Personal Finance Always check if your leased car has equity before giving it back to the dealer |
- Always check if your leased car has equity before giving it back to the dealer
- Put in 5000 dollars and get 4k back after a month. Scam?
- Roommates Won't Agree to Splitting Utilities Equally
- Spectrum hired a debt collector. to find me for basically no reason. Will this affect my credit score?
- If you are currently prepaying 0% interest student loans, manually choose which loans to prepay!
- Victim of a confusing fraud-- what kind of weird fraud is this? Anything else I need to do?
- New home owner with a question
- Contributing enough to 401k to stay in lower tax bracket?
- 24 yrs old and company offering American Funds 401k, not sure what my options are and the AF rep is confusing
- Just got laid off - What to do with 401(k)
- Give your company's back office feedback about their benefits package.
- I just got my first time job! Is it worth renting a place nearby or commuting 10 hours a week with 400 miles on my car?
- Just found out that my previous employer has been reporting my taxes and wages with an incorrect social security number. What should I do?
- Investing large-ish lump sum: dollar cost average or all at once?
- Should I get a new car?
- I think my 401k is super expensive. The administrators claim everything is normal. Outside opinions?
- Bestbuy sent me to collections for a chargeback
- Best way to use a temporary $8000 bonus?
- I'm hoping this a the right place to ask. Single mother of one child, 1044.04 twice a month. That's gross pay. I was denied.
- I'm 27 and have never had a credit card. Do I have better credit card options available for my age than secured cards and high interest rates?
- Should I rent out my old house
- If I buy a house from a relative does it automatically qualify as a “gift of equity”?
- In college should I have a car or a moped?
- What's the Best Option for a Single Person With High Assets and Low/No Steady Income to Get a Mortgage?
| Always check if your leased car has equity before giving it back to the dealer Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:02 PM PDT A lot of you probably have cars that haven't moved in a long time (thanks COVID) and might find yourself in a situation where you're unknowingly sitting on car lease equity like I was. Here's how I found out and how to check for yourself. I recently paid the last month of my car lease so I planned to turn it in to the dealership and pay a $300 disposition fee like most people do, but due to a change in my commute length and COVID leading to WFH for the past six months I ended up using only half of the miles I was allowed in the lease. I decided to get the car appraised by used car dealers and was surprised to learn I had $4k of equity in the car (appraised at $17.5k while lease end buyout was $13.5k). $4k is almost half the total amount I paid to lease the car over the past 36 months, so this is a huge return. I accepted an offer from an online used car dealer, scheduled the inspection/pick-up, and two days after they took the car I got my equity check in the mail while the check for the lease end buyout was sent directly to the financing company by the used car dealer... It was that easy. Here's a brief rundown on how to do this:
TLDR - My car lease was coming to an end and I was going to pay a $300 disposition to give it back to the dealership, but decided to get it appraised and ended up making $4k by selling it to a used car dealership. EDIT: Not here to argue whether leasing is good or bad (that's up to you) or if specific cars should/shouldn't be leased (depends on the deal you can get), I'm just here to present an often overlooked and potentially lucrative end of lease option to those who do choose to lease. EDIT 2: Didn't realize this would get so much attention, but glad to help in any way. This whole scenario happened in California. The process could differ slightly in another state as some have pointed out and I have no idea how this process works in other countries, sorry! EDIT 3: You don't have to wait until lease end to do this, but you need to check with your financing company for your situation. If you have a car that's not near lease end, but you don't need anymore you can also use this method to potentially get out of the lease without paying early termination fees by giving it back to the dealer. Make sure to ask for the current third-party lease buyout (might also be lease payoff amount, same thing), not lease end buyout as they might give you the wrong figure. Also ask if there are any fees associated with an early lease buyout just in case. EDIT 4: Getting a few messages about this, please DO NOT lease a car assuming this scenario will play out for you. this is 100% a result of the circumstances we're living in now that if you can take advantage of, you should. Lease a car assuming you will get nothing back and will have to pay a disposition fee to get rid of it if you don't keep it because that's the reality for a lot of people. Remember I did not make a PROFIT on my leased car, I just got a significant portion of the amount I paid for the lease back that I didn't anticipate getting. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Put in 5000 dollars and get 4k back after a month. Scam? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:38 AM PDT OPPS: Title: not 5000, suppose to be 500 My roommate just asked me if I wanted to join the 'church thing' that is only for friends and family to join in (only people you trust). They said that you put in $500 and a month later, you get $4,000 dollars back. The catches are you have to put 500 dollars back in from the 4k so really you get 3.5k and I think the other catch is your are suppose to find two more people to join in to this thing to keep the pool of money going since this is suppose to go on forever. They also said that the money would be tax free (which made me raise a brow). Has anyone heard of this before? Is this a pyramid scheme? The 'adding two more ''friends and family''' made it sound like one but couldn't find anything when I googled around about this. EDIT: "since this is suppose to go on forever", the 500 you put back is so you get another 3.5k a month later. FINAL EDIT: It is called 'sou-sou' and seems to be a recent thing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/07/sou-sou-blessing-loom-illegal-pyramid-schemes/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/11/faq-sou-sou-pyramid-scheme-blm/ [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Roommates Won't Agree to Splitting Utilities Equally Posted: 13 Aug 2020 07:27 PM PDT I'm looking for some advice on how to split utilities fairly in my apartment. It's a 4 bedroom house where the attic bedroom is almost the size of the remaining 3 rooms combined. Because the room is so big, my friend in the big attic room lives with his girlfriend, making it a couple's room. I'm totally fine with an extra person, but I don't know how to split electric and gas utilities fairly. I normally would just say to split it 5 ways since there's 5 people, but I talked to them about it and they're not comfortable splitting it 5 ways because they argue they would be using electric and gas simultaneously, so the utility bill wouldn't increase. TLDR: 4 bedroom house. Big room upstairs houses a couple, so with 5 people, how do I fairly split electric and gas? I don't think the couple will agree to a 5 person split, but I also don't think it's fair to me to split it 4 ways. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:33 PM PDT SO to make a long story short, I moved and Spectrum sent me new equipment. There was confusion on what to do with their old equipment and the tech told me to hang onto it in case it will be needed later (The new equipment was not working initially). Fast forward 2 months and the old equipment is sitting in my closet. I get a call from a debt collector telling me I owe spectrum $160 for equipment theft. Spectrum NEVER tried to contact me in any way and I have been paying my bills on time to them. I explain the situation to the debt collector she says contact spectrum. I contact spectrum, she says "oh my, yep that's a mistake on our end" makes notes for the collections department to stop my case and tells me where to send the equipment. That's where I am and I'm concerned that the damage has already been done and my credit score will be affected. Is there anything I should be doing? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you are currently prepaying 0% interest student loans, manually choose which loans to prepay! Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:02 PM PDT If you input a prepayment amount and select "pay highest interest first" the website will not organize it by how interest was accrued before the pandemic and removal of interest. Instead it will assume that all of your debt is and always will be 0% and pay them down pro rata. I just noticed this and prepaid a lot off my low interest loans that could have went to my high interest loans. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Victim of a confusing fraud-- what kind of weird fraud is this? Anything else I need to do? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:22 AM PDT On Monday, I saw a pending charge on my AMEX for about $190 from Amazon that I didn't recognize. Amazon wouldn't do anything until it posted, and AMEX would only put an alert on it so that I would get an e-mail when it posted. I requested a new card with a new number. On Tuesday, I received a package delivered by Amazon. I happened to come home literally within 60 seconds of its delivery. It was an item that I did not order-- an Intel desktop processor, if it matters. I looked it up on Amazon, and the price+tax matched up to the amount of the unrecognized charge. Now that I had Amazon's tracking number, I got customer service on the phone. Long story short, someone created an account using my name, address, and AMEX card but their e-mail address. They only placed the one order and did not have any other cards on the account. Amazon closed the fraudulent account and sent me a UPS label to return the item, which I did yesterday morning. (I took video of myself packing and labeling it, took it to a UPS Store, handed it to a person, and got a receipt.) Yesterday, the charge posted, so I called AMEX and reported it as fraudulent. I also got an e-mail from Amazon confirming that they had closed the fraudulent account. I checked my cameras beginning the morning prior to delivery up to now, and there is nothing unusual. No weird vehicles, no weird people, nobody even close to my house, no cars driving by slowly-- absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. As far as I can tell, nobody has come looking for this package. I have read about "brushing", but in those cases, people are getting unsolicited packages but are not getting charged for them. In my case, the package was sent to my name at my house but was charged to my card. I'm not sure what the fraudster got out of it other than creating a headache for me, as everyone will have been made whole in the end, and they apparently don't care about getting the item. Is there anything else I need to do? I don't think, nor does Amazon, that my Amazon account was hacked, but I changed my Amazon password anyway. 2FA was already on. I deleted all of my cards from my Amazon account. I checked all my other cards and bank accounts, and everything is all good. I pay for credit monitoring, and all is well there, too. I honestly have no idea how or where my information got stolen, but lots of reputable companies have been hacked before, so who knows. Is there anything else I should be doing or checking to protect myself? Does anyone else know what the heck kind of fraud this is if they never try to come get the package? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New home owner with a question Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:02 PM PDT I recently purchased a home and plan on renting out 2 of the rooms. When it comes time to pay taxes do I have to declare the rent I collect as income? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contributing enough to 401k to stay in lower tax bracket? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:11 PM PDT I'm 24 starting a new job soon with a salary around 43000 a year. My employer will match half of up to 6%, which I plan on at least matching. But should I contribute enough to a traditional 401k to stay in the lower tax bracket and then contribute the rest of savings into a Roth 401k or IRA? Not sure if this makes sense or not. Also if I'm saving for a down payment on a house in the next 5 years or so, should I cut into my retirement savings for this? Or should this be from extra savings. I do have an emergency fund in a high yield savings account now. I've been oblivious to all this since I've been working crappy jobs with no benefits for far too long. So any help and guidance is appreciated [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:51 PM PDT Hi, this is my first time working in a company that offers a 401k plan, which is through American Funds. Our rep is super confusing with his explanations and I feel like I can't ask him for help any more. I'm 22 years old, have a salary of $85k, and do have debt I'm paying off. I want to open my account and start saving even a little bit to start. I asked some of my colleagues and they've told me very different things about what they do. A colleague my age just has everything in a target date fund (which is what the rep told me to do) but said he's getting 5-6% returns. Another colleague has his investments split into the Growth Fund, New Perspective Fund, Income Fund, and the Bond Fund of America and said he's getting 18% returns. How do I determine what's best for me? How do you decide which funds and what % of each fund you want to put your contributions into? Would it be better for me to just finish paying off debt before starting to invest in a retirement plan? Or should I open a Roth IRA now anyways? My company also offers a 3% safe harbor which I've had no explanation for and a vesting schedule of up to 2% where combined you can get 5% of your salary on top of your IRA. Does this affect anything? Any thoughts and advice are appreciated. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Just got laid off - What to do with 401(k) Posted: 13 Aug 2020 07:07 AM PDT Hey all, I just was informed that tomorrow is my last day at my first post-college job. I have a good amount in my 401(k), so I'm curious what I can do with that money. Is the best thing to do to roll it over to another 401(k) or an IRA or something else I don't know about? Thanks. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Give your company's back office feedback about their benefits package. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:15 AM PDT I recently gave my company's back office some feedback about our available HSA funds. They are all actively managed funds with expense ratios between .55% and .88%. No low ER index funds. They followed up asking for details, and I explained why HSA accounts should arguable be prioritized over IRA funds and non-match 401K funds. I showed them a hypothetical example of 40 years investing at different expense ratios, and how the higher ER eats your profits over time. They said they're now working with their provider to figure out what steps they would need to take to overhaul the plan (and if that's feasible) when it's up for renewal this Autumn. Obviously no promises, but from how they responded, it wasn't even on their radar before. If they do revamp our HSA plan, a 30 minute conversation could have just netted me tens of thousands of dollars, or more. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:01 AM PDT Hi all, I'm 19 and just scored my first time job as a helper to an electrician. I'm not close to either of my parents and neither of them are great examples of adults, so I guess I'll be asking here about what I should do I was living at my college from January to August by doing work study, but I had to leave since I decided on going to trade school instead. Now I've been living at my mothers for a week, but I can't stay here permanently since she has government assisted housing due to her mental illness. My job is an hour away which equals 100 miles on my car there and back. The job starts at 7:30am and ends around 5:30pm. I start this Monday and I'm thinking of staying at an Airbnb for $269 for 5 days so that I can be close to my job and don't have to worry about commuting and can see if it'd be worth getting my own place out there. I'll be getting paid $15 an hour on the books, but I don't know how much will be deducted from tax or how much I'll be getting weekly to truly calculate how much I'll be making and what kind of apartment I could afford (I live in Long Island, New York) , which is why I'm debating on living at air bnbs instead of an apartment OR just staying at the Airbnb for a week. I'm not sure what to do, I feel like this all comes down to whether I want to save time or money. I can either commute a total of 10 hours per week and save $269 from not staying at an airbnb, but have to pay about $40 in gas and put around 400 miles on my car per week and get up at 5am while stressing about being late Or get up around 6am, be right near my job, but have to pay close to $300 on a place to stay for 5 days. What do I do after this week ends? I'm new to all of this Any advice would be really appreciated, thank you. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:05 PM PDT Long story short: USA, California. I got let go due to Covid-19 in June. I filed for unemployment immediately, but have not received anything benefits wise. EDD contacted me for the first time this week to inform me that my employer has been using the wrong social security number on my W-2 to report taxes and wages. I have already brought up this problem with my employer. What more can I do on my end? EDD rep said it is up to my employer to fix their mistake. Will this have any repercussions for me in years to come? Should/can I take legal action against my employer because of their negligence? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investing large-ish lump sum: dollar cost average or all at once? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 07:17 PM PDT So I have a few hundred grand I need to invest for the future. I'll need it in ~10+ years. My brain says that's long enough out that I should bite the bullet and put all in now, but with markets at these heights it's hard to pull the trigger. Plan would be to put in 70/30 broad market/bond index funds. Thoughts? UPDATE: THANKS FOR THE INPUT! DEFINITELY MAKES SENSE TO GO ALL IN! [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:34 PM PDT Pre-approved for a car loan at 2.29% through the credit union. Current car I really like, a 2016 hyundai equus 8 cylinder that gets about 21 mpg. It's a really nice car. Problem is my main job 3-4 days a week 120 miles round trip. Part time job 3-4 times a month 150 miles round trip. Proposed trade in for a new hyundai ioniq 53mpg. Payment would be 20 dollars less a month but a new 72 month loan and insurance would be 1400 less per year along with greatly improved gas mileage. The problem that I am struggling with is the trade in only 18K and they will finance 10k negative equity for a total contract of 42k vs the current payoff of 28,500. I am struggling with what is the right choice. Thoughts?? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I think my 401k is super expensive. The administrators claim everything is normal. Outside opinions? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:25 PM PDT I work at an institution of private education. Approximately 200 current employees. Our 401k (according to Brightscope.com) has 275 participants and approximately $6,000,000 in net assets, if that's relevant (I've been told AUM makes a difference for possible fund classes or overall costs associated with the plan). My employer gives a 5% gift (not match-- just given) which makes me think they are trying their best but not even realizing how much the plan is costing us as employees.
Here is a chart of our investment options below. I begged them for index funds about 4 years ago, and they did finally cave but the index fund fees are close to 1.00% (?!). There's also a money market fund charging over 1.00%!! They seem to mostly be "Class R" which I don't fully understand how a fund class is chosen...can someone elighten? Overall, am I crazy or are we being screwed pretty badly? It seems like the difference in fees between my taxable account and my 401k are almost completely wiping out the tax benefits of my 401k and basically I'm only investing in it now to eventually convert to an IRA when switching jobs.
Edit: The plan administrator told me their "cut" is only .25%, which is "half of the normal 50 basis points." A friend told me that 50 basis points isn't the norm, but the "max" a 401k admin can take for their fee. Any insight? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bestbuy sent me to collections for a chargeback Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:03 PM PDT Back In January I ordered an item from Best buy, they claimed it got delivered but I never received it. I filed a claim with best buy to see what happen and they kept saying it was delivered and basically told me to kick rocks. I did the next reasonable thing and I filed a dispute with the bank and 2 months later I got my money back. 6 months later to 2 days ago I get a call from collections from Caine & Weiner, I called them back today and I spoke with a lady, I told her what happen and to send me a deb validation letter and she said I should file a police report and send them that and the dispute documents I did with the bank and that the validation letter would be necessary in that case. I told her Ill send her the documents but I'm not going to the police to file a report for something that happened 8 months ago and specially with the virus going around. She transfers me to a manager who was an asshole, he kept saying that bestbuy shipped the item and blah blah. So I told him send me a debt validation letter, he claims that he shipped one out on the 24th. I told him I never got it and he said "I have it on my records thats all I need buddy" So I told him "send me the validation letter or youre shit out of luck" and hanged up. So how should I go about this? should I keep trying to contact them for the validation letter? Should I send a certified mail asking for it? ignore it? Also when they first called me and I called that number back it was a totally different company and they had also call me from that same number on the 29th. I had to google the company to find the number. One more thing how can they report the debt to the bureau if they don't have my social?? btw theres no reports on my credit from them so far. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best way to use a temporary $8000 bonus? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:13 AM PDT Dear Personal Finance experts, I would like advice and people's ideas on how to best use and take advantage of having approximately $8000 in "free money" that I am receiving from my workplace. The only stipulation is that I will need to be able to pull the money back out and repay it quickly if I leave my job. Details: My workplace gave me $3000 as a "moving stipend" and $5000 as a "sign-on bonus", but also made me sign a contract stating that I will need to repay the full amount if I leave my job in less than a year. I will have to repay a pro-rated amount if I leave my job in less than 2 years. (There is no way for me to get out of these stipulations unless my position becomes eliminated by the company, which I don't foresee happening ever.) What is the best way for me to take advantage of this amount of money being in my account, but still keep it liquid enough to pay back if I get sick of my position and leave before the 2 years are up? Of course I may decide to stay at my job for the full 2 years, and keep the money permanently, but I don't want to count on that. Thanks for any advice. Edited for better information, because I'm an idiot:
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| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:24 AM PDT I was denied food stamps. I get no child support at all. This is literally my only income. I desperately needed this. Even if it was only 50$ bucks. I live in Missouri if that helps. When I get paid, pay all bills. I only have 57$ to use for two weeks. I'm just severely down about it. Does anyone have any idea why I'd be denied? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:44 AM PDT I really have no interest in a card but I definitely need it for emergencies for a little while, and it seems like it would be best to have a card to build credit. I get offers a lot more now that I'm over 25 and have never had one... is that an indicator that ill get slightly better interest rates? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Should I rent out my old house Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:24 PM PDT I have a paid off 3 bed 2 bath. Just moved out. Have never rented before. Should I get into the rental business now, or just sell it and pay down my new house. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If I buy a house from a relative does it automatically qualify as a “gift of equity”? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:13 AM PDT A few years ago I was in college, the only income was my husband's, and we had a mortgage on our home. We had a growing family and were running out of room in our house. We literally stumbled on a much nicer house in a very nice neighborhood that, due to the seller's personal situation, was priced to sell quickly. We attempted to get a mortgage in our names but were denied because of our income. My in laws were very generous and bought the house in their names with the intention of selling it to us after I graduated. We have made every payment so any equity that has been earned in the house (which 5 years out is not very much) was the result of our income. I graduated and got a job effectively doubling our past income. We also sold our old house. As of right now we do not own a home and have lived in our current residence for 5 years. We are actively looking at mortgages at the moment. A mortgage broker told my husband that if we purchase the house from my in-laws, for exactly what they paid for it, that we will need to declare the difference in sales price vs market value as "a gift of Equity". My understanding was this was the situation where, for example, Grandma sells you the family farm for $1 and it's worth 1 million. This house was purchased for 200,000 5 years ago and appraised, at the time, for 275,000. We are expecting to purchase it for 200,000. Any help is greatly appreciated, neither one of us has much experience in this area. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In college should I have a car or a moped? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:17 PM PDT I currently have $4,000 in savings and ride the bus. I don't make nearly enough money to live in Southern California, but I am very frugal. I am financially independent, 20 years old, and am finally about to start college after a series of bad decisions and some life changes. I know I can buy a decent used car now, but i'm wondering if I should just save my money and buy a moped. If I did I wouldn't have to pay for insurance and maintnance. I don't know what the end goal would be for savings, but I like feeling secure knowing I have a financial cushion. Any advice related to the question or not is apreciated. Edit: I now know what financially independent means, and I am not that. I just mean I couldn't fall back on family in a pinch. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:11 PM PDT I think the housing market is going to crash later this year and if so I'm looking to buy. I have relatively high assets for my age (20s) but no steady income. I have excellent credit. I have about the same NW as the maximum house price I would be looking to buy. I would be looking to put 20% down on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage. Is this possible? I'm definitely trying to get a friend who has a steady income and high NW to split a place with me, but if I cannot swing that I'm trying to start considering my options, if any. [link] [comments]  |
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