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Felter Chesthard posted:Utilization only matters at the point your credit is pulled. No history. That's good to know, thanks. Still, I'm at the 40-50% point most months. I suppose I could game it and time things so that I have a really low rate that particular month, but I still think it makes sense to get my limit increased so I can avoid having to do that. I realize that it's unlikely anyone here has access to whatever chart BoA or other banks use to determine credit limits, but ballpark advice would be good. Does raising it from $4k to $6k make sense, or should it actually be like $10k? Is there a basic ratio of monthly credit-to-annual income that is common practice?
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Jan 9, 2016 17:32
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surf rock posted:That's good to know, thanks. Still, I'm at the 40-50% point most months. I suppose I could game it and time things so that I have a really low rate that particular month, but I still think it makes sense to get my limit increased so I can avoid having to do that. A common number that's tossed around is 30%. If your utilization stays below that at the time of reporting, you won't get any negative marks. Will BofA increase your credit limit without a hard pull? If not, you might want to consider applying for a second credit card and picking up a bonus. For example, the Amex Blue Cash Everyday offers a $100 cashback bonus after you spend $1,000 in three months. I figure if you're gonna incur a hard pull anyway you might as well get something out of it.
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Jan 9, 2016 17:39
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You probably can just go on the BOA website and request it. Put in your income, they have your payment history. They will probably double it to 8k. If you have to give a number I would put down 10k.
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Jan 9, 2016 18:03
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Yeah, when I requested an increase on one of my cards I didn't have an option to specify what amount. I just requested an increase and I think they doubled it from 3k to 6k.
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Jan 9, 2016 20:05
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spwrozek posted:You probably can just go on the BOA website and request it. Put in your income, they have your payment history. They will probably double it to 8k. If you have to give a number I would put down 10k. Went with this, automatically got bumped up to $9k. Thanks!
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Jan 9, 2016 20:16
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Ok. I'm not sure if this is even a good spot for this. We just found out my wife has like 60k in 401k. Right now, we're paying off debts\trying to get debt free. Would cashing this in be a decent idea considering we're pre-40 and have another 401k going right now. We'd be freeing up like 200 to 400 a month by paying off outstanding debt we're currently paying on as best we can.  I know there's a lot we can do. I just want some more opinions to think on.
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Jan 9, 2016 20:31
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Irritated Goat posted:Ok. I'm not sure if this is even a good spot for this. We just found out my wife has like 60k in 401k. Right now, we're paying off debts\trying to get debt free. Would cashing this in be a decent idea considering we're pre-40 and have another 401k going right now. We'd be freeing up like 200 to 400 a month by paying off outstanding debt we're currently paying on as best we can. If you absolutely need to, reduce your contribution amount to increase your available month to month funds. Do not break open the piggy bank.
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Jan 9, 2016 20:33
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Irritated Goat posted:Ok. I'm not sure if this is even a good spot for this. We just found out my wife has like 60k in 401k. Right now, we're paying off debts\trying to get debt free. Would cashing this in be a decent idea considering we're pre-40 and have another 401k going right now. We'd be freeing up like 200 to 400 a month by paying off outstanding debt we're currently paying on as best we can.
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Jan 9, 2016 20:37
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Nephzinho posted:If you absolutely need to, reduce your contribution amount to increase your available month to month funds. Do not break open the piggy bank. It's from an older account that no one contributes to anymore. Right now, the 401k that IS getting contributions is doing the max my company matches and nothing else. moana posted:Absolutely not. If worst came to worst and you got laid off and had to declare bankruptcy, your 401k is safe from being touched. Don't take it out to pay off debt. Yeah, I kind of thought that but the idea of paying off lots was really tempting. I needed people to slap me out of it really.
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Jan 9, 2016 20:58
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Irritated Goat posted:Yeah, I kind of thought that but the idea of paying off lots was really tempting. I needed people to slap me out of it really.
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Jan 9, 2016 21:01
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Irritated Goat posted:Yeah, I kind of thought that but the idea of paying off lots was really tempting. I needed people to slap me out of it really. You will pay a ten percent penalty plus your marginal tax rate. Would you pay 60k to reduce your debt by 30k? I would hope not! 
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Jan 9, 2016 21:06
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Can you use FSA funds before contributing them to the account? First year I've signed up for one and the balance available shows what the full amount will be contributed by the end of the year, but there has only been one payroll deduction for it so far this year. So technically only 1/26th of the money is really in the account, but it shows like I can use all of it.
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Jan 9, 2016 21:52
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Untagged posted:Can you use FSA funds before contributing them to the account? First year I've signed up for one and the balance available shows what the full amount will be contributed by the end of the year, but there has only been one payroll deduction for it so far this year. So technically only 1/26th of the money is really in the account, but it shows like I can use all of it. Yes. The entire year's money is available to you on day 1. And if you leave your job for any reason you don't have to pay any of it back
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Jan 9, 2016 21:54
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Yes. The entire year's money is available to you on day 1. And if you leave your job for any reason you don't have to pay any of it back Wow really? That was going to be my next question, depending on the answer to the first. They don't come asking for reimbursement if you change employers? The FSA website sucks, and the faqs don't really answering anything. They do have a giant pay here button so I assumed that was for when you either go over the contributions limit or you have to pay them back after quitting.
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Jan 9, 2016 22:20
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Untagged posted:Wow really? That was going to be my next question, depending on the answer to the first. They don't come asking for reimbursement if you change employers? The FSA website sucks, and the faqs don't really answering anything. They do have a giant pay here button so I assumed that was for when you either go over the contributions limit or you have to pay them back after quitting. The employer has to pay all the money up front and then they lose all control of it. The flip side is that you lose it if you don't use it. But a couple years ago I had LASIK and I knew I would be having it done so I had the max $2500 taken out. Had the procedure in mid January. They laid me off in early June at which point I had paid just over a thousand of it back. No one ever came after me for the rest. They couldn't.
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Jan 9, 2016 22:33
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Jmcrofts posted:I'm pretty sure when you win the lottery you get it in many small chunks of a few hundred thousand each. No, you can get a smaller total amount in one lump sum. Which given the time value of money (not to mention inflation vs investment returns) is nearly always going to be the correct choice... assuming you can trust yourself not to spend it all immediately.
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Jan 9, 2016 22:44
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I've got $3617.42 left to pay on a Chase Slate card with the promotional period ending in June. I will almost certainly not be able to pay that off by then as I just lost my job because my company is shutting down. I've got a Discover card and just got an email offer for a 15 month, 0% balance transfer (3% transfer fee). I don't have a balance on any other card. It seems to me that it wouldn't be a terrible idea to transfer ~$3k of that or so to the Discover card to give myself some breathing room while paying off a chunk on the Slate to at least keep some of that payment interest free. My credit score hovers between 730-750 so I might be able to open a new card later, but if I don't get a large limit I might be SOL as far as transfers go and I'd rather not open another line of credit right now. I've got cash on hand (~3months of expenses) and might be able to pay some of it down, but since I just lost my job I'd rather hold onto the cash just in case. Good idea, bad idea, suggestions?
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Jan 10, 2016 00:23
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GobiasIndustries posted:I've got $3617.42 left to pay on a Chase Slate card with the promotional period ending in June. I will almost certainly not be able to pay that off by then as I just lost my job because my company is shutting down. I've got a Discover card and just got an email offer for a 15 month, 0% balance transfer (3% transfer fee). I don't have a balance on any other card. It seems to me that it wouldn't be a terrible idea to transfer ~$3k of that or so to the Discover card to give myself some breathing room while paying off a chunk on the Slate to at least keep some of that payment interest free. My credit score hovers between 730-750 so I might be able to open a new card later, but if I don't get a large limit I might be SOL as far as transfers go and I'd rather not open another line of credit right now. I've got cash on hand (~3months of expenses) and might be able to pay some of it down, but since I just lost my job I'd rather hold onto the cash just in case. Good idea, bad idea, suggestions? Gosh, rough situation  My first thought is that you should go for the Discover balance transfer. ~$100 seems like a relatively small price to pay for the peace of mind while you look for new work. You say the Slate promo period ends in June. When is the Discover promo available til? If it's something like late March or April then no need to jump on it right away.
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Jan 10, 2016 00:50
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pig slut lisa posted:Gosh, rough situation Thanks for the condolences; yeah the timing on the job loss was really fun but hey, new opportunities and all that The Discover promo is up on 2/9 so I've got a bit of time to decide but not that much. While I'd love to say that I'll be employed soon, you never know and like you point out, $100 seems fairly small for an extra 10 months of breathing room on that balance.
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Jan 10, 2016 01:03
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I've been thinking of lining up a HELOC to give me a safety net, thinking that getting it now would give me a line of credit even if I lose my job. Newbie question: Does employment status not affect credit approval?
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Jan 10, 2016 07:19
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porkface posted:I've been thinking of lining up a HELOC to give me a safety net, thinking that getting it now would give me a line of credit even if I lose my job. Employment status doesn't affect your credit score, but it can very much affect whether you get approved for credit. But once your HELOC is in place it can not be revoked due to a change in your employment
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Jan 10, 2016 19:15
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I applied for a BOA card twice and was denied both times - first because (d'oh!) I forgot to unfreeze my Experian and TU reports, and second because I didn't wait long enough for the freezes to actually be lifted before I submitted the application  Should I wait the 90 days for those enquiries to drop off BOA's internal listing before I unfreeze and try again, or unfreeze and try again right now? I've read that BOA will deny you if you have too many enquiries in the past 90d, even if they're just in BOA's system and not on your credit report, but I read that on credit repair forums and don't know if it's universal to all their cards. My credit score is 796 and I have no recent credit enquiries (because of the report freeze) but I have a small number of open lines of credit (12 closed, 2 open) with an average age of 7.5 years. Second - is it still possible to just... call credit card companies and ask them to lower your APR? I realized no-one I know has mentioned doing that and maybe it's not a thing that happens now? [E: or should this go in the CC thread?] ChickenOfTomorrow fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Jan 10, 2016 |
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Jan 10, 2016 21:07
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Have you tried calling them up and asking if they can process the application now that the freeze is lifted? If they say no, I'd probably go with a different bank that has a similar card.
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Jan 10, 2016 21:18
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OK so a friend has a master's from Full Sail and has been trying to get any project management job in our city for almost 9 months. I told him that it may be worth consolidating all his outside-of-work projects into one header and removing Full Sail from his resume entirely and using the space for something else, but he's saying that even if it's not the best school it's better than nothing. Now I'd look at a master's from Full Sail on a resume and question their judgment but am I way off in terms of what people actually care about?
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Jan 12, 2016 00:30
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surf rock posted:I imagine that my much higher income would allow me to get a substantial credit limit increase and thereby cut my utilization rate, but I have no idea what to request.
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Jan 12, 2016 00:39
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Just ask for a lot. I don't see any reason not to. In my experience (AmEx, Citi, Wells Fargo) if you request an absurd number they'll just give the most they'd approve you for anyway. I do this every 6 months or so with my 3 cards, and only on the most recent request did AmEx actually say "hold on a second, fill out this page-long form for us" instead of just doing a 10-second web form of "how much money do you want?" It still didn't even result in a pull on my credit report. From the credit card thread, you might want to avoid this if you plan on bonus whoring at all. I don't really see the reason to have absurdly high credit limits for utilization purposes since you can simply pay off cards before credit inquiries. I guess if you want it as an emergency thing and are never planning on basically abusing bonuses then it doesn't matter.
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Jan 12, 2016 01:09
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Blinky2099 posted:From the credit card thread, you might want to avoid this if you plan on bonus whoring at all.
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Jan 12, 2016 01:10
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:I have no interest in churning.
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Jan 12, 2016 01:18
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Blinky2099 posted:From the credit card thread, you might want to avoid this if you plan on bonus whoring at all. I don't really see the reason to have absurdly high credit limits for utilization purposes since you can simply pay off cards before credit inquiries. I guess if you want it as an emergency thing and are never planning on basically abusing bonuses then it doesn't matter. It's not really an issue. The worst case is that you'll have to call reconsideration and they'll ask you to move credit between cards instead of allocating more. Utilization is significant factor in credit score and while you can lower it when you know you're going to have an inquiry, as utilization has no history, doing so requires advanced notice and coordination that isn't really necessary. I think it's much easier to just keep your credit limits high enough to keep utilization under 15%. At the same time, there really isn't a point to increasing your credit limit if you're already under this. As said above for the original question, ask for a large increase that gets your utilization under 10%. It's not an all or nothing request, so if the bank think you've asked for too much they'll just approve the maximum they are willing to give you. asur fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Jan 12, 2016 |
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Jan 12, 2016 08:54
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Income Taxes! W-2! < snip!> Moving my post to the correct thread, thanks! Hadlock fucked around with this message at 07:36 on Jan 13, 2016 |
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Jan 13, 2016 06:59
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Here you go: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3394641 You have to read the whole thread before you're allowed to post. Kidding
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Jan 13, 2016 07:12
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slap me silly posted:Here you go: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3394641 He maybe should have read the thread. It all had been answered about 100 times.
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Jan 13, 2016 16:35
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I'm not able to max my Roth IRA for 2015 - can put 1k, and maybe put 2k in it. I was able to max it for 2013 and 14, but I moved to an expensive area and also started a business, so times have been tight. Normally, I guess it would be a wash, but I do have a savings bond that is around 6k to 7k. It matures fully at 10k, but that won't be for awhile. I guess my question is, should I cash it out and max the IRA? Or should I just leave it to mature, settle for what I'm able to put in for 2015 and try to max it for 2016? I'm conflicted. I'm 27, and I'm thinking that the money would be better invested in the IRA than sitting in a bond that takes forever to mature. Or maybe there's some secret option that I have no idea about.
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Jan 16, 2016 19:46
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pat_b posted:I'm not able to max my Roth IRA for 2015 - can put 1k, and maybe put 2k in it. I was able to max it for 2013 and 14, but I moved to an expensive area and also started a business, so times have been tight. Normally, I guess it would be a wash, but I do have a savings bond that is around 6k to 7k. It matures fully at 10k, but that won't be for awhile. What is the interest rate of the bond?
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Jan 16, 2016 20:17
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Felter Chesthard posted:What is the interest rate of the bond? I don't know anything about it, tbh. I guess I need more info for it.
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Jan 16, 2016 20:19
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I'm currently migrating all of my investment assets to Vanguard. I'm also probably going to buy a house soon. I know that closing, say, a credit card will affect your credit a little. Will closing an account at, say, etrade affect my credit? Will it affect the loan?
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Jan 16, 2016 22:32
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alnilam posted:I'm currently migrating all of my investment assets to Vanguard. I'm also probably going to buy a house soon. No and no.
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Jan 16, 2016 22:33
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moana posted:If worst came to worst and you got laid off and had to declare bankruptcy, your 401k is safe from being touched. Is this true of IRAs as well? HSAs?
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Jan 21, 2016 13:29
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I currently claim 0 on my W-4 Allowances so I am expecting a pretty big refund this year. I am wondering how my 401k / Roth IRA / Investment Account will impact the refund that I receive. Will I receive more or less if I deposit more money into those accounts? If my 401k / Roth IRA / investment account actually lost money this year, how will my taxes be affected?
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Jan 22, 2016 19:17
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401k should not effect your taxes, as your employer would be withholding the amount correlating with your income after 401k contributions. Roth IRA will not effect your taxes, as you've already paid your taxes on that money. A traditional IRA would affect your taxes, as that is a pretax savings you pay with after tax dollars [in most cases], thus you'd get the adjustment on the funds as an additional tax refund. Investment account would have an effect on taxes due to dividends or profits/losses when you sell. It really depends on what happens in those accounts to tell you what to expect. Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 22:55
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