If a bank decides to close an account, they have to send you something in writing right? I tried logging into a checking account I haven't used in months and the site won't let me in no mater what I do. I think I have a $.01 balance but I just realized that I haven't gotten a statement from them in a month or two.
gate09 said: If a bank decides to close an account, they have to send you something in writing right? I tried logging into a checking account I haven't used in months and the site won't let me in no mater what I do. I think I have a $.01 balance but I just realized that I haven't gotten a statement from them in a month or two.Your account might have been placed in an "inactive" status, call the bank and ask.
mewannaxbox said: I am currently in the 7 month of a 12 month apartment lease. The lease is in CA and does not contain any provisions for breaking-it. Is there a way out of the lease early?
I was wondering if someone could give me advice on where I should be directing my money.
I recently got out of grad school.
My wife and I have a house that we recently refinanced to a lower rate (5%), but we are paying high PMI $147 a month. $180,000 house, with $170,000 mortgage.
I have $16,000 in student loans at 5.5%.
We have $25K in savings and checking.
Total household income is $120K before taxes.
$14,000 in Roth IRAs. No 401K (I am not eligible yet, and she does not have matching at her job).
We hope to have children soon.
If you were me, what would do with the money that you were saving on each paycheck?
(1) Would you pay down the mortgage to get rid of the PMI ($26,000 to do that, with a current effective interest rate on that money caused by the PMI at 6.7%)?
(2) Would you save more for retirement?
(3) Would you pay off the student loans (they are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy)?
I searched and could not find any thread that discussed the economics behind "Pest Control". Closest was the Termite protection thread.
I was wondering ... How many members of the FWF community utilize Pest Control Services? If you do it yourself, can anybody please tell me what things do you buy towards this? If you utilize their service, How much do you pay every year (or every visit from them which ranges between 2-3 months)?
When using online bill pay from a bank, can you pay a portion of your bill or does it have be the entire amount? (this is in regards to meeting a requirement for a rewards checking account) TIA
skwz said: When using online bill pay from a bank, can you pay a portion of your bill or does it have be the entire amount? (this is in regards to meeting a requirement for a rewards checking account) TIA
This has been discussed in the Reward Checking Account - Issues and Discussion thread. Since I don't pay bills online I don't remember the answer (I think it depends on the type of provider), I'm referring you to that thread in the hopes you can find your answer there.
You leave out a lot of information that I would require to give you a good answer--things like what is your aproximate budget, what are your local taxes, etc.
I would want to have 6 months to a year of expenses in relatively liquid investments as an emergency fund. After that, I would look at paying down the mortgage so as to drop the PMI.
There are lots of reasons to put as much as you can into retirement funds.
I would not worry about paying down the student loans at this point.
johnnyb82 said: I was wondering if someone could give me advice on where I should be directing my money.
I recently got out of grad school.
My wife and I have a house that we recently refinanced to a lower rate (5%), but we are paying high PMI $147 a month. $180,000 house, with $170,000 mortgage.
I have $16,000 in student loans at 5.5%.
We have $25K in savings and checking.
Total household income is $120K before taxes.
$14,000 in Roth IRAs. No 401K (I am not eligible yet, and she does not have matching at her job).
We hope to have children soon.
If you were me, what would do with the money that you were saving on each paycheck?
(1) Would you pay down the mortgage to get rid of the PMI ($26,000 to do that, with a current effective interest rate on that money caused by the PMI at 6.7%)?
(2) Would you save more for retirement?
(3) Would you pay off the student loans (they are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy)?
gate09 said: If a bank decides to close an account, they have to send you something in writing right? I tried logging into a checking account I haven't used in months and the site won't let me in no mater what I do. I think I have a $.01 balance but I just realized that I haven't gotten a statement from them in a month or two.
I have had a handful of bank accounts close in the past year without notification (including some big banks such as WAMU/Chase and Countrywide/BOA). Some of them even had a balance (albeit quite small, < $1) which they never returned. So no, I don't believe they have to send you anything in writing.
kenmoreland said: You leave out a lot of information that I would require to give you a good answer--things like what is your aproximate budget, what are your local taxes, etc.
I would want to have 6 months to a year of expenses in relatively liquid investments as an emergency fund. After that, I would look at paying down the mortgage so as to drop the PMI.
There are lots of reasons to put as much as you can into retirement funds.
I would not worry about paying down the student loans at this point.
Thanks for the advice. My local taxes are high: approximately $6000 a year. There's about a $1500 mortgage payment (including escrows), $1000-$1500 in monthly expenses, $150 in student loan payments.
Would you put money into retirement funds before or after paying the PMI?
I recently had my M&T a/c closed due to "possible fraud". Basically I had opened multiple a/cs to avail sign on bonus. They thought the trial deposits from etrade were my small DDs. I had about $200 in the account, which they refuse to return. What recourse do I have?
americano said: I recently had my M&T a/c closed due to "possible fraud". Basically I had opened multiple a/cs to avail sign on bonus. They thought the trial deposits from etrade were my small DDs. I had about $200 in the account, which they refuse to return. What recourse do I have? What reason did they give to not return your money (not for closing the a/c). Did you open this a/c recently. Was this $200 a recent deposit.
Banks can decide to close your a/c (not do business with you) for almost any reason; security concerns, legitimate of otherwise, being one of them. But they dont have a right to hold onto the money in your a/c. If the money (specially a large amount) was recently deposited and/or the a/c recently opened, they may take a while to make sure the funds fully clear before returning it to you.
I was trying to post this question in the Citi mtvU credit card thread, but it didn't go through. So here I am.
I'm thinking of getting this card, and reading the fine print right now. I have a question. In the fine print, it says:
[quote]Purchases not eligible to receive the five points include, but are not limited to, purchases made at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and convenience stores. Online and catalog purchases are not eligible to receive five ThankYou Points unless the merchants appropriately identify the transactions.[/quote]
So it means only online transactions made with qualifying merchants like Amazon.com give me points? Other than that, it's a no go? TYIA.
Thanks for the advice. My local taxes are high: approximately $6000 a year. There's about a $1500 mortgage payment (including escrows), $1000-$1500 in monthly expenses, $150 in student loan payments.
Would you put money into retirement funds before or after paying the PMI?
The thing about retirement funds is that you can't go back and fund them later, so if you don't fund your 401K or IRA now, that chance is gone forever.
I would make a forecast of your discretionary cash flows for then next few years, and compare the alternative uses of the money.
How long would it take you to pay down your mortgage to save the PMI if fully funded your 401K?
In 5 years, how much will you have put into your retirement accounts if you pay down your mortgage first?
You say you may have children "soon," so you may need to budget for those expenses.
My personal experience is that making a simple budget, and then considering various "what ifs" helps me see the best answer.
Edit: I clicked on reply instead of preview, and missed a couple of typos, so I fixed them.
After reading some good things about the Discover More card last week, I decided to apply for one. I received and activated my card today, and then told me cousin about it.
To my surprise, he told me how disappointed he was with the Discover card. He said that he never got his $50 bonus that he signed up (after spending $500 within 3 months), and that the rewards are low (max $300 in 3 months).
So now, I'm thinking of not using this card. Would it hurt to close the account? Or should I just leave it alone?
I believe my credit score is about 734, if I remember correctly (from a few weeks ago). More importantly, I am going to apply for a Chase Freedom card next month (was rejected earlier this year, when I was unemployed).
After reading some good things about the Discover More card last week, I decided to apply for one. I received and activated my card today, and then told me cousin about it.
To my surprise, he told me how disappointed he was with the Discover card. He said that he never got his $50 bonus that he signed up (after spending $500 within 3 months), and that the rewards are low (max $300 in 3 months).
So now, I'm thinking of not using this card. Would it hurt to close the account? Or should I just leave it alone?
I believe my credit score is about 734, if I remember correctly (from a few weeks ago). More importantly, I am going to apply for a Chase Freedom card next month (was rejected earlier this year, when I was unemployed).
What do you think? That depends on how many credit cards you already have. I think you might as well keep the card and use it to get the rewards. It is also a good idea to apply at the same time for different credit cards you are planning to apply for. I n your case you should have applied for for the Discover more and Chase Freedom at the same time. It look better on you credit report as it's counted as one credit pull on you credit report by most.
I was just thinking more about my situation. If PMI provides an effective 6.7% interest rate, then am I really paying 11.7% (5% fixed + 6.7% for PMI) interest rate on that $26K that keeps me paying PMI? If so, that really sucks and I should be trying to get rid of PMI ASAP, right?
johnnyb82 said: I was just thinking more about my situation. If PMI provides an effective 6.7% interest rate, then am I really paying 11.7% (5% fixed + 6.7% for PMI) interest rate on that $26K that keeps me paying PMI? If so, that really sucks and I should be trying to get rid of PMI ASAP, right?
If you are paying $147 a month for PMI, that is about $1,800 a year. But PMI is tax deductible, so at a 25% marginal rate, you are only paying 75% of that.
Then you need to consider you bank's rules for removing PMI: do they remove it at 20% equity, or 21% or some other number. Do they require a new appraisal? Has the value of your house gone down?
Economists define opportunity cost as the cost of the next best alternative. In the choice of paying down your mortgage, Your opportunity cost is keeping the money in your savings and checking accounts. That would seem to be lower than what you would save by paying down your mortgage.
But suppose you put all of your liquid money into your mortgage. Then say you have an emergency, and need funds right away. The opportunity cost is what you would have to pay to get the emergency funds you need. Would it be a cash draw on a credit card at 18%?
Before the lending meltdown, you could have arranged for a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) to provide a source of funds in an emergency. HELOC are harder to get now, and may not be a reliable source of emergency funds now.
I guess my final answer would be that I might consider paying down the mortage now, if I was saving enough each month to replenish my emergency fund in 6 months or so.
Hi. My sister just graduated from college and got a job. She has a bunch of private loans and government loans. She wants to consolidate them. The %s are all the same around 7 or 8.
How does she go about consolidating it? What company?
tripletaker said: Hi. My sister just graduated from college and got a job. She has a bunch of private loans and government loans. She wants to consolidate them. The %s are all the same around 7 or 8.
How does she go about consolidating it? What company?
Thanks. You can't consolidate private and federal student loans together.
uutxs said: americano said: I recently had my M&T a/c closed due to "possible fraud". Basically I had opened multiple a/cs to avail sign on bonus. They thought the trial deposits from etrade were my small DDs. I had about $200 in the account, which they refuse to return. What recourse do I have? What reason did they give to not return your money (not for closing the a/c). Did you open this a/c recently. Was this $200 a recent deposit.
Banks can decide to close your a/c (not do business with you) for almost any reason; security concerns, legitimate of otherwise, being one of them. But they dont have a right to hold onto the money in your a/c. If the money (specially a large amount) was recently deposited and/or the a/c recently opened, they may take a while to make sure the funds fully clear before returning it to you. They said I opened multiple accounts to get multiple bonuses, so they are forfeiting $200 of my money (not the bonus amount they paid).
americano said: uutxs said: americano said: I recently had my M&T a/c closed due to "possible fraud". Basically I had opened multiple a/cs to avail sign on bonus. They thought the trial deposits from etrade were my small DDs. I had about $200 in the account, which they refuse to return. What recourse do I have? What reason did they give to not return your money (not for closing the a/c). Did you open this a/c recently. Was this $200 a recent deposit.
Banks can decide to close your a/c (not do business with you) for almost any reason; security concerns, legitimate of otherwise, being one of them. But they dont have a right to hold onto the money in your a/c. If the money (specially a large amount) was recently deposited and/or the a/c recently opened, they may take a while to make sure the funds fully clear before returning it to you. They said I opened multiple accounts to get multiple bonuses, so they are forfeiting $200 of my money (not the bonus amount they paid). Do you mean to say you opened multiple M&T accounts, were given bonuses on each of them and they took away $200 (in addition to not providing the bonus on that a/c) from your last a/c with them.
What amount were the bonuses on each a/c? If you indeed got paid bonuses that you were not entitled to (per their fine print), I believe they can probably take it back.
americano said: They said I opened multiple accounts to get multiple bonuses, so they are forfeiting $200 of my money (not the bonus amount they paid). I don't think they can take away "your money"........they can, however, take away ALL the bonuses from ALL the accounts you opened to get the bonuses.
I was recently laid off from my work last week with 3 days notice and I have filed for unemployment.I am planning on going back to school next month full-time and was wondering whether or not this will effect my Unemployment benefits.
Before I was laid off, I was working part-time in the evenings from around 8 PM until 2 AM or whenever I finished with work. The hours were not very consistent every week so my hours ranged from 15 hours to 36 hours. The company was also opened weekends for me to work, this was great because I was going to school full-time during the day and if i needed a weeknight off I was able to work hours on the weekend. I have been doing this for the last 3 years and was planning to work here until I finished school. (I finish school next year)
Now that I am laid off I am concerned whether or not I will get my unemployment benefits if I say I am going back to school because it disqualifies me from working full-time.
I tried going on their website to look for the answer but I cant find it. I've tried calling the office but I'm afraid that if I say the wrong thing they will disqualify me. I am trying very hard not to use the loans I will be receiving from school on rent, food..etc because I don't want a big debt when I finish school. For the most part, I have been paying everything out of pocket (tuition, rent, food..) except for last years tuition. I don't qualify for grants because I made too much last year.
if anyone has the answer or any constructive feedback it would be greatly appreciated.
i've tried calling but i am on hold for the longest time. i want to try to get an answer before i do call just in case they do ask me personal details. I live in los angeles, california
Hi, I think Im finally ready to buy my first home. I've been trying to read as much as I can about the whole process, and before I start talking to real estate professionals, I wanted to get some opinions from fellow FWers. Im 27, married with no kids, single income of 85k in a stable job + variable investment income. We live in the San Diego area. My wife will be graduating in 6 months and might get a job, but I'd like to play cautious, so lets not include her income in my calculations.
Annual HHI: 85k Loans, CC payments, car payments, other obligations: $0 Currently paying $1200 in rent Money available for downpayment: $60,000 I could gather up another $20k by exercising employee stock options and borrow from 401k, but this is not preferable. Target home price range: $150k - $250k (2 bed condos or smaller detached homes) Does this sound like a reasonably good idea for me at this point?
Thanks all, and I'd LOVE to get recommendations for 1) loans 2) real estate professionals who have patience for guys like me looking for homes under 300k in San Diego.
I was recently laid off from my work last week with 3 days notice and I have filed for unemployment.I am planning on going back to school next month full-time and was wondering whether or not this will effect my Unemployment benefits.
Before I was laid off, I was working part-time in the evenings from around 8 PM until 2 AM or whenever I finished with work. The hours were not very consistent every week so my hours ranged from 15 hours to 36 hours. The company was also opened weekends for me to work, this was great because I was going to school full-time during the day and if i needed a weeknight off I was able to work hours on the weekend. I have been doing this for the last 3 years and was planning to work here until I finished school. (I finish school next year)
Now that I am laid off I am concerned whether or not I will get my unemployment benefits if I say I am going back to school because it disqualifies me from working full-time.
I tried going on their website to look for the answer but I cant find it. I've tried calling the office but I'm afraid that if I say the wrong thing they will disqualify me. I am trying very hard not to use the loans I will be receiving from school on rent, food..etc because I don't want a big debt when I finish school. For the most part, I have been paying everything out of pocket (tuition, rent, food..) except for last years tuition. I don't qualify for grants because I made too much last year.
if anyone has the answer or any constructive feedback it would be greatly appreciated.
thank you
You can collection unemployment until classes officially start.
Personally I was able to continue to collection unemployment in California while still going to school since I said I can take night/evening classes if I find a job or work at a 2nd/3rd shift job.
This question may be rare and relevant to only a few at most, but: Is there any way for me to get a copy of the applications I filled out for credit cards which I was approved for 10-11 months ago? I'm concerned about whether I was "liberal" in any of them, e.g. stated a higher income than I received over the previous year, etc. Would even asking for these applications raise red flags with the card companies?
FloorsMat said: Is my visa card rental car insurance primary if I don't have a car/existing insurance policy? Yes, but remember that your Visa card only covers damage to your rental car. It doesn't cover damage to the school bus you hit or to the light pole you knocked down. Nor does it cover bodily injury to the children on the school bus or the pedestrian the light pole landed on top of. Neither does it provide any coverage for injuries to you or your passengers.
bustgum said: FloorsMat said: Is my visa card rental car insurance primary if I don't have a car/existing insurance policy? Yes, but remember that your Visa card only covers damage to your rental car. It doesn't cover damage to the school bus you hit or to the light pole you knocked down. Nor does it cover bodily injury to the children on the school bus or the pedestrian the light pole landed on top of. Neither does it provide any coverage for injuries to you or your passengers.Ouch. Wow. Is this true?
gwu1986 said: bustgum said: FloorsMat said: Is my visa card rental car insurance primary if I don't have a car/existing insurance policy? Yes, but remember that your Visa card only covers damage to your rental car. It doesn't cover damage to the school bus you hit or to the light pole you knocked down. Nor does it cover bodily injury to the children on the school bus or the pedestrian the light pole landed on top of. Neither does it provide any coverage for injuries to you or your passengers.Ouch. Wow. Is this true? Here are the specifics of what Visa covers. You can read it yourself. It only covers loss or damage to the rental car itself, plus some administrative or loss of use charges. It says nothing about covering damage to third parties or about covering any bodily injury or medical expenses.
Laws vary by state, but most states require the car rental company to provide a minimum liability coverage. Unfortunately, the minimum liability limits in most states were set back when farmers were upset that Henry Ford's new-fangled Model Ts were running over their chickens and haven't been updated since that time. In most states, the minimum liability limit won't cover an emergency room visit or a bumper replacement on a German car.
Even though the credit card coverage will let you turn down the rental company's CDW/LDW coverage, consider carefully whether you want to buy the supplemental liability coverage. If you are planning to rent cars a lot, look into getting a non-owner liability policy from an insurance agent.
I have read through the High Rewards Checking account thread and based on my location (Atlanta, GA), I have found couple of banks which have upwards of 5% interest. From their websites, they all have FDIC insured banners. I was not sure if this was enough for me to put my hard earned money with them and Georgia being #1 in the list of bank failures. So my question is when you FWF'ers deposit money in smaller banks, what do you look for? Also is there a website where it would show historical interest rates on a bank's checking accounts?
pellur said: I have read through the High Rewards Checking account thread and based on my location (Atlanta, GA), I have found couple of banks which have upwards of 5% interest. From their websites, they all have FDIC insured banners. I was not sure if this was enough for me to put my hard earned money with them and Georgia being #1 in the list of bank failures. So my question is when you FWF'ers deposit money in smaller banks, what do you look for? Also is there a website where it would show historical interest rates on a bank's checking accounts?You can search for the banks directly on the FDIC web site to see if they are actually insured: http://www2.fdic.gov/IDASP/main.asp
If they are insured, you don't need to worry about your deposits up to the FDIC limit. If your bank fails, it will typically do so on a Friday, and you'll have access to your money the following Monday.
gwu1986 said: bustgum said: FloorsMat said: Is my visa card rental car insurance primary if I don't have a car/existing insurance policy? Yes, but remember that your Visa card only covers damage to your rental car. It doesn't cover damage to the school bus you hit or to the light pole you knocked down. Nor does it cover bodily injury to the children on the school bus or the pedestrian the light pole landed on top of. Neither does it provide any coverage for injuries to you or your passengers.Ouch. Wow. Is this true?Considering the premium on Visa's rental car insurance ($0), the coverage seems appropriate.
uutxs said: Do you mean to say you opened multiple M&T accounts, were given bonuses on each of them and they took away $200 (in addition to not providing the bonus on that a/c) from your last a/c with them. Yes, that's exactly what they did.
uutxs said: What amount were the bonuses on each a/c? If you indeed got paid bonuses that you were not entitled to (per their fine print), I believe they can probably take it back. $50 for each. I had closed all other accounts before they caught it (several weeks before that). I am not sure they can take "my" $200 on the last account which I had deposited in there.
ShakuniMama said: americano said: They said I opened multiple accounts to get multiple bonuses, so they are forfeiting $200 of my money (not the bonus amount they paid). I don't think they can take away "your money"........they can, however, take away ALL the bonuses from ALL the accounts you opened to get the bonuses. Yeah, they took "my money". All other accounts on which bonuses were paid had long been closed. What recourse is suggested to recover my funds?
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