xpguy said:I said: 1) topics that don't belong in FWF (maybe belong in a different section of FW, like off topic or online auctions)
Nessy said:
I've never seen you actually post that. Just the red with no comment.
I don't need to post the obvious. I think other people agree who also vote red in those threads.


that goes back to the point you don't post anything useful:


xpguy said:
do a search



A search means nothing, I want "real user experiences from real users here on board since they have UPDATED thier services this past month."


I said: 2) topics that people don't even make a reasonable attempt at searching before posting
Nessy said:
So you don't like posts that require crystal balls but some how you have developed an extra sense or the ability to travel back in time to tell exactly which words a person may have tried to search before the post? My favorite are the repeat abbreviations around the board. You search for credit card, apparently you should have searched for CC. Go to the Hot Deals you search for CC but you get Circuit City, should have searched for credit card.

You are talking about the minorty of posts where the search word doesn't match. The majory of posts can be found with a simple search. I don't fault anyone searching for "how to start a business" and all the relevant information was in an existing topic titled "work for yourself making big bucks". Sure there are abbreviations, but no one searches for CC in hot deals, when you can limit the search for CC in finance only. Can the search be improved? Yes, especially when you search "best credit card" and all the hits are red and repeats of the same question. I think all these useless topics of asking the same questions over and over again, have crippled the search. If everyone who posts bothered to read the thread "Please read BEFORE posting: A Guide to Maximizing the Usefulness of FW Finance", this would eliminate 90% of the clutter and repeat posts.

the problem is you expect everybody to know how to search well. what if they're new here?
i know how to search for stuff cause you call it certain things. like for a credit card, don't put in credit card in the search. just type "United Mileage" or something, or even just "united", knowing there aren't many united posts other than credit card ones. but if somebody is new they don't know all that. and they don't know to type in just one keyword and just look through the list of results.
and yes, people do label things poorly. "card" = "credit card". "cap one" = "capital one". "boa" = "bank of america". or "BofA".


I said: 5) topics that are basically a waste of time (like making money off of verifiying deposits)
Nessy said:
You consider it a stupid question, others might not. Thus the point of this thread.
I think the majority consensus considers those threads a waste of time also, hence all the negative ratings. If the majority considers it valuable, it would get a lot of green votes. How many threads are there where my negs are the minority votes?

actually, the majority neg everything. regardless of whatever. in fact, they seem to be like you, just going around and negging stuff for fun.
who actually bothers to give green? it's like complimenting a salesman or customer service representative. you don't want to take the time to do it, but will take the time out to complain if you've had horrible service.

if i find free cash advance from credit card solutions, should i abuse it to max my rewards?

cameron2003 said:TrueKnight said:if i find free cash advance from credit card solutions, should i abuse it to max my rewards?

Yes

Thanks!

Btw, does anyone have a magic 8 ball? Seems like a lot of questions in this thread could use a response!

Nessy said:I'm an international graduate student on F-1 visa. I'm going to stay in US for at least 5 more years for my PhD. I want to buy a house instead of wasting my money for rent. I'm not sure if I can get a mortgage with reasonable interest rate in my situation:


So are you saying at most you will be in the house 5 years? And at the point, would you be able to stay with the house until it sells, even if it takes awhile?

Yes, That's not a probelm I can stay to sell it. Although I prefer to find a job and stay in US for a longer time.

How do I maximize on FAFSA (Free application for Federal Student aid) for my child who will be graduating and joining college next year? For FAFSA, this year will be a base year for which the AID will be dependent.
So far my obvious choices are
1. To maximize my 401 K Contribution.(To bring down the income).........Done.
2. Take unpaid leave..................................................Not feasible.
3. Not have any bonus reported for this year.........................None this year.

Any other steps you expert can think of?

Thanks,

spotrun said:...
your child makes a gift to their grandparent of all their $. Financial aid programs want the student to pay a significant portion of their savings. And parents pay up too, but grandparents are (or at least were) left out of the equation. Net result is the child is broke, therefor you get a better aid offer.

just make sure this is done enough in advance to not appear so blatantly obvious to the financial aid people. And leave some $ with your child, it would look obviously bad if your kid has 0$ in their own accounts while you make big $.
edit: obviously this could be ethically questionable.

nazanin19 said:I'm an international graduate student on F-1 visa. I'm going to stay in US for at least 5 more years for my PhD. I want to buy a house instead of wasting my money for rent. I'm not sure if I can get a mortgage with reasonable interest rate in my situation:
1.My yearly income with my husband is about 25K (We both are students and have fellowship)
2.Both of us are not US citizen and are on F-1 visa
3.Our saving is enough to pay 30-40% down for the house.
4.There is always an opportunity to get an internship and earn a lot more (about 4 times more).

I really appriciate your help

I'm moving to a new place and refurnishing my home. Therefore I'm buying a lot of furnitures from different stores.

Is it better to pay for them by cash or open a store credit which has 0% for a year or 2 or 10% off the purchase and pay it on time.

Will opening more store credit cards in a short time affect my FICO score ?

Anin said:I'm moving to a new place and refurnishing my home. Therefore I'm buying a lot of furnitures from different stores.

Is it better to pay for them by cash or open a store credit which has 0% for a year or 2 or 10% off the purchase and pay it on time.

Will opening more store credit cards in a short time affect my FICO score ?

Opening credit cards is going to drop your score. How much depends on several factors, but it may only hurt your score a couple of points.

If you're going to buy from different stores, why not open up 1 card with a 0% so that you can buy from all of the stores. (of course, you can always go to open up more cards : see app-o-rama)