Congratulations! You’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage loan on your dream home. You made it past many hurdles, but be careful – you haven’t completed the race just yet.
The wrong actions after your pre-approval process can cause the lender to re-think the amount of risk that you present and lead them to back out
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Time’s Running Out If you received an extension of time to file your taxes this year, hopefully you made good use of it – because the due date is fast approaching. Monday, October 16, is the filing deadline.
Did you squander your extension time? If so, you’re probably out of luck. The IRS generally only
Every year, you do your part to fund America’s government by paying your taxes – but have you ever felt compelled to pay a little extra to the government? After all, our national debt has topped $20 trillion, or almost $62,000 per U.S. citizen.
Donations to the government are not as rare as you may
If you’re planning a second march down the aisle, besides the bridal gown color and the honeymoon, you also need to address how your remarriage will affect your Social Security benefits. Allow us to present four different ways as our early wedding gift to you.
Widow/Widower Benefits – If you have been receiving benefits based
How well do you know what happened during the recent Equifax data breach? Take this simple quiz to find out. Then learn what you can to do to protect yourself.
1. The software patch apparently needed to prevent the massive data hack was issued… A. The day Equifax announced the breach
B. The day
What does it take to be financially prepared for potential healthcare costs in retirement? As the old saying goes, “Needing insurance is like needing a parachute. If it isn’t there the first time, chances are you won’t need it again.” Healthcare costs can add up for even the healthiest of retirees, so what can we
When it comes to life insurance, there are so many different options and “flavors” that deciding which type of policy is right for you can be difficult and confusing. Not to complicate matters even more, but there is one type of insurance that you might want to add to the flavor mix if you are
If the recent ups and downs of the stock market have you tossing and turning at night, it’s not because you need to get out of the market – it’s because you need to get a real financial plan.
You can pinch pennies or throw money into a retirement account or make any other financial
Have you ever purchased a product, decided after a few days that you didn’t like it, and promptly returned it? Most of us have – but did you know that you could essentially do the same thing with most life insurance policies?
Most insurance policies have a “free look period” that allows you to reconsider
Life is good. You have a stable job, a home, and a growing family. You are managing your finances well and using credit properly. You only have one more thing to take care of – a life insurance policy so that your family is covered in the event of your death.
Nobody enjoys thinking about
If you are happy with your current home, why wouldn’t you want to live in it for the rest of your life? Many seniors and soon-to-be seniors have taken this approach and plan to “age in place” in their current domicile instead of moving into a smaller home or an assisted living/retirement community.
Living in
You may associate the term “refinancing” with a mortgage or a student loan. However, almost any loan can be refinanced if the conditions are correct, including an auto loan.
Why would you consider refinancing an auto loan? For the same reason you would refinance any loan — you are able to realize financial benefits. You
MoneyTips Are you among the nearly 50% of Americans who have access to a 401(k) program but don’t contribute to it? If so, what’s keeping you from utilizing this valuable savings tool? According to a new survey from Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc., non-savers are simply having trouble dealing with the combination of daily financial
With summer ending, the end of the year will be around before you have time to figure out whether it is better to finally take down the Christmas lights or, at this point, just leave them up. That makes it a good time to look ahead on your taxes, as well as a few other
Two years ago, the Supreme Court established the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry in every state in the U.S. with its ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges. In turn, this decision enabled Social Security’s marital benefits to apply to same-sex couples.
The ruling affects the benefits options related to you and
Has your rental application just been rejected? Determined to make lemonade out of lemons, you resolve to find out why you were rejected and change the situation so that your next application is approved.
Assuming that you filled out the application correctly and made no obvious mistakes such as bringing your pet rattlesnake or a
Normally you are on time with your payments, but somehow you managed to miss one this month. What are the consequences of a missed payment, and how do you minimize their effects?
Missing a single credit card payment may not seem like a big deal, but, as Matt Schulz, Senior Industry Analyst at CredtiCards.com observes,
It’s tough living on the lower end of the credit score scale. If you have a credit score below 640 or so, you are generally given “subprime” lending offers for any form of credit that you request. From credit cards to auto loans and mortgages, you will be hit with higher interest rates and potentially
Did you realize that your Social Security benefits are based on the highest inflation-adjusted 35 years of your income? To maximize your benefits, it’s important that you have 35 years of a solid wage history. A zero-earnings year or two can cause your benefits to drop significantly.
A recent study by the Center for Retirement
What would you rather do than pay back your student loans? A recent study by LendEDU.com found that a significant number of Americans would prioritize traveling, buying gifts, or even worrying about their social media status over student loan repayment.
On the bright side, the LendEDU poll of 500 student loan holders in the repayment
If you have been the victim of a disaster such as a fire, tornado, or the recent Hurricanes Harvey or Irma, you know that the last thing on your mind is how it will affect your taxes. Unfortunately, if you forget to take timely action on your taxes, your misery could be compounded. Depending on
It is easy to get frustrated with the discussion of Social Security, in part because the same sliver of data is used to support completely opposing arguments.
To illustrate, most articles about Social Security mention “the shortfall” at some point. While all those pieces reference the same concept, that information in some cases may say
Are you planning on joining the gig economy and becoming self-employed? Are you embarking on retirement after years with a traditional employer? We wish you the best, and, along with the IRS, we remind you to pay your quarterly income taxes.
Without an employer to submit payments regularly out of your paycheck, you are now
The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) was established in 2009 as a way to help struggling homeowners refinance in the aftermath of the housing crisis. Because of lower down payments and the sharp decline in home values, many homeowners were left with very high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios that left them ineligible for refinancing under Fannie
Electronic closing of a mortgage loan has been around for years – in a manner of speaking. Generally, some element of the transaction still requires traditional methods such as the physical presence of a notary public or signing of original documents in ink. Most, if not all, of the parties involved are still in the
As retirement approaches, you should be making the most out of catch-up contributions in your 401(k) or IRA and socking away as much of your money as possible to prepare for retirement. Unfortunately, too many older Americans are unable to save properly for retirement – or even live outside of poverty during retirement – because
National 401(k) Day has been celebrated the Friday after Labor Day since 1996, in a drive to remind Americans to prioritize saving for retirement. The trick to becoming a 401(k) millionaire is to start young and allow your money to go to work for you. It may be difficult for someone who is just starting
With more and more information stored online, more bad guys are just a password away from our personal data. As hackers have stolen financial information from large corporations like Equifax, Yahoo and even the Internal Revenue Service, identity theft is on the rise.
“Identity theft can trash your credit score because there’s the risk that
Why would you loan money to someone without fully assessing the likelihood of being paid back? Lenders do make such loans on occasion – student loans, for example.
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans are another example of loans that don’t take credit history into account. PACE loans have one other aspect in common with
When it comes to saving money for retirement, Americans have a wide range of different options from which to choose. This can be both good news and bad news: It’s good in the sense that having multiple options makes it easier to select the one that’s best for your retirement savings goals and resources. But
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