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theHUNGERian posted:$25k is the ceiling for the purchase. Ideally, it would be $20k for a CPO 2012-2014 Subaru Outback with <20k miles on it. The purchase would be from a Subaru dealership, and they flat-out told me to use a loan from a credit union since the dealership's loan-offer would be worse. I also gave them my real phone number and asked them to not call me as I still want to test drive cars, and they have not called me. The people there were nice, laidback, not pushy, they listened to my needs/timeline. Not once did the sales guy try to make the sale. I saw no red flags.
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Dec 28, 2014 05:44
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Cicero posted:You may want to consider asking for car advice in the A/T car buying thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3213538 I already have. That block of text was there not to get input, but because the first post I made, made it look like I didn't have a plan, so I elaborated a bit.
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Dec 28, 2014 05:48
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theHUNGERian posted:Thanks guys. I'll do that then. Get a CC and pay it all off in full each month. I'll check my scores again half way through the year. Definitely want to shop around for a loan. You should be able to get a lower rate.
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Dec 28, 2014 15:43
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:Definitely want to shop around for a loan. You should be able to get a lower rate. I think my limited credit history is my main handicap. I've only taken out one loan in my entire life, and I've never had a CC. Once I get a CC (I've already been rejected by a couple  ) and build up a history, I'll give the car loan another try. I'll apply at a couple of places but there aren't too many options.
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Dec 28, 2014 22:01
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Stupid question incoming - Say you're taxed at 28%.... and you run a business with a lot of tax-deductible expenses. Does tax-deductible basically mean I'm getting like a 28% discount on those expenses since it removes taxable income? Say I made 100k and had 50k in tax deductible expenses, would I basically be paying no taxes on the 50k net income?
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Dec 28, 2014 23:54
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theHUNGERian posted:I think my limited credit history is my main handicap. I've only taken out one loan in my entire life, and I've never had a CC. Once I get a CC (I've already been rejected by a couple If your credit score is in the 720's then there isn't anything terribly wrong with your credit. It is actually very good to excellent. If you were putting that big of a down payment on a used car and you got those types of rates, something else is wrong. How much money do you make? I wonder if your debt to income ratio is high? Which would be another reason to consider spending much less than $25K
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Dec 29, 2014 00:10
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EAB posted:Stupid question incoming - There is a tax thread, I used to contribute a lot more to it since I used to do taxes, but I'm getting rusty because its been a few years, so take what I say with a grain of salt  They are cool guys there and will answer questions and if you have anything beyond the scope of what you can ask in the thread, some of them can do your taxes for you.But basically yes, your legitimate business expenses will have the effect of reducing your income. So if you are in the 28% tax bracket, then a business expense means you won't pay 28% on that income. You also won't be subject to self employment taxes either. You will only be taxed on your profit, which is subject to income and self employment taxes, which I think is 15.3%. In your example $50K would be profit and fully taxable, $50K would be expenses.
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Dec 29, 2014 00:16
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Zeta Taskforce posted:If your credit score is in the 720's then there isn't anything terribly wrong with your credit. It is actually very good to excellent. If you were putting that big of a down payment on a used car and you got those types of rates, something else is wrong. How much money do you make? I wonder if your debt to income ratio is high? Which would be another reason to consider spending much less than $25K My income is in the six figures and I have zero debt. Perhaps my high rent ($1700 per month) scared them?
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Dec 29, 2014 00:24
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theHUNGERian posted:My income is in the six figures and I have zero debt. Perhaps my high rent ($1700 per month) scared them? If you make 6 figures, then $25K on a car is not an unreasonable purchase, nor is $1700 an unreasonable rent payment. Some of the tight wads here will never spend that much on a car. If you made $40K, it would be crazy, but if spending that much allows you to enjoy a hobby that is rewarding for you, then more power to you. But if you are making that much and don't have debt it is a concern that you are not saving more. That is the only thing that should give you pause. You might be like my dad. He hates debt, hasn't borrowed anything in 25 years, but he spends money as soon as he gets it too. He has some expensive hobbies. I don't know why you were offered such a high rate and denied other places since you are putting so much down. Maybe limited credit experience did throw it off, but it is still odd if your score is in the 700s'. This is a FICO score we are talking about? How did you obtain this score?
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Dec 29, 2014 00:35
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theHUNGERian posted:Once I get a CC [...] I've already been rejected by a couple Rejections and searches on your file will likely be having a worse impact on your credit rating than incomplete history if these are recent - try an 'eligibility calculator' that performs only a 'soft' search on your credit file with an agency. If the cards you are applying for are deemed to be out of your reach, maybe look at the cards for those with 'poor' credit histories. You don't have any adverse credit events, so as long as you pay these off in full (avoiding the absurdly bad APRs on offer) you'll rapidly improve your history. Again, you'll have to wait a fair few months for your searches (and any successful applications for credit) to drop off in significance!
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Dec 29, 2014 00:41
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Some of the tight wads here will never spend that much on a car.
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Dec 29, 2014 00:54
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Zeta Taskforce posted:... it is a concern that you are not saving more. Really? Each year I put $17500 into my 401k and another $5500 into my Roth-IRA. That's over 15% of my annual income that's sitting in index funds with crazy low expense ratios. I also have an emergency fund to cover about 1 year worth of expenses if I were to lose my job. Btw, all the stuff I buy for my hobby is on the used market. Whenever possible, I buy things on the used market and I never had an issue. The got my scores through Experian (screenshot attached). These are not estimates, but the actual numbers. Is this a good eligibility checker? It wants my email address, which I think is lame as hell. theHUNGERian fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Dec 29, 2014 |
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Dec 29, 2014 01:12
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Some of the tight wads here will never spend that much on a car. I spent 21.5 and thought it was a splurge. Gonna go all out when the self-driving ones hit the market though!
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Dec 29, 2014 01:15
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slap me silly posted:I spent 21.5 and thought it was a splurge. Gonna go all out when the self-driving ones hit the market though! Coming from a car that I bought for $600, this next purchase will feel like a splurge to me too. Hopefully I'll get 200k miles out of that new car just as I did out of that $600 car.
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Dec 29, 2014 02:00
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theHUNGERian posted:Really? Each year I put $17500 into my 401k and another $5500 into my Roth-IRA. That's over 15% of my annual income that's sitting in index funds with crazy low expense ratios. I also have an emergency fund to cover about 1 year worth of expenses if I were to lose my job. Btw, all the stuff I buy for my hobby is on the used market. Whenever possible, I buy things on the used market and I never had an issue. You can get a credit score from Mint or a lot of a credit cards (Amex, Citi, Discover, probably others) will give you your official score from at least one of the three credit agencies.
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Dec 29, 2014 02:05
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asur posted:You can get a credit score from Mint or a lot of a credit cards (Amex, Citi, Discover, probably others) will give you your official score from at least one of the three credit agencies. How is Mint different from Experian?
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Dec 29, 2014 02:13
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theHUNGERian posted:How is Mint different from Experian? It isn't, Mint just has a new feature where it will pull your credit score from one of the big 3 (I thought it was transunion, but whatever).
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Dec 29, 2014 02:17
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It's not different, just another legitimate from free option if you don't have access to others. It's from Equifax I believe. Apparently I read your last question completely wrong, thought you were asking for free ways to get credit score.
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Dec 29, 2014 02:19
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Duckman2008 posted:It isn't, Mint just has a new feature where it will pull your credit score from one of the big 3 (I thought it was transunion, but whatever). But doesn't my screenshot above show my scores from the big 3? Equifax (730), Transunion (738), and Experian (726). Also, does anybody know how I can do an eligibility check for a 'no annual fee' CC?
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Dec 29, 2014 02:24
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theHUNGERian posted:Really? Each year I put $17500 into my 401k and another $5500 into my Roth-IRA. That's over 15% of my annual income that's sitting in index funds with crazy low expense ratios. I also have an emergency fund to cover about 1 year worth of expenses if I were to lose my job. Btw, all the stuff I buy for my hobby is on the used market. Whenever possible, I buy things on the used market and I never had an issue. I didn't know you were saving/investing that much. All that is very impressive and admirable. All I saw was you were asking how to get a $15,000 loan. Your emergency fund is a bit rich unless there is something I'm missing. Just buy the car you want and replace the savings if it makes you nervous.
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Dec 29, 2014 03:12
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I didn't know you were saving/investing that much. All that is very impressive and admirable. All I saw was you were asking how to get a $15,000 loan. Your emergency fund is a bit rich unless there is something I'm missing. Just buy the car you want and replace the savings if it makes you nervous. Yeah, the emergency fund is a bit larger than normal, but it's in part to potentially cover my dad's medical/legal expenses if needed. My oldest brother was in charge of it while my brother was also footing the bill for my undergrad, and now that I am reasonably well off it's time to take that weight off his shoulders. Also, I'm not a US citizen, so if I lose my job I might have to pack up all my belongings and move to a different continent.
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Dec 29, 2014 03:29
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Zeta Taskforce posted:There is a tax thread, I used to contribute a lot more to it since I used to do taxes, but I'm getting rusty because its been a few years, so take what I say with a grain of salt Oh man I need to open my eyeballs, its only a couple threads down! I didnt see it. Thanks for the info... but after looking into it more, I think we have special tax rules [trucking] so maybe I need to just ask a professional who has experience doing truck owner operator taxes.
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Dec 29, 2014 03:40
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Mint's free credit score and most other free credit score sites do not give you your "real" credit score. They use the same data from the actual credit bureaus so they can usually give a pretty close approximation, but there are some differences. I think how they handle closed accounts can result in a pretty dramatic difference. The credit score provided by Discover and Barclaycard is your official "true" score, but only from one credit bureau. If the credit score is listed as a FICO score it should be a "real" credit score.
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Dec 29, 2014 14:38
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theHUNGERian posted:Yeah, the emergency fund is a bit larger than normal, but it's in part to potentially cover my dad's medical/legal expenses if needed. My oldest brother was in charge of it while my brother was also footing the bill for my undergrad, and now that I am reasonably well off it's time to take that weight off his shoulders. Also, I'm not a US citizen, so if I lose my job I might have to pack up all my belongings and move to a different continent. This is helpful to know. Suddenly both your situation and user name make a lot more sense. You are clearly very successful and smart and doing tons of stuff right. One thing I observed in my job is that foreigners with established careers are treated like teenagers when it comes to credit because they have not needed to borrow a lot of money. If you got a credit card, just a basic one from your credit union without any fees will help with that regard. You have plenty of money to buy the car you want, but you have unique things going on that means the super big emergency fund is worth it for the security and options it provides. The only thing I would observe is that if you buy a $25K car with cash and you feel it in your gut as a destabilizing purchase, but borrowing most of it doesn't, then you need to reflect on that. Whether you borrow it or pay cash for it, it is the same thing, just that if you use cash, you are admitting you actually spent it. Buy a car, get something safe that you can go off road, but even though you can easily afford to spend $25K on a car, you probably shouldn't.
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Dec 29, 2014 18:18
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Zeta Taskforce posted:... Suddenly ... user name make a lot more sense. These days I have a German passport though.  Zeta Taskforce posted:... Buy a car, get something safe that you can go off road, but even though you can easily afford to spend $25K on a car, you probably shouldn't. Thanks for the reality check. If the local Honda dealership didn't have poo poo reviews, I would have my eyes on a $15k CR-V. Coming from a piece of poo poo beater car, I'm certain that the CR-V will feel like a space ship much like the Outback did when I test drove it. I'll try to do one more CC application, but if that falls through too, I'll just save up money until I can pay for the car in cash.
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Dec 29, 2014 19:48
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Buy the car, get the outback, Subaru's are great. You make more than enough and save more than enough to drop the cash on the car. A lot of the folks here are anti any spending money ever, I don't know how they have an interesting life honestly. It allows you to enjoy your life and have fun and it will not hurt you financially. Plus it is better than a CR-V. Where do you bank at? Have you gone in and talked to them about a card? They should be able to work it out as you probably have a checking account and direct deposit from work.
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Dec 29, 2014 20:13
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spwrozek posted:Where do you bank at? Have you gone in and talked to them about a card? They should be able to work it out as you probably have a checking account and direct deposit from work. I just came back. The lady told me that my applications were rejected because I applied for too many cards in a very short amount of time. I asked why the first application was rejected and she repeated that I applied for too many cards in a short time frame. I explained that I understood why my second application was rejected, but that I didn't understand why my very first application was rejected (I almost had to draw out a time line to explain my question). She didn't have a concrete answer. Her best guess was that some of my personal information was wrong. Their system had me as a US citizen, a student, with no income, even though I am German, non-student, and employed. According to the lady, all I can do right now is wait for 3 months, and then fill out another application. She didn't see anything wrong with my file. This system is so loving slow.
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Dec 30, 2014 01:22
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Does your bank not offer secured cards? Honestly that sounds like kind of a lovely bank.
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Dec 30, 2014 06:22
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Ever since I graduated from school with approximately $170k in student loans, I've been aggressively paying the loans down, since I was lucky enough to land a well-paying job. Now the loans are at $55k, and I feel that I can now more or less ignore the interest expense the loan represents, and figure out how to better use the money that was previously used for loan repayment. Here's my situation: Assets: - Liquid savings in online/bank savings accounts: $25k - Non-liquid savings, invested into a friend's business that I think has limited downside: $17k - No retirement/401k/Roth accounts. I am not a US citizen, and my company does not offer any matching funds, so I didn't want to run the risk of having to move back to my home country while my retirement savings are stuck in the US, or have to move those funds subject to taxes and early withdrawal penalties. Liabilities: - Student Loans: $55k @ 3.25% APR - I figure my interest expense per month is going to dip below $150 per month at around March 2015, which was an arbitrary goal that I'd been shooting for. - Credit Cards: Credit card accounts are all paid off every month, except for certain accounts that carry 0% APR balances that were used to pay down student loans (through balance transfer offers with zero or low up-front fees below the student loan interest rate). - No mortgage/car loans. If I were to stop aggressively paying down the student loan and pay just the minimum, I project that I'll have around $1k - $2k after-tax dollars left over per month to use for other purposes. What would be some good ideas on what to do with that money instead? I've thought about the following: 1. Start maxing out the 401k? With an $18k pre-tax limit for 2015, I think that takes away roughly $800-900 after-tax dollars per month. But if I have to go back to my home country, that money could (a) be stuck here or (b) take a big haircut if I try to move it before I'm 59 and a half. Or am I missing something here (i.e., could funds in a 401k account be moved without tax/penalty under certain circumstances)? 2. Open a trading account and buy ETFs, and resist the urge to dip into individual stocks? 3. Open IRAs? 4. Go back to paying down the student loan until it's totally gone? Would appreciate any other ideas.
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Dec 30, 2014 06:50
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moana posted:Honestly that sounds like kind of a lovely bank. You're not far off - Citibank does sound like lovely-bank. The sad part is that I have a perfect track record with them. I took out a $30k grad school loan with them, and I've paid that back in full within 2 years of finishing grad school without missing a payment. And yet they don't trust me with a simple CC. I even asked them what they expect will happen in the 3 months that I am waiting, why I will be more credit worthy in 3 months than I am now? No answers.
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Dec 30, 2014 07:15
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theHUNGERian posted:I even asked them what they expect will happen in the 3 months that I am waiting, why I will be more credit worthy in 3 months than I am now? No answers.
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Dec 30, 2014 07:17
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Yeah, it's not the first time I deviated from the script. I left high school - because gently caress that poo poo - even though all my teachers told me it is the single stupidest thing I can possibly do and here I am with a PhD. With a little luck the Barclaycard (Average Credit), I applied for (at the same time as the two Citi CCs) will be approved and I can move on.
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Dec 30, 2014 07:34
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Does anyone have a recommendation of who to go through for setting up an HSA? My insurance plan doesn't qualify, but my husband's does. I think we understand them enough to decide that he wants to *have* one, but we don't know what company to go through. We do our banking through Chase and they seem to have HSA accounts according to a google search, but going into our branch they said they didn't.  Kind of lost, and I think we only have through tomorrow to open one. Yay for last minute financey things!
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Dec 30, 2014 17:25
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drat Bananas posted:Does anyone have a recommendation of who to go through for setting up an HSA? My insurance plan doesn't qualify, but my husband's does. I think we understand them enough to decide that he wants to *have* one, but we don't know what company to go through. We do our banking through Chase and they seem to have HSA accounts according to a google search, but going into our branch they said they didn't. Like an IRA, you can make 2014 contributes to an HSA until the tax deadline in April 2015, so don't stress too much. I used healthsavings.com because it's where Vanguard linked me, uses Vanguard funds and Vanguard has never done me wrong. So far so good. eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Dec 30, 2014 |
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Dec 30, 2014 18:01
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eddiewalker posted:Like an IRA, you can make 2014 contributes to an HSA until the tax deadline in April 2015, so don't stress too much. Oh okay. I thought you had to have the account open in 2014, but could make contributions until April. I'm not sure where I got that. (Logic, most likely. 2014 is 2014! But it helps me, so I will not bitch too much ).I also have a Vanguard IRA and so far so good, I will check that site out. Thanks!
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Dec 30, 2014 18:30
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theHUNGERian posted:I just came back. The lady told me that my applications were rejected because I applied for too many cards in a very short amount of time. I asked why the first application was rejected and she repeated that I applied for too many cards in a short time frame. I explained that I understood why my second application was rejected, but that I didn't understand why my very first application was rejected (I almost had to draw out a time line to explain my question). She didn't have a concrete answer. Her best guess was that some of my personal information was wrong. Their system had me as a US citizen, a student, with no income, even though I am German, non-student, and employed.
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Dec 30, 2014 18:55
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Thanatosian posted:Try another bank. Like, walk in, talk to one of the new accounts dudes, tell them you have a six-figure income, that you want to open an account and set up direct deposit, and that your main concern is getting a credit card as soon as possible. At least that will tell you whether or not the Citibank lady is full of poo poo or not. I'll try this if Barclaycard application is also rejected. Transcendi posted:Ever since I graduated from school with approximately $170k in student loans, I've been aggressively paying the loans down, since I was lucky enough to land a well-paying job. Now the loans are at $55k, and I feel that I can now more or less ignore the interest expense the loan represents, and figure out how to better use the money that was previously used for loan repayment. I'm a noob, but ... Even if you want to leave the US at one point, having money in a 401k is not a complete disaster. No matter which country you live in, if you want to save for retirement, you should think of that money as money that is not readily available to you (until you retire). So who cares if the money is in the US or on Jupiter. Even if you leave, you can still move the money around between funds that may not be easily available in your country. And if you leave the US, you won't have a US income, so if you want to withdraw $ from your 401k they will be taxed in the lowest income bracket (=relatively small hit in taxes if you withdraw early). Source If you have decent fund options in your 401k (Read this), I'd split my spare income between 401k contributions and paying off the loan. Are you working on your green card application? When are you going to commit to one country?
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Dec 30, 2014 20:49
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Transcendi posted:Ever since I graduated from school with approximately $170k in student loans, I've been aggressively paying the loans down, since I was lucky enough to land a well-paying job. Now the loans are at $55k, and I feel that I can now more or less ignore the interest expense the loan represents, and figure out how to better use the money that was previously used for loan repayment. I think I would recommend that you go talk to a professional about this as both the account type ROTH or Trad and the country your from matter a lot. In addition, there's some risk that the tax law changes or that regulation is added that makes it difficult to actually hold an account as a foreigner.
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Dec 30, 2014 22:31
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drat Bananas posted:Does anyone have a recommendation of who to go through for setting up an HSA? For that matter, how easy is it to move HSAs between providers? Is it as easy as an IRA? My health insurance is through CIGNA and they nudged me toward their partnership with Chase, so that's where mine is more. The fund choices suck though, so going Vanguard would be way more preferable.
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Dec 31, 2014 03:44
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Duckman2008 posted:You can and should lower your phone bill. My husband and I paid for 2 brand-new phones and signed up for Ting when our last Verizon contract ended. We're saving $80/mo, on average, over our Verizon bill. Even with the up-front cost of the phones we broke even as of this month and are going into the new year with $80 more per month in our pockets. It's a pretty sweet deal, especially if you have wifi access everywhere to keep your data rate low and if you can bring your old phone with you to the network (Ting uses Sprint's network). Also I may need to push up my schedule for fixing the floors in this house. There is no subfloor, the basement has moisture issues and the 90-year-old oak hardwood planks have shrunk over the years and are now breaking. There is a literal hole in our living room where the end of a plank broke off. You can see the basement if you lift the corner of our rug. The floor is "safe" but becoming less so and we can't cover loose boards with rugs forever. I like the rustic look, but holes in the floor are a bit much. Replacing the entire floor is going to cost a poo poo-ton of time and money regardless of what material we choose for the replacement. I know I can't save that much money in one year or less and still address my debts and emergency savings the way I want, but the floor won't wait until the money is saved - I'm afraid the dog is going to get a paw stuck in a broken board and hurt herself, or worse, one of us will break through a loose board and break a toe or something. Since neither of us has an emergency house repair fund right now I'm looking at loan options. Assuming I could get something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/c/CC_Home_Depot_Project_Loan with a $5k limit (I doubt they'd give me more rope than that with which to hang myself, given my credit score and debt:income ratio), is it an acceptable loan to take out? $5k is about what we estimated to re-floor the downstairs (which needs it worst). Alternatively, I could use the $3k that I have been socking away due to the the student loan that went on forbearance, and instead of throwing it at the loan (which is at 6%) I could use it to finance our floor repair. This would however leave me with no extra money to put toward my loan and probably wouldn't cover the entire cost of our floor repair either. I can't say I regret buying this house because having no monthly housing payments kicks rear end, but I do regret not having gone out and found a better job as soon as we bought this place.
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Dec 31, 2014 07:51
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