If you pay with a credit card and not with cash, you will be willing to pay more.  The reason is that with credit cards, people look at a product’s benefits, and with cash, people look at a product’s cost.  When you use cash, you have to think about each bill.  When you use a […]

For certain types of loans, such as payday loans, a lender is required to verify your ability to pay.  They will ask about your income, monthly debt, and housing costs.  Consumers have been getting themselves into trouble by getting into roll over loans, where they roll over the old loan into a new loan, and […]

If you are planning on buying a house in the near future or even just thinking about it, you can get valuable information by speaking with a housing counselor.  Check out the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership at this website: https://www.inhp.org/

If you pay an annual fee, and you don’t use the credit card, you are losing money on this credit card.  Don’t keep this card to build your credit score, it is a net loss.  Do you have a credit card that is your only credit card?  Then, don’t cancel this card.  Have at least […]

If you are credit invisible, you don’t have a credit history.  If your credit file is too thin and you hardly have any credit, you are considered credit “unscorable.”  There are millions of people who are credit invisible and credit unscorable.  This can hurt you because you may not be able to get a car […]

Teachers may be eligible for some federal loan forgiveness.  Check out the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/teacher#who-teacher    

If your credit score is at least a 680 but you don’t have a large down payment to buy a house, check out the Fannie Mae Home Ready program.  If you qualify, you may be able to buy a house with as little as 3% down on the house you want to buy. See https://www.fanniemae.com/content/fact_sheet/homeready-overview.pdf […]

Some things you should keep in the safe deposit box at your bank are: originals of important documents, such as birth certificates, property deeds, car titles family keepsakes photos you can’t replace Cash is not a good thing to keep in the safe deposit box because it is not protected by FDIC insurance. Source: https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnwin18/fivethings.html

Leases for cars have become more popular recently.  The monthly payments are lower than buying a car.  But, you will not own the car when the lease is over.  There are also rules about how many miles you can drive and what happens if you damage the car.  If you end up buying the car […]

You may have been expecting your tax refund and then you find out that your refund got taken.  This is called a tax intercept or a tax offset.  The main reasons your refund may get taken: Student loans Child support Federal or state income taxes Bankruptcy trustee