Personal Finance Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of August 21, 2020 |
- Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of August 21, 2020
- Eye Doctor sends me a $10 bill every 3 months. Billing department unreachable.
- $12k ER bill 8 years later.
- Credit Denied 2 Weeks After Driving Away in New Car
- We are adopting a baby. If I wanted to save between $50 and $100 a month to help with her college expenses whats the best place to save it?
- Just found out my parents (62M, 57F) have their entire life savings in New York Life whole life insurance and annuities
- Roof company replaced wrong section of roof
- 18, still in high school and working at a minimum wage job. Want to start investing in index funds.
- Tax bill just showed up and its a little alarming
- In the negative
- What’s an appropriate amount of chore money?
- I got my first credit card denied a month ago. Can I apply for another card within 2 months or is it best to wait for a longer time?
- Friend lost her job, needs to decide what to do with her 401k
- Just got a settlement - how should I handle the money?
- Why is a mortgage lender looking at my credit?
- (US) I inherited a 10 acre property mostly in the middle of nowhere. What should I do with it?
- Vanguard ETFs: Are there any advantages to buying Vanguard ETFs through Vanguard vs. another brokerage?
- Crazy/inverted mortgage rates
- Apartment violated FCRA, how do we report them?
- Pros cons of bankruptcy vs settling debt
- First time buying a home - VERY tight budget in Bay Area
- Moving investments over from brokerage account to Roth IRA
- Putting untaxed income from a side business into an pre-tax retirement account (US)
- Pay off debt or invest?
| Weekend Discussion and Victory Thread for the week of August 21, 2020 Posted: 21 Aug 2020 02:05 PM 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]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eye Doctor sends me a $10 bill every 3 months. Billing department unreachable. Posted: 21 Aug 2020 08:28 AM PDT I got an eye checkup and a new prescription 2 years ago. Insurance covered the cost of the appointment and I used my FSA to pay for the copay. The copay was $10. 3 months later I got a bill for the copay. I learn from the receptionist that their computers were "offline" the month of my appointment and the payment never went through. Well now I've switched jobs at this point and no longer have access to the FSA account I used to pay the bill. On principle I don't want to pay them again so I try to contact the billing department to discuss the situation. Fast forward 2 years later, I still get a bill every 3 months and the billing department will not return my emails or calls. Is a copay something that could be sent to collections and screw up my credit? If not, then I don't have to stress when mail forwarding stops (I've moved) and never see the bill again. How does one dispute a bill if you can't contact the billing department anyways? EDIT: typical, "I didn't expect this to blow up". Big picture, life has been throwing punch after punch to most of us the last 4 years (and some much much longer). It's tougher and tougher to get ahead and any win feels like progress against the uphill battle. Hopefully this relates and resonates with people in the comments. Is this worth getting another win? My wife agrees with the majority here: I should just pay the $10 and drop this negativity from my life for good. If it ever does come back, I'll have kept the payment documentation this time. Interesting information in this thread regarding healthcare bills and credit reports (and the reality of things not always obeying the law) as well as stories of what thresholds make it beneficial for businesses and agencies to go after debt. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 03:12 PM PDT 8 years ago I spent a night in the ER in Georgia after an accident. Never received a bill, never got a call, so I just forgot about it. I went on to make a lot of money, build a 800+ credit score, and even buy a house with no mortgage issues. My credit is excellent and is not tainted by anything. I've never had any reports of debt. Now, I no longer live in Georgia, and I'm getting calls and letters from a legit collection agency demanding that I pay $12k for the ER visit. I've saved up a great emergency fund and could easily afford this... But should I? It seems way past the statute of limitations and it's not on my credit report. Why should I pay them anything? I'm thinking about having my lawyer tell them to stop contacting me. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Credit Denied 2 Weeks After Driving Away in New Car Posted: 21 Aug 2020 06:10 PM PDT So, the long and short of it is that I financed a vehicle just over two weeks ago. I traded in my old vehicle, cut a check for 4k as a down payment, signed the paperwork, and drove home. We've been enjoying our new car for two weeks. Today I get a letter informing me that my loan application was denied. There's some nonsense about no bank wanting to assume the loan at the terms. And that's it. The kicker is that my TransUnion score came back at 880, so what gives? I'm totally lost here. I expected that when we signed the paperwork, this was all a done deal. There hasn't been anything else that has happened with my situation or credit and I expected that if I had any issues, this would have been made clear in advance. Anyone that could provide any insight would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 02:30 PM PDT This would be for stuff like gas money and living stuff. This was kind of sprung on us but we couldn't be happier. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 07:13 PM PDT Background Parents are frugal, risk-averse, first-generation immigrants (with US citizenship) living in south Florida and they own a small business without any other employees. They also don't have health insurance. Thanks to the current virus situation in Florida, I wanted to see how they were doing in terms of retirement and if they could move back to their home country — which has great, affordable medical care and a much lower CoL — which is when I discovered what I wrote in the title and that they have no other savings. To say I was horrified is an understatement, but there's nothing to do but move forward and control the damage. I had Parents give me the login info for their New York Life accounts so I could see what was up. I'm hoping you kind folks can help me determine if my plan is optimal, especially with Parents being so close to retirement age. I'm ignoring their assets and liabilities in this post because we've gotten the ball rolling on those already and I'd like to focus on what we're not familiar with, which is all these crazy policies. New York Life Policies In total, Parents have 13 policies: 6 life insurance, 4 annuities, and 3 "Premier II" policies
Discussion so far
Plan
Thanks for any help that can be offered! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Roof company replaced wrong section of roof Posted: 21 Aug 2020 07:12 PM PDT Per post title, my wife and I had a company come out and go in our attic and identify a leak in the roof. Over the past 2 weeks they sent out a team without us being home, without letting us know they would be coming. The contract states "back right section" of the roof, assuming you look from the front of the house. Apparently the work team looked from the back of the house and replaced the section on the opposite side. To clarify, the section of roof that was repaired is not the section identified initially, specifically where we had seen water damage. Cost was $975. My wife texted me at work (she was also at work) and said they had come and finished - unschedule - so I paid via paypal. When I got home, I realized the mistake. What should my course of action be? In the morning I plan to contact paypal/discover and stop the payment I made, then follow up with an email for written record and a phone call. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18, still in high school and working at a minimum wage job. Want to start investing in index funds. Posted: 21 Aug 2020 07:05 PM PDT Want to know where to start. I have $3000 to start with. I'm not really looking to start a retirement account, I want to be able to take the money out if I do need it. I'm very new and very ignorant on investing, so any recommendations on how to safely go forward would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tax bill just showed up and its a little alarming Posted: 21 Aug 2020 04:51 PM PDT Back story: So my wife created a LLC here in Michigan for selling signs. We started the business last year. That way we would have a name for trying to sell on Esty. A local shop contacted her about selling her signs in here store. She made a few hundred selling signs thru there store and some of their craft shows. We crunched the numbers and the amount of money she was paid was $529 and some change. As far as I know if you make less then 600 dollars you don't have to file. So we didn't file any taxes with the state as we didn't make anything. We had a grand or two into the cost of the Cricut and materials and such. So if anything we were quite in the negative. She did a few craft shows and maybe sold a item or two. We decided it wasn't worth the effort and decided to stop trying. Today a bill showed up from Michigan treasury. Saying that we owe from 2019. Tax due 5,400.00 Penalty 1750.00 and interest of 148.00. I'm rather shocked. We didn't file because we didn't make anything worth noting. Can someone assist on some advise on how we should proceed? We will try to call the Treasury to try and clarify the taxable amount but I'm really confused. I almost thinking that company said we sold upwards of 30k on their file of our LLC. But this is all new to us. Should we contact them and get copies of what was filed from there end? Thanks the help [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 06:58 PM PDT Im honestly confused on what to to I woke up with my checking says -$876,516.39. I'm just confused on what to do I honestly think it was a check I received from Tyson for about 3k. I've tried calling them but they are no help. it does say "pending debt/hold on 0/21), please help I'm 19 and just lost on what to do. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What’s an appropriate amount of chore money? Posted: 21 Aug 2020 08:58 AM PDT Some background... We live on the east coast (mid Atlantic area). I guess financially speaking you could say we are a middle class family. We have always had only my husband's income (which never really left much room for extras that often) but, this fall I will be going back to work full time since our kids are getting older. The income I bring in will basically be all disposable income-savings, vacation, home remodeling projects we've put off, etc. We have 4 kids (16,14,12,9). They have always done chores as we've taught since they were little that you live here and so you should help take care of the place. Instead of allowance we've always just bought them what they asked for within reason when we were able. A new video game, robux, art supplies, etc. They have always seemed happy and grateful with this arrangement. As they are getting older we are thinking of changing it up to give them allowance so that they can budget their own money. The kids are ok with this plan as well. So, what is a reasonable amount per week? They are responsible for their own rooms, laundry, sheets, towels, etc. All 4 of them share a bathroom and take turns cleaning it twice a week. One takes care of trash, one loading, unloading the dishwasher everyday, one organizes our pantry area after grocery trips and tidies during the week, and one takes care of the shared gaming/ computer area and sweeps. What is an appropriate amount? * Edit- they also cut grass and help with the weeding [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 07:39 PM PDT I don't have any credit score to start with. If I apply for a second attempt at another card, will it bring my score to negative if that is possible? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friend lost her job, needs to decide what to do with her 401k Posted: 21 Aug 2020 05:32 AM PDT My friend was a dog groomer for Petco for thirteen years before she was fired at the end of last month. She is now doing dog grooming out of her home instead, deciding she would rather be self employed, but is feeling overwhelmed with what to do with her 401k. She was told she can either leave it with petco for now, through fidelity, where they will keep doing what they do, or she can put it into an IRA. Right now she is thinking of setting one up with a credit union and just letting it gain interest, but she isn't sure if that is the best option. She doesn't want to risk losing the money by playing the stock market herself, and while I am trying to do some research and help her out, I'm hoping I can get some advice from here to help as well. Thanks for any help you all can give. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Just got a settlement - how should I handle the money? Posted: 21 Aug 2020 04:31 PM PDT Hello! A little info about me: I'm 26, not married and no kids. I currently have about $2k in checking, $12k in savings, $11k in a Betterment account, and I just received an 18k settlement. I've been told the settlement won't be taxed due to the circumstances behind it. I'm trying to figure out now what to do with the extra money. I would like to buy a house in the next few years and want to put some money down. My savings account is with Ally and currently has a 0.8% APR (used to be higher but ya know- COVID). I guess i'm wondering if it would be a completely stupid move to throw $18k into a Betterment account in the middle of a pandemic and if I should just put it in savings for now. Any advice would be appreciated! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Why is a mortgage lender looking at my credit? Posted: 21 Aug 2020 07:14 PM PDT I had an alert from credit karma saying that a mortgage lender looked at my credit, but I have not applied for a mortgage (to be clear, I have never applied for a mortgage in my entire life). Should I be concerned that someone is fraudulently using my information or is it normal for mortgage lenders to randomly(ish) check out someone's credit score? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (US) I inherited a 10 acre property mostly in the middle of nowhere. What should I do with it? Posted: 20 Aug 2020 11:43 AM PDT Hello! If this post violates any rules of this subreddit, feel free to remove it. So as the title states I have inherited a piece of property that is 10 acres of wooded area. No structures on the property (maybe a dilapidated home, I'd need to do an exact survey). Eastern side of the country. It's not near any tourist attractions or anything of note. 10 mins away from a Walmart and 15 mins away from a small town. I live about 30-45 mins north of it. The oil & gas rights are mine and don't pay out super crazy. Honestly the property tax cost more. I'm looking for guidance on what to do with it? Should I just sell it? It's probably not worth much. Could I make any sort of passive income off it? Should I invest or put any type of energy into making anything out of it? I'm not a very outdoors type person. I'm pretty lost on what to do with it... Any guidance would be great! EDIT: Wow, I'm overwhelmed at the amount of advice. I'd like to clarify that paying the property tax isn't an issue so holding onto the property isn't a big deal for me necessarily. I see a lot of folks talking about hunting leases but I looked up my state leases and they are mostly 50+ acres so I dk about a smaller property like this. I'm still looking through the advice and will edit accordingly. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 06:58 PM PDT I know that some brokerages charge commissions on trades, but are there any advantages aside from commission free trades through Vanguard with regard to their ETFs? I was thinking of keeping everything consolidated and buying through my Robinhood account. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 12:55 PM PDT I'm getting close to locking in a rate on a home purchase (scheduled close September 24th). When my broker pulled rates today (conventional), here's what they got:
So a 20 year is 1/4 point HIGHER than a 30 year, and a 15 year is only 1/8th of a point LOWER than the 30 year. Makes choosing a 30 year term and paying it off early an EASY choice. Edit: Got this in writing AND confirmed it via email. This is in Austin, TX, as of today. Edit: My FICOv2's are 770/799/760 (EF/TU/EQ). I'm doing 5% down (until my current house sells, then making a large payment on the new mortgage to dump the PMI and recast). [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apartment violated FCRA, how do we report them? Posted: 21 Aug 2020 06:46 PM PDT We broke a lease and they gave us until 7/31 to pay the final balance. No problem, we go into the office on 7/31 with a check for the full amount. The following week, they cash the check and the monies are withdrawn from our account. Today we received an email that our "outstanding" balance was sent to collections. We will send all proof to the debt agency (we have tons of proof) but I would like the apartment to be help responsible for their mistake. They have been an absolute nightmare of violations and incompetence. How do we report them? To the FTC? Colorado, USA. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pros cons of bankruptcy vs settling debt Posted: 21 Aug 2020 11:11 AM PDT I was incarcerated for 2 years. I got out with 20k in unsecured debt with 12k tied to a sole member LLC. I was locked up with a 739 credit score and now it's low 500s. I want my credit to be back up as soon as I can. I'm 22 years old. Should I file bankruptcy and build from scratch, or try to settle my debt for a much less amount then rebuild it? I can't seem to find any good articles online comparing the two options. Thank you for any help. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First time buying a home - VERY tight budget in Bay Area Posted: 21 Aug 2020 08:38 PM PDT Hi, it's my first time posting here. I would really appreciate any input. I'm looking to buy a condo in the bay area. The maximum condo price I'm looking at is $535k. With mortgage, HOA fees, taxes etc., I'm looking at a monthly payment of a little over $3500. My take home pay is $5500 a month. I do have student loans and car payment totalling $690. That leaves me with about $1300 a month for food, transportation, pet expenses, utility bills, savings and other expenses. I have lived off a similar budget very early in my career, but I'm having a really hard time justifying spending so much of my income on housing. It is the bay area and renting a small apartment would cost me $2k (renting a room in family's home right now since I recently moved here). I do expect my income to appreciate a healthy amount over the next couple of years (although, covid might have something to say about that). Any advice from people who have gone through this, or are in similar situations would help a lot. Thanks! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moving investments over from brokerage account to Roth IRA Posted: 21 Aug 2020 06:13 PM PDT Hi y'all, I'm a 21 y/o college student who recently opened up a brokerage account and invested a little over $1k in (mostly) ETFs to learn a bit more about investing long-term. I had spent a while thinking about this, and debated between going with a Roth IRA and a brokerage account. The choice to go with a brokerage account was somewhat of an impulsive one, because I had been indecisive for a while and just wanted to get started. However, given the fact that my goal is learning to build wealth in the long term, I'm starting to wonder if maybe going with a Roth IRA would have been more appropriate for my situation. For reference, I have about $30k saved up, $17k student loan debt (majority of it is federal direct loans with about 4-5% interest), and no retirement savings. Any suggestions for where I should go from here? Should I hold on to my brokerage account, or move everything to a Roth IRA? Edit: To clarify:
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| Putting untaxed income from a side business into an pre-tax retirement account (US) Posted: 21 Aug 2020 07:42 PM PDT I live in Florida and have a side business where I receive profit at the end of the year that is untaxed. How simple is it to put that untaxed money into an account every February (before doing taxes) that counts for the year before? Each year the amount of pretax income can vary. Not sure if it matters, but my wife and I both also work full time with separate retirement accounts and a separate roth IRA. I adjust my withholding from my full time job to try to break even on taxes every year. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Aug 2020 05:12 PM PDT I have about $23,000 in student loans and have been working my ass for the last 12 months to save up enough money to pay it off. I was in my 6 month grace period when I started working and then the government suspended repayment during the pandemic and I expect repayment will be resuming soon as things are starting to go back to "normal". I have about $21,000 in my bank account that I have saved over the past year and am able to drop on my student loan at any given moment, which was my plan from the beginning, but now I'm wondering if I'm better off investing a good portion of that for a few months and then paying it off in early 2021 instead of right away. I just want to be clear of my student debt so I can get on with my life without that looming over my head, I know 23K in student loans isnt bad but it's still over $200 a month for 10 years that I'd rather just pay off. Thanks [link] [comments]  |
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