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

You can try to do a calculation for child support on your own.  You will need information regarding income, child care costs, and health insurance costs.  Here is the link: http://mycourts.in.gov/csc/parents/

In 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released the results of a survey which showed that more than 40 percent of US adults are struggling to make ends meet.  Those who are struggling are running out of food, cannot afford a place to live, or don’t have money to get medical treatment.  People who are […]