this as an option because I could still work, I wouldn't have to move, and in ~2 years I could (possibly) make more. I'm nervous about this because I also thought taking loans out was a good idea that first time and I was wrong. It's also a pretty difficult degree. What do you think the minimum salary after graduating should be to justify 60k in debt? 2) I could (possibly) find a better job than what I have, in which case I don't know what to look for or where. I have no employable skills that come to mind (kinesiology is an academic degree, not an applied science) so best case scenario is that I swap my current low-wage, low-skill $10 per hour job for an $11 per hour job doing similar work. Is the solution obvious? Do I pay down loans? Do I take out more? Do I move? Thanks for any input. I really don't know what to do. [link] [comments]  |
| Does anyone have good credit after bankruptcy? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 02:13 PM PST My husband and I (both 30) were always great with money, and placed a lot of importance on good credit. He had a scary medical emergency a few years back that left us in $80k medical debt. We declared bankruptcy and it was discharged in early 2017. We continued to pay minimum payments even during the bankruptcy process, so we have 0 late payments on our record, which might be the answer to my question, but our credit scores haven't really taken a huge hit. Before the bankruptcy we were high 700, low 800. We are now both sitting at high 600, low 700. Not great, but not as bad as the bankruptcy attorney made it out to be. Is that possible this soon after a bankruptcy? We have a mortgage, a car payment, and several low limit credit cards between us in good standing. I am asking specifically because we want to refinance our home and/or take out a HELOC to build a mud room and a new master bedroom/bathroom, and I don't want to go through the process if it's too good to be true. They want us to have 670+ credit at our income, and I don't want to take another hard inquiry hit. Plus, I'm just curious if anyone else has decent credit after their bankruptcy? [link] [comments]  |
| 17k high interest debt, 30k a year income. What are my options? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 04:45 PM PST I'm a 24 year old female recovering from drug addiction, unemployment because of it, and living off credit cards. I've gotten professional help and my life together! I've cracked down on spending, only eating at home, paying $300 in rent, $200 in utilities and phone expenses. $100/month on groceries. I work two jobs and earning between 25-30k a year. As you may have guessed I have no degree. Experian 576, FICO 638 credit score. Any hope for me before filing for bankruptcy? Got denied a balance transfer credit card, considering a personal loan. I'm genuinely ready to change, I want to go back to school and better myself, I'm just in too much debt so it doesn't seem possible. I was an above average student before this all happened. Advice? Balance transfer or loans that will cater to poor credit? Thanks in advance.... [link] [comments]  |
| [Need Help] How to get the money back from the scammer Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:54 PM PST I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I recently got into a scam, which made me lost a lot of money (tens of thousands dollars). The scammer called me over the phone and the number shown on my iPhone was exactly the same as the one of our local police department. They told me they were local police officer and were assisting FBI for drug smuggling. They said my identity was stolen and they needed to create a new SSN for me, but that would close all my bank accounts and make me lose my money. And they asked me to wire transfer the money to a bank account. I trusted them because of the phone number. And two days later, I realized that they were scammers. I've already reported this case to the police and notified the banks. Does anybody know if there's anything else I can do to get my money back? Any help is appreciated! Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:50 PM PST 24 year old engineer making $60,000 a year in Oregon. Just started my first job and I have the option to enroll in a pre-tax 401k, a Roth 401k, or split my contribution. My employer matches 100% of the first 5% I contribute. Which one should I pick? I'm definitely expecting an increase in income over time and also do not expect to make as much in retirement as now so I'm leaning towards the pre-tax 401k. Also planning on maxing out a Roth IRA every year. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
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