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What is the easiest, most painless way to check my current credit score? Everything I look at wants me to sign up for a "trial period" which is a pain in the rear end to cancel.
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Nov 9, 2013 02:51
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You can get a report from one of the three bureaus per year from annualcreditreport.com It won't give your real video game number though. edit: can you do all 3 companies every year now? cool.
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Nov 9, 2013 03:14
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eddiewalker posted:You can get a report from one of the three bureaus per year from annualcreditreport.com Yep I have my credit report but I want to see the FICO score or whatever companies see when I apply a credit card etc.
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Nov 9, 2013 03:29
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Hughmoris posted:What is the easiest, most painless way to check my current credit score? Everything I look at wants me to sign up for a "trial period" which is a pain in the rear end to cancel. Creditkarma.com. it is apparently accurate usually within 50 points, and unless you are getting a house from what people here post that should be fine. I personally like the site and find it helpful to check once every 6 months.
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Nov 9, 2013 03:35
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Hughmoris posted:Yep I have my credit report but I want to see the FICO score or whatever companies see when I apply a credit card etc. If you haven't done it this year then pull your report anyways. They usually offer a flat fee to view your score when you pull it. Other than that Credit Karma will give you a close Transunion score but not a FICO.
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Nov 9, 2013 09:15
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Duckman2008 posted:Creditkarma.com. it is apparently accurate usually within 50 points, and unless you are getting a house from what people here post that should be fine. I personally like the site and find it helpful to check once every 6 months. MyFico is legit on the trial period; but be sure to cancel. Their numbers were 100% dead on accurate when I went to get my mortgage in September.
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Nov 9, 2013 12:28
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Is it cool to post my current financial plan in this thread for critique?
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Nov 9, 2013 21:39
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Popete posted:Is it cool to post my current financial plan in this thread for critique? Pretty sure, yeah. If it ends up being too complicated, we'll just ask you to make a thread. No harm starting here though.
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Nov 9, 2013 22:44
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Popete posted:Is it cool to post my current financial plan in this thread for critique? It would be either here or how to make a budget, so go right ahead!
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Nov 9, 2013 23:02
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Current Balance: ~$5000 in a checking account Monthly Income post tax: $2600 (this is accounting for the 401k) Bills: ~1200-1500$ (this is pretty much everything I spend in a month) Debt: none Plan: I've opened 2 saving account with Ally as they have a decent interest rate at .86%. One is my emergency fund which I'm planning on getting up to $10k, the other is a stock fund. Currently waiting for funds to transfer but it will look like this. Checking: ~$2500 Emergency: $2000 Investing: $500 Currently I have my 401k setup at 10%, my employer matches 100% up to 3% and 50% up to 2% after that. I'm wondering if this is too high but I just setup the 401k so we'll see how much it cuts into my month to month savings/usable money. I also at the end of the year get a %10 salary bonus, since I've only worked at the company for what will be around 7 months I can expect this to be $3k-$4k extra but normally will be $5500. Next year will also be my first time filing as an independent and I used a online calculator to approximate my tax return as around $7k, I have no idea if that's legitimate or not. So I'm on the assumption of an extra $10k a year. I'll be using my tax return each year to max out a Roth IRA ($5500). My month to month savings plan is $1k into the emergency fund until it's at $10k, and ~$400 into the stock fund until whenever. I'm a novice investor so the stock fund I'm not relying on heavily I consider it "lost" money in a way but if I do well enough then cool. Any thoughts on the current 401k contribution? Should I maybe be looking at lowering that number and putting some money into index funds? What would be a good number for the stock investing fund? Also once I reach the $10k emergency fund where should I put that money next as an investment? Index funds, mutual fund, or just savings? I may cut back on my saving after I reach that point so as to have more spending money. Popete fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Nov 9, 2013 |
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Nov 9, 2013 23:50
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I may have some time later for a more in-depth response, but a quick glance and based on the assumption that your expenses are accurate: Congrats on no debt and maxing out your match! What are your fund options in the 401k? Through what company? Why let the gov't hang on to your money over the year? Why not just start allocating to an IRA over the course of the year anyway? Until you have a full emergency fund, do you need the volatility of a taxable fund outside of your retirement accounts? Seems like you're in an enviable starting point. Good luck!
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Nov 10, 2013 00:22
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balancedbias posted:What are your fund options in the 401k? Through what company? Fidelity, I'm not sure about options. It looks like there is a plan setup through my company with stock/blended/bonds mixture so I'm assuming by default I'm using that. balancedbias posted:Why let the gov't hang on to your money over the year? Why not just start allocating to an IRA over the course of the year anyway? I'm not sure I understand, so I can have part of my taxes be directly placed into an IRA over the year? Will this reduce my overall tax payment somehow? balancedbias posted:Until you have a full emergency fund, do you need the volatility of a taxable fund outside of your retirement accounts? Thanks! Are you referring to the stock fund? I'm setting that up to teach myself how to invest and it's less of a serious form of investing. I'll probably get it $2k-$5k and invest in a specific sector that I'm somewhat familiar with. After the emergency fund is full, I'm wondering what the next step is for saving, I'll have the stock fund sure but I'd like something more secure like indexs or a mutual fund. I'll want to start saving for house/condo/car stuff.
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Nov 10, 2013 00:39
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If you're getting a big tax refund, then it means that you're withholding more than necessary. I'm saying maybe a adjust your w4 if possible so you have more in your net paychecks to do with as you wish, the IRA being a good option.
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Nov 10, 2013 01:02
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Popete posted:I also at the end of the year get a %10 salary bonus, since I've only worked at the company for what will be around 7 months I can expect this to be $3k-$4k extra but normally will be $5500. Next year will also be my first time filing as an independent and I used a online calculator to approximate my tax return as around $7k, I have no idea if that's legitimate or not. So I'm on the assumption of an extra $10k a year. I'll be using my tax return each year to max out a Roth IRA ($5500). My month to month savings plan is $1k into the emergency fund until it's at $10k, and ~$400 into the stock fund until whenever. I'm a novice investor so the stock fund I'm not relying on heavily I consider it "lost" money in a way but if I do well enough then cool. That seems really high for a tax refund. Its been a few years since I have prepared them professionally so I tend to not give a lot of tax advice anymore, but usually people at your income only get refunds that high if they have several kids and they are a single parent. One thing that could be raising it some is because you have not worked all year, you won't have time to hit the 25% tax bracket, but you are earning enough money so that is the rate they are withholding it as. Therefore you will get a larger refund than normal your first time filing, but even then I doubt it will be 7K unless you took some unusual deductions or there is some special situation I can't think of.
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Nov 10, 2013 01:48
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Zeta Taskforce posted:That seems really high for a tax refund. Its been a few years since I have prepared them professionally so I tend to not give a lot of tax advice anymore, but usually people at your income only get refunds that high if they have several kids and they are a single parent. One thing that could be raising it some is because you have not worked all year, you won't have time to hit the 25% tax bracket, but you are earning enough money so that is the rate they are withholding it as. Therefore you will get a larger refund than normal your first time filing, but even then I doubt it will be 7K unless you took some unusual deductions or there is some special situation I can't think of. Yeah I just punched in $55k as my income from W2 on the H&R tax return calculator, single, no dependents and that's the number it spit out. Who knows how accurate that is.
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Nov 10, 2013 01:57
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Popete posted:Fidelity, I'm not sure about options. It looks like there is a plan setup through my company with stock/blended/bonds mixture so I'm assuming by default I'm using that. If you get online access to manage your 401k through Fidelity's NetBenefits site, it's pretty easy to check what they're putting your money into. Chances are you've been automatically enrolled in one of Fidelity's target retirement date funds, which are more expensive than your typical blend of index funds would be. See if they have any of Fidelity's Spartan index funds or Vanguard's funds available, and build a portfolio of those if they do. What you're looking for are low expense ratios. I'd use your 401k for all further investing after your IRA is maxed. If you really want to play the stock market, go ahead, but treat money as gambling, not financial planning.
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Nov 10, 2013 06:58
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Kilty Monroe posted:I'd use your 401k for all further investing after your IRA is maxed. If you really want to play the stock market, go ahead, but treat money as gambling, not financial planning. Yeah the stock investing like I said is money I consider "lost", I'm not depending on it for my retirement or emergency money it's just something I want to learn about. I'll probably just leave my 401k at 10% right now and do the Roth IRA, we'll see how far that gets me and if I feel the need to do more putting it into the 401k is easy enough.
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Nov 10, 2013 09:00
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Popete posted:Yeah the stock investing like I said is money I consider "lost", I'm not depending on it for my retirement or emergency money it's just something I want to learn about. I'll probably just leave my 401k at 10% right now and do the Roth IRA, we'll see how far that gets me and if I feel the need to do more putting it into the 401k is easy enough. Personally, I'm almost certain that income taxes will be raised substantially between now and when I retire in ~30 years. Having a mix of Roth and traditional seems like a good idea to me.
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Nov 10, 2013 15:13
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Popete posted:Yeah I just punched in $55k as my income from W2 on the H&R tax return calculator, single, no dependents and that's the number it spit out. Who knows how accurate that is. Are you sure you aren't mistaking the amount of taxes you would owe? I just plugged 55k and single into a tax calc and it shows that you should owe 7.1k in taxes over the year. Regardless you can change the number of dependents to lower the amount of taxes you pay each paycheck if you want to get the money over the course of the year instead of as a tax return.
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Nov 10, 2013 15:38
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Yeah you're right that's what I owe, so it would be more like a $2k doing some quick math as a return. I should still be fine for maxing out a Roth IRA though.
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Nov 10, 2013 18:06
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Bank of America has pissed me off for the last time - how do I pick a bank for a checking account? Locally we have Desert Schools (https://www.desertschools.org/templates/product/baseproduct.aspx?id=1882) and Arizona State Credit Union (https://www.azstcu.org/personal/checking-accounts). I would qualify for free checking at ASCU and $5 at DS but I really don't know if I should be looking at something else.
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Nov 12, 2013 00:27
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Don't ever pay for a checking account.
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Nov 12, 2013 00:28
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BlackMK4 posted:Bank of America has pissed me off for the last time - how do I pick a bank for a checking account? Locally we have Desert Schools (https://www.desertschools.org/templates/product/baseproduct.aspx?id=1882) and Arizona State Credit Union (https://www.azstcu.org/personal/checking-accounts). I would qualify for free checking at ASCU and $5 at DS but I really don't know if I should be looking at something else For me, a *local* (20min away) branch is needed, but only kind of. I can walk into ANY credit union and make large cash withdraws so having them be local isn't something I need anymore. But it's definitely a want - I can get a new debit card in minutes (+driving) which is a big plus.
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Nov 12, 2013 05:35
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What about an online checking account? They're super convenient. Obviously they offer online check deposits, statements, and such. Mine will actually refund any ATM fees that I'm charged so I don't have to hunt down the 'right' ATM to use.
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Nov 12, 2013 17:16
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Initio posted:What about an online checking account? They're super convenient. Obviously they offer online check deposits, statements, and such. Mine will actually refund any ATM fees that I'm charged so I don't have to hunt down the 'right' ATM to use. Most (most that you should use at least!) credit unions offer ATM fee refunds too.
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Nov 12, 2013 18:57
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Just use Schwab. http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account It's the best checking account there is.
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Nov 13, 2013 01:33
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Do we have an Employee Benefits page? Its open enrollment season and my employers are getting rid of my current health insurance plan and offering 2 completely new ones. I need some help deciphering the HR talk.
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Nov 13, 2013 19:15
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Hughmoris posted:Do we have an Employee Benefits page? Its open enrollment season and my employers are getting rid of my current health insurance plan and offering 2 completely new ones. I need some help deciphering the HR talk. The internet does not know if you have a benefits page, but try talking to HR.
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Nov 13, 2013 19:58
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I think he meant "do we have an employee benefits thread" but the answer is still the same: benefits vary way too much for our input to be useful, so just talk to your HR rep (that's their job).
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Nov 13, 2013 20:09
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Waiting to get my myFico score right now (Edit: 493 - Bad...gently caress) but I just got my credit report and it doesn't seem too unmanageable. For reference my credit does or used to suck, I have no idea right now, but I don't see any crazy negative accounts on my credit report other than some stuff that I'll be able to pay off very soon. I think my credit just dropped fast within 2-3 years I didn't have steady income and now I'm trying to play catch up. My current apartment, the property management company almost didn't approve me to rent this place because of my lovely credit, but right now I don't have a great idea about what's so bad about it. The only large debts I have is my student loan, auto loan, and some misc. medical bills all sub-$1000. I'm paying off the medical bills right now and keeping up payments with my student and auto loan. I just want to drop my auto loan interest rate because right now I'm paying $380/month for a 2004 Honda Accord with 70k miles on it. I bought it a couple years ago for $14k or so and I have around $8k left on the balance. I think my interest rate is something ridiculous like 18 or 19%, loaned out by Chase when I bought the car. It fuckin' sucks. Any advice or tips anybody can give me? I don't mind sharing the report with somebody who's knowledgeable on the topic. I'm not sure if it's the medical bills (they are on collection right now because of my previous lack of steady income, but I'm paying them off ASAP) or what. ceebee fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Nov 14, 2013 |
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Nov 14, 2013 06:55
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ceebee posted:Waiting to get my myFico score right now (Edit: 493 - Bad...gently caress) but I just got my credit report and it doesn't seem too unmanageable. The medical bills are probably what's killing your credit score, assuming you don't have other late payments or charge-offs on your report. Unfortunately, even paying it off might not bring your score back up until it falls off your report in seven years. Refinancing that auto loan may not be possible, though it might be worth a shot anyways with that kind of interest rate (worse than my credit cards holy poo poo). What I think you probably need more than anything, if you haven't already, is to make a budget and have a plan for getting out from under all that debt.
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Nov 14, 2013 09:37
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ceebee posted:Waiting to get my myFico score right now (Edit: 493 - Bad...gently caress) but I just got my credit report and it doesn't seem too unmanageable. You seem like a good candidate for your own thread. We'll need to know your actual numbers (income, amount of each debt and interest rates) for everything to help you as best as we can.
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Nov 14, 2013 14:47
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I have a personal checking, savings, and credit card tied to Bank of America, along with two business checking accounts with them. I also have an emergency and general savings account at INGDirect (Now capital one 360). BoA is hitting my breaking point for terrible website usability, so I started wondering why I bother.. Does it make sense to move everything over to my capital one account? I know its not a strictly internet bank which is why I liked INGDirect, but since the buyout nothing appears to have changed. I'd also cancel my BoA credit card and apply for a Capital one Quiksilver. Does this seem like a logical thing to do? I love the idea of having all of my banking in one place. Can I even link a credit card to my capital one 360 accounts?
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Nov 14, 2013 16:43
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So, because of Obamacare, I just got notice that I am losing my current employee health insurance and have to select the new plan. There are two options available: the first option involves high deductible $1250 a year and an HSA with a $500 employer annual contribution. The second option is the standard PPO low co-pay plan with no HSA. I am 26, with no medical issues. Am I right to assume that by choosing the first plan, I would essentially be getting $500 every year tax-free? PLAN A The Blue Shield Health Savings Plan is a high-deductible PPO paired with a tax-advantaged health savings account. When you use the Blue Shield network: You first pay the deductible ($1,250 individual or $2,500 family). Once you meet the deductible, you share the costs of services with the plan through coinsurance. You can use the HSA to pay for health care costs during the year — including your deductible — or you can use it to save for future needs, even through retirement. The HSA has no use-or-lose-it restriction. UC contributes to your account: $500 individual or $1,000 family. You can contribute to your HSA too — and those contributions are pre-tax. As your account grows, your interest and investment earnings are also tax-free. And when you use the account for qualified medical expenses, those withdrawals are tax-free too. PLAN B UC Care is a brand new health plan created just for UC employees and retirees. You can get care from UC physicians and medical centers as well as the entire Blue Shield PPO network of providers. It’s your choice. When you use UC medical centers and other select providers: You pay set copayments for most services and you don’t have a deductible. When you use the Blue Shield Preferred network: You pay a low deductible ($250 individual or $750 family) and you share the costs of services with the plan through coinsurance. INTJ Mastermind fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Nov 14, 2013 |
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Nov 14, 2013 18:15
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INTJ Mastermind posted:So, because of Obamacare, I just got notice that I am losing my current employee health insurance and have to select the new plan. There are two options available: the first option involves high deductible $1250 a year and an HSA with a $500 employer annual contribution. The second option is the standard PPO low co-pay plan with no HSA. I am 26, with no medical issues. Am I right to assume that by choosing the first plan, I would essentially be getting $500 every year tax-free? This happens to most people every year or two, so I'm pretty sure it's not "because of Obamacare." Take the HDHP with HSA though. They're almost always the best deal for somebody young and in good health, and an employer contribution is sweet delicious icing on that cake.
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Nov 14, 2013 18:19
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What is your coinsurance on the two plans, and what is your out of pocket maximum? Is it the same?
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Nov 14, 2013 18:27
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I recently got engaged. We're planning on going somewhere in Europe for our honeymoon but haven't decided yet. We want to get a rewards card for our wedding expenses, but I want to wait until we decide on the specifics so that we can get the right card. Until we figure that out I was thinking of adding her to my Marriott rewards card. I'm wondering if I can do that since we're not married? I'm also curious how that would work exactly? Would I get just one statement and bill or would it be handled separately like she had her own card? For reference I'm debt free but she has some school debt she's been working on paying down. We plan on saving enough to pay for everything but want to get some sign up bonuses/rewards to try and get free plane tickets or something to help with the costs. I currently pay for everything with my card and pay it off each month.
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Nov 14, 2013 19:50
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That's probably a better question for the credit card thread.
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Nov 14, 2013 20:13
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mcpringles posted:Until we figure that out I was thinking of adding her to my Marriott rewards card. I'm wondering if I can do that since we're not married? I'm also curious how that would work exactly? Would I get just one statement and bill or would it be handled separately like she had her own card? Real straightforward, you go to their site or call them and tell them you want to add an authorized user. She'll get a nice card with her name on it, and you get one bill.
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Nov 14, 2013 20:22
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SlightlyMadman posted:This happens to most people every year or two, so I'm pretty sure it's not "because of Obamacare." Take the HDHP with HSA though. They're almost always the best deal for somebody young and in good health, and an employer contribution is sweet delicious icing on that cake. I just read in some company documentation that employer contributions in CA are subject to income tax?
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Nov 14, 2013 21:42
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