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I believe insurance plans are now required to have out of pocket maximums per year and no life time caps so your total potential expenditure per year should be known.
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Oct 6, 2013 17:34
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Grumpwagon posted:I totally agree with the gist of your post, but I want to make one small correction to it, because I've heard you say this a couple of times. Once the 7 year statute expires, any lawsuits in progress or new lawsuits can and will be dismissed for being beyond the statute. All other collection activities can continue as usual though. Thanks! I learned something today. You get what I'm saying though, and the question comes up all the time as to why one should pay a 5, or a 7 year old collection account. How would you answer that question? In your experience as someone who was on the inside, do you ever see these old accounts biting people?
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Oct 6, 2013 17:48
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asur posted:I believe insurance plans are now required to have out of pocket maximums per year and no life time caps so your total potential expenditure per year should be known. Yeah, they showed that in the benefits info I was looking at, but if out of network isn't covered, would that be applicable with the OOP max? Or would I have to pay everything even if it was like $50,000?
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Oct 6, 2013 18:33
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When banks re-open on Monday, do they address/update weekend transactions in a certain order? I got my first paycheck for my new job in the mail on Saturday and deposited it electronically that day (banking app + picture), with a confirmation message from my bank that they had accepted the deposit. However, I ran a couple errands today and got an alert that I overdrew my account by $30 or so. Will I be safe from an overdraft fee since I deposited the check before spending any money? The money I put in for my paycheck is way more than enough to cover what I spent today, and enough to cover any overdraft fees unless they go crazy and charge me $500 or something. This is with Chase, and I couldn't find anything about it on my account page there. VV It was only for a couple days so the check is about $300. I just wanted to buy groceries with my own money for once OK 
C-Euro fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Oct 6, 2013 |
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Oct 6, 2013 22:03
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Depends on the size of the check, but I doubt the full amount will be credited Monday.
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Oct 6, 2013 22:28
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C-Euro posted:When banks re-open on Monday, do they address/update weekend transactions in a certain order? I've heard that major banks like Chase process transactions in batches ordered from smallest to largest. Why? Because paychecks are often relatively large, which means all those $5 Starbucks coffees go through first to rack up their $30 overdraft fees while you're "overdrawn". Welcome to modern banking.
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Oct 6, 2013 22:48
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Hattusa posted:I've heard that major banks like Chase process transactions in batches ordered from smallest to largest. Why? Because paychecks are often relatively large, which means all those $5 Starbucks coffees go through first to rack up their $30 overdraft fees while you're "overdrawn". I will say the one big advantage of Bank of America is that when I deposit something, they tend to put up to $200 instantly in my account. And that's both deposit at an ATM or upload a check by taking a picture. I use them for my checking and Ally for emergency savings. Downside is BoA I think requires auto deposit to avoid paying a checking fee, but my company does auto deposit so I'm good for that.
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Oct 6, 2013 23:18
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What's the best way to compare options for getting myself a car? I'm really not used to looking at anything that expensive and with that many options. Keep in mind I'm in Canada. I just forget all my financial math, and I don't know how to compare the total price of things. I know its easy to compare when everything is bought upfront in cash. Since it's the time of year where the dealerships are getting rid of their 2013 stock, how would I go about calculating the difference between a lease, or buying a used car on a payment plan, or what? I already have an idea of what I can afford, roughly. (I live in a really car dependant city and work in an area with lovely public transit, and a car would be a really worthwhile investment.)
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Oct 6, 2013 23:21
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Hattusa posted:I've heard that major banks like Chase process transactions in batches ordered from smallest to largest. Why? Because paychecks are often relatively large, which means all those $5 Starbucks coffees go through first to rack up their $30 overdraft fees while you're "overdrawn". Can't say I'm surprised but that's a little scummy if true. Lessons learned I guess, and also a reminder to go bug payroll about getting me on direct deposit sooner 
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Oct 7, 2013 01:08
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Hattusa posted:I've heard that major banks like Chase process transactions in batches ordered from smallest to largest. Why? Because paychecks are often relatively large, which means all those $5 Starbucks coffees go through first to rack up their $30 overdraft fees while you're "overdrawn". Fifth Third definitely did this while I was a customer. The credit union I'm with now resolves strictly in the order the transactions were received.
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Oct 7, 2013 03:05
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Zuph posted:Fifth Third definitely did this while I was a customer. The credit union I'm with now resolves strictly in the order the transactions were received. I thought there was a new law or regulation that prevented the re-ordering from happening.
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Oct 7, 2013 03:37
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baquerd posted:I thought there was a new law or regulation that prevented the re-ordering from happening. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's illegal now to do that. For checkcards, why is it that suddenly that merchants want to run them as debit transactions instead of credit transactions? And what are the reasons for running a transaction as credit vs debit?
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Oct 7, 2013 04:41
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baquerd posted:I thought there was a new law or regulation that prevented the re-ordering from happening. It looks like Sherrod Brown introduced something in July but it hasn't gone anywhere. On the other hand, lawsuits against the practice have been happening regularly. This September U.S. Bank paid out $55 million. The CFPB even has a handy white paper, if you're into that sort of thing. Also I had the ordering wrong. They put the largest transactions first, so the account gets drained then the overdrafts kick in.
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Oct 7, 2013 04:43
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FISHMANPET posted:Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's illegal now to do that. Debit cards have capped interchange fees, so it is cheaper for them to process your card as a debit. You also lose the liability protection from Visa/MC, and the merchant is much less liable for fraud (there's basically 0 chance a debit transaction can be charged back.)
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Oct 7, 2013 05:41
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C-Euro posted:When banks re-open on Monday, do they address/update weekend transactions in a certain order? I got my first paycheck for my new job in the mail on Saturday and deposited it electronically that day (banking app + picture), with a confirmation message from my bank that they had accepted the deposit. However, I ran a couple errands today and got an alert that I overdrew my account by $30 or so. Will I be safe from an overdraft fee since I deposited the check before spending any money? The money I put in for my paycheck is way more than enough to cover what I spent today, and enough to cover any overdraft fees unless they go crazy and charge me $500 or something. This is with Chase, and I couldn't find anything about it on my account page there. I am not familiar with Chase but with Bank of America deposits are always processed first, after that it would be debit transactions, then checks, then electronic payments/transfers. Anything done over the weekend is done on Mondays business day so I would expect Tuesday morning shortly after midnight all of your weekend/Monday transactions to post with deposits going first. Hopefully your online banking would show processing right now. If you do get any fees go to a branch and I would be shocked if they did not immediately refund all of them. Customer service is pretty huge with banks. edit: I checked my online banking with B of A and they have a PDF regarding how transactions are posted. Looks like the information for Chase is here https://www.chase.com/content/dam/chasecom/en/checking/documents/clear_simple_guide_total.pdf on page 2. I would say you are safe. Felter Chesthard fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Oct 7, 2013 |
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Oct 7, 2013 06:08
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Felter Chesthard posted:Customer service is pretty huge with banks.  What magical land do you hail from, good sir?
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Oct 7, 2013 11:47
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Bisty Q. posted:Debit cards have capped interchange fees, so it is cheaper for them to process your card as a debit. I kind of figured that if the store wanted me to do a debit transaction, that's probably in my best interest to run it as credit instead. Thanks.
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Oct 7, 2013 17:05
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I'm looking for a good wishlist-making application. Something where, after I see a cool thing on a website, I can capture the item's cost and location, and then send that data to a big ordered list of all the other things I want to buy. Hopefully something either web-based or local, but not some Chrome extension built to let Amazon or whoever peep up all my browsing habits. I don't have a problem with budgeting or anything, because at the end of the week I know that all my affairs are taken care of and how much spending money I've got. But I think I would be happier if I could redirect some of my consumerist energy out of actually ordering things and having them sent to my house and into vicariously cultivating a big ordered list of all the useless poo poo I want to own, and that way, when I do spend money, I'll be able to refer to all the desires I've put on ice and easily decide which of them is most important to me. Anyone got a recommendation?
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Oct 7, 2013 19:52
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Have you considered Excel?
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Oct 7, 2013 20:06
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Or just use something like google docs, if you want it on a browser. I know there are universal wish list managers like wishlistr and, uh, probably a dozen other wish*.* variants. I haven't used one of these myself - my wife uses the Amazon Universal for most things, and I use google docs.
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Oct 7, 2013 20:11
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I use Google docs. And if you want to go super  , you can add a column for desirability with a scale of 1-10 of how much you want that item. Divide the price by the desirability and you have yourself a crude utility function to help you prioritize what will give you the most satisfaction per dollar.
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Oct 7, 2013 22:32
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Thanks! I learned something today. I didn't collect on super old accounts, so I don't really feel qualified to answer that. I think, in general, your advice has been good, I just wanted to correct that one small thing.
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Oct 8, 2013 01:51
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Here's a thing: The only debt I have right now (outside of credit cards, which I pay off in full every month) is student loans: Provincial: $10,612 at 3% Federal: $28,880 at 5.5% (variable rate) I'm replacing my 94 Exploder, since the cost of repairs is getting to the point where I might as well buy a newer vehicle. I'm probably going to get a loan for $12,000 at 9.6% (variable) through my bank, since my credit isn't great. My original plan was to throw $2000 at the loan every month to have it paid off in 6 months, since I've been making those $2000 payments on my federal student loan, which fits into my budget. Basically, pay the minimum on the federal loan for 6 months, then switch back to the big student loan and then clear up the provincial loan after that's taken care of. I got to thinking though: Right now, I'm accruing $4.35 per day on the federal loan, and the car loan will accrue $3.15 per day (at the current/hypothetical balances). Is it beneficial to keep working on the bigger federal loan, even if it has a lower interest, at least until the interest cost on the car loan will be about the same as the cost for my federal student loan? Would I see much of a benefit in going about it this way, or am I just overthinking this and I should keep it as simple as "pay off the highest interest rate first" because I'll only be saving a couple hundred bucks when it's all said and done? Tim Selaty Jr fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 02:16
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I'm a big stupid who forgot that interest on government loans is tax deductible here, so I'll throw all my bux into the car loan when I get it.
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Oct 8, 2013 06:38
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Why not just buy a cheaper car with cash in a couple of months? A 3-4K dollar Japanese sedan should last you for a few years, and you won't have a $12k depreciating asset sitting in your driveway, costing you more in insurance.
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Oct 8, 2013 13:33
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Nocheez posted:Why not just buy a cheaper car with cash in a couple of months? A 3-4K dollar Japanese sedan should last you for a few years, and you won't have a $12k depreciating asset sitting in your driveway, costing you more in insurance. Yes, this exactly. You said that you have $2k a month to pay down loans? If you think the Ford can limp along without major repairs for another 2 or 3 months, you should have about $4k to $6k to spend. If you don't have a loan, you can reduce your insurance to liability only, which saves you a few hundred bucks each year. Also, by having a cheaper car you don't have to pay the registration/taxes on a more expensive car. This will also save you a few hundred bucks each year, depending on your state. (Note: In my state, whoever owns the car on January 1 pays the taxes on it. You might save a few hundred bucks by waiting until January so that the dealer pays the taxes.) Those extra expenses probably add up to a few percentage points on the loan. The rate on that loan is already too high. Pay cash for your car. Save 2-3 months to buy it. Save another 2-3 months of cash to self-insure it (if you don't already have it in the emergency fund.)
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Oct 8, 2013 13:43
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Nocheez posted:Why not just buy a cheaper car with cash in a couple of months? A 3-4K dollar Japanese sedan should last you for a few years, and you won't have a $12k depreciating asset sitting in your driveway, costing you more in insurance. I need to be able to drive off-road and haul poo poo for my job. Reliability is key , because I'm often a hundred miles away from town on logging roads. The starter is going, the blower fan stopped working (winter is coming in Northern Alberta), the doors don't lock from the outside, (crackheads keep rifling through my poo poo when I'm in town), the rear pinion seal is leaking and needs to be replaced, when it gets cold the driver side door does not open from the inside, and there is a family of mice living inside of it. On top of that, I have to rely on it to not break down when I'm 10 miles away from the nearest public road. I'd love to wait 3-4 months and buy a new (used) rig outright, but I need a truck now and I'd rather spend my money, plus a couple hundred bucks in interest, on something that I know will run for 5ish years at least, than spend 7 grand out of pocket on something that has 350,000km on it and a dubious service history. If I was working in town, I'd totally be spending the money I have saved up for a vehicle on a 5 year old Civic or something, but it just isn't practical for my job To address a few other points: In Alberta (all of Canada, maybe), they won't let your register a vehicle unless it is properly insured. The insurance cost for the year/make/model of vehicle I'm looking at will be about the same as what I'm paying right now for insurance, anyway. There is no yearly tax for vehicles in Canada, either (do you mean taxes on a brand new vehicle? I must have been unclear, I meant newer as in used but still newer than 1994... Do any new cars even cost $12 grand anymore?) , and my registration on the Exploder is due to be renewed in about 45 days anyway. Annual auto registration in Alberta is about $75 and is not based on the cost of the vehicle. Also, I think auto financing in Canada maybe more expensive than the US. I shopped around at banks & credit unions, and the lowest base APR for somebody with hypothetically perfect credit was a little over 6%. Yeah, it sucks that I'm going to be giving a few hundred dollars to the bank that I'd rather spend on a hammock, but in my case it's either do that for a reliable vehicle or buy outright within the next week or so on something that may gently caress me over this winter. I've been spending about $1000/month on repairs since April, and honestly I want a vehicle that has doors that lock Tim Selaty Jr fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 22:08
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Tim Selaty Jr posted:I need to be able to drive off-road and haul poo poo for my job. Reliability is key , because I'm often a hundred miles away from town on logging roads. The starter is going, the blower fan stopped working (winter is coming in Northern Alberta), the doors don't lock from the outside, (crackheads keep rifling through my poo poo when I'm in town), the rear pinion seal is leaking and needs to be replaced, when it gets cold the driver side door does not open from the inside, and there is a family of mice living inside of it. On top of that, I have to rely on it to not break down when I'm 10 miles away from the nearest public road. I think to answer your first question, you pay off the auto loan first. People disagree if you should pay off your smallest debts first, of the higher interest rate first. But both camps would have you pay the auto loan first. I think you make good points about the nature of your job, the geography involved, and you have pretty much driven what you have into the ground. I don't know if this is an emergency, but it wouldn't take much for it to be one. And in your world, by not going out and buying a $35,000 truck with a 7 year loan probably means you are a bit of an outlier. But I think next time, as much as you can, when you see storm clouds coming in the fiscal sense you might be wise to put all your energy into building up as much cash to attack what's coming, even if it means you slow down the other debts temporarily. But hopefully next time you need a different car you will be debt free and paying cash for it.
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Oct 9, 2013 02:20
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Yeah, next vehicle will be paid for with cash. I was hoping to have this truck last me through to next year, but once the blower fan went, I figured that I'd need something else in the near future... And then I started having starter issues, so it's time to take case of this. With all this said: The new truck is a tax writeoff (corporations are people  ), and if I dip into my "oh poo poo, there is no work for me for the next 4-6 months" fund (and put money back into it next month when I get paid for the jobs that I'm doing this month), I still might be able to buy outright or at least get a smaller loan that I can pay down quicker.
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Oct 9, 2013 04:25
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Ah, wow. I live in a part of the US where "gotta have my truck" is endemic. It always catches me off guard when someone actually does need one. So by all means, ignore me and buy a truck. And I have no idea how Canada's insurance system works, but I often run into people in the US that don't understand ours. It is particularly common for people who have never bought car without a loan. So I'm gonna explain it anyhow, because it is one of my primary annoyances about how most of my culture handles money. Reducing insurance costs is one of the best money saving tricks available to people who accumulate wealth. Doing it requires having a pool of cash money on hand. This is one of the first places where an aggressive budget-maker can see how the rich get richer. First, it is important to understand that buying insurance if is an act of paying somebody else to bear the financial component of your risks. Everyone faces risk; that's life. When you pay someone insurer to bear it, you always pay more than it costs them. That's how they make money, and it's perfectly appropriate. But you can save a lot of money by appropriately managing your risks so that 1) you face less risk, and 2) you only pay someone else to bear the risks that you truly can't afford to bear yourself. In the US, there are generally 3 basic levels of car insurance. I imagine Canada is fairly similar on this part. 1) Liability - Covers the other guy (the guy you hit when it's your fault). Mandatory by law. 2) Collision - Covers the insured (that's you) when your car is damaged in a collision. Required by the bank if you have a loan. 3) Comprehensive - Covers the insured for anything not considered a collision, like theft. Required by the bank if you have a loan. If you don't have a car loan, and your car is cheap enough that you can buy another if it is crashed or stolen, then you can drop collision and comprehensive coverage. This is called being "self-insured" as to those risks, and it is the basic purpose of an emergency fund. The law requires the liability insurance to protect the other guy, but you can choose for yourself if you need to protect your own loss. Really, why would a millionaire need to pay somebody else to cover the loss of a $5k sedan? She'd just buy another if she needed one. The next consideration is the deductible. Most people understand this one, but often forget its price. When there is a loss (e.g. a car wreck), you make a claim. The deductible is the part of the loss you're suppose to cover yourself, like the first $500. Among other things, it's there to give you some incentive to take care of the insured property yourself. I mean, if the car was really fully insured then why bother driving responsibly? The more of it you can cover yourself, the cheaper it gets. Usually, for liability insurance the law sets a maximum deductible. In my state, its $2000. But you can save a lot of money by raising your deductible to the maximum because it substantially reduces the risk to the insurer. Most accidents are fender benders int he $2k to $3k range, so by raising my deductible from $500 to $2k I probably just reduced the risk of my insurer actually having to pay out by about 1/3. Only raise the deductible if you really have the money. As to taxes, I'm talking about the registration. Where I'm from it's based on the value of the car. Folly fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Oct 9, 2013 |
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Oct 9, 2013 14:02
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Tim Selaty Jr posted:Yeah, next vehicle will be paid for with cash. I was hoping to have this truck last me through to next year, but once the blower fan went, I figured that I'd need something else in the near future... And then I started having starter issues, so it's time to take case of this. I would consider limping your truck along for as long as you can, and open a Smartypig account or similar to save for your replacement vehicle. If nothing else, you could save 5 or 6 thousands dollars and that would make a great down-payment if your truck should die in the next few months.
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Oct 9, 2013 14:27
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Hey ya'll, I work overseas and am constantly sending money to my America bank account every 3-4 months to pay off student loans. I've got a solid 2 months of grace before I have to send my next batch of strange foreign currency to a swift bank to be turned into glorious America bucks. My question is with all the weird rear end poo poo going on in politics is there any break point I should look for before I send over? As in when do you guys think the dollar will be at its lowest value in the coming months?
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Oct 9, 2013 16:13
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Nocheez posted:A blower motor and start will be a lot less than $2,000. All cars will eventually need those things replaced, and it may not be that bad to do it yourself depending on how your car is laid out. Let it go. It's not the decision you would have made. Not all of us have the time and inclination to do our own auto repairs. If he told me he was leasing some fancy truck with all the bells and whistles, and going to drive 40,000 km on Canadian tank roads in the winter through the wilderness, I would be giving him stearnly worded warnings too, but the reality is he is borrowing a modest amount, has a plan to pay it off quickly, and he is replacing a rolling pile of junk.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:39
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Let it go. I just like to see old cars be loved, I guess 
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Oct 9, 2013 21:28
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Nocheez posted:I just like to see old cars be loved, I guess Cars and truck in northern climes then to age a bit faster than farther south, so the point where they stop being worth repairing comes up earlier. Especially for someone who's using their vehicle the way he is.
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Oct 9, 2013 21:32
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You're telling him to kick those mice out of their home. That's cold, man. Are cars more expensive up there? That price seems a little high for what you're describing.
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Oct 9, 2013 22:11
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Yeah, cars, much like everything else, are significantly more expensive in Canada than in the states. Compare Toyota.ca to Toyota.com or whatever, you'll see. The dollar's about parity right now.
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Oct 9, 2013 22:17
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Okay guys, my husband and I would appreciate some advice. We're not sure how to attack our debt and effectively save for a house. First of all, we both graduated last summer with a fair amount of debt. We are both employed and doing pretty well month-to-month, but I know there is room for optimization. Now that we've settled into a routine and established a baseline as to what our expected expenses are, I really want to start bringing down the debt and saving for a house. We have $95,119 in student loan debt and a $14,291 loan on a car. We have no credit card debt. We live in a very expensive area, with very little options for moving into a cheaper place - we both work within a mile of each other and live within 2 miles and spend very little on gas. We just moved $20,000 into a money market account @ 0.3% for the 20% house down payment (goal $80,000) and plan to put ~$2,000/ month in there with $1,000/ month into an emergency fund. We hope to get the debt wrangled and a house saved for within 2-5 years. So this is what our fixed monthly budget looks like: Rent $1415.00 Phones $150.76 Cable/Internet $114.22 Electricity $80.00 Rental Insurance $12.25 Car Insurance $89.94 Netflix $8.75 Savings $3000 Loans $2403 Monthly Income after taxes = $8,820.68 Here is a breakdown of our debt: Mine Department of Ed B1 $7,506.77 @ 6.8 (sub) Department of Ed B2 $7,804.32 @ 6.8 (sub) Department of Ed C $7,015.98 @ 6.8 (unsub) Wells Fargo $5,886.78 @ 4.25 His DoE #1 $10,149.45 @ 6.55 DoE #2 $15,533.14 @ 4.5 DoE #3 $41,223.16 @ 6.55 Car Loan $14,291.37 @ 2.74 So I guess, how do we start managing our debt? Currently we're distributing the payments fairly evenly. Should we focus all our attention on one loan at a time per the snowball method, or a few at a time? How much should we be putting into debt payment and savings? Is there anything we should do to maximize the efficacy of our savings? Is a home ownership a realistic short-term goal?
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Oct 10, 2013 02:27
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Fromage D Enfer posted:We just moved $20,000 into a money market account @ 0.3% for the 20% house down payment (goal $80,000) and plan to put ~$2,000/ month in there with $1,000/ month into an emergency fund. We hope to get the debt wrangled and a house saved for within 2-5 years. Pull that $20k out of the money market and get those loans paid down starting with the 6.X% loans. It makes absolutely no sense to save at 0.3% and pay 6.8%. Keep enough for an emergency fund, but that's it. And don't use a money market for savings when a high yield savings account will give you 0.75-1% interest.
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Oct 10, 2013 02:51
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Are you putting off retirement savings until you get the house down payment? Is this something you've worked out as being beneficial? (unlikely) I agree with the poster above me, I'm not sure taking on a mortgage should be your top concern right now. That's a lot of debt to have and a huge chunk of your monthly salary. You have to remember that even if PMI is lower (which it won't be if you're looking at a 400k house), your utilities will go up quite a bit, your home maintenance will have to be well budgeted for. You only have about $1k left in your current budget without food or medical bills or gifts/travel or basic household necessities. You're going to be left with not much to actually enjoy your life with beyond Netflix and might be what we call 'house poor'.
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Oct 10, 2013 03:13
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