Manage Your Credit & Identity

What’s In Your Wallet?

As we are at the start of the new year, I wanted to share one of the things I do each and every year. Wallet lost on beach

I copy everything in my wallet. Many years ago, my purse was stolen on a Saturday night. I had to recall every item in my wallet. Never again! The thief charged hundreds at the gas station and even more at a local restaurant. No, I wasn’t responsible for any of the charges, but it was still a pain to close out accounts, open new opens, change all the automatic charges that happen to my credit card.

Now, I make a copy of all the items (drivers license, credit cards, medical cards and anything else). To make sure you don’t eave items in the copier, I only copy the front of each card. Then with the space in between each item, I write the phone number and website of the item. This way you won’t leave them in the copier. This may seem old school, but I can’t tell you the times I have referred to this list.

Also, here is a link to an article from AARP about what not to keep in your wallet.

Have You Refinanced Your Mortgage?

Refinancing a mortgage is a big decision involving lots of questions that you need to think about.

How long do you plan on staying in the home?
Why do you want to refinance?
Do you just want a lower rate and/or shorter term?
Do you want to take out cash to do something (home improvements, pay for kid’s college, etc.)?

These are some of the questions you need to think about to determine if refinancing is right for you.

For those of you that don’t remember, I was in the mortgage business for 10+ years. Well, lots has changed since I left the industry. So, we decided to refinance to a shorter term and a fixed rate. We had a 1-year adjustable rate with a Treasury bill index (a stable index) for the long term – they don’t offer that index anymore. We were dead set against getting a LIBOR index adjustable, as that index will be going away. For us, it had to be a shorter term and lower rate. Well, now was the time!

After answering all the above questions and more, we refinanced and shortened our term to 15 years with a fixed rate of 2.375%. The process was long, as the industry is overwhelmed. For us, we started the mortgage application process though closing took us 101 days. You’ll need your patience and to be organized with all your documents available. Much longer than I remember.

All in all this worked for us and it can for you too, with some patience.

Protect Yourself

This weekend started off like any other weekend – running errands including a trip to the gas station. Everything seemed like a regular weekend. But here we are the next day and I go into my wallet and my ATM / debit card isn’t there.

First thing I do is to check my wallet, maybe I put in in another spot or maybe it’s loose in my purse. No such luck. Next, I go online to my bank account to see what transactions have posted, nothing that I didn’t recognize – that’s good. I immediately call my bank to ask them to freeze my card. This will give me a chance to look for it without any liability.

ATM / debit cards are different than credit cards when it comes to your liability. The most important thing to do is to contact your bank to stop your liability. If you contact your bank immediately before any unauthorized transactions occur, you have zero liability. The longer you wait, the more liability you have. Form more information, check out the Federal Trade Commission information page.

If I don’t find it today, I will call and cancel it and get a replacement card. Wish me luck in the search for my card.

Should you pay off your credit card debt with a mortgage refinance?

In our last Quick Tips, we talked about refinancing your mortgage. I hope you did your homework. If you decided that refinancing is right for you, you may be tempted to pay off your other debts by financing them into your mortgage.

Should you do it? Follow these steps to find out.

List all your debts

If debt is a problem for you, take a closer look. Make 5 columns:

Column 1: Write down the name of each creditor (credit card companies, auto dealership, bank, hospital, etc.)

Column 2: Write down why you took a loan or used a credit card. This will help you see how you came to be in debt. Were these essential expenses like a car or a hospital emergency? Or, were these items you could have saved for, like a vacation, clothes, or furniture.

Column 3. Write down the interest rate.

Column 4. Write down the current payment amount.

Column 5. Write down when it will be paid off at the current payment rate.

I know that this can be scary, but you need to know. Congratulate yourself for doing this. This is a huge step forward.

Why is it important to really look at your debt? If your debts just disappear into your mortgage, you could forget where they came from. Most people who consolidate their debt this way will have credit card debt again in just a few years.

Refinancing may not be the answer, but knowing how and why you spend will help you stay out of debt in the long run.

Consider the downside of consolidating your credit card debt into your mortgage. Credit card debt is unsecured, so you would be taking unsecured debt and betting your house on it. When you have credit card debt and can’t make payments, that’s a problem – but, your creditors cannot take your home. On the other hand, if you can’t make your mortgage payments, then you could lose your home in foreclosure. If you increased your mortgage loan in order to cover credit card debt, you could end up with a larger house payment – one that you can’t afford! That’s why I don’t recommend refinancing your unsecured debt into a mortgage.

Consider the long term outcome when refinancing secured debts into your mortgage.

Secured debt is a physical object that can be repossessed / foreclosed if you don’t pay: it could be a car, or even a home equity loan or line of credit. Here are three questions you should ask before making your decision:

1. If you combine your mortgage with your home equity will this mean you need to pay mortgage insurance? Mortgage insurance is added when the total amount of your mortgage is equal to, or over, 80% of your home’s appraised value. That will increase your monthly mortgage payment.

2. Will you need the home equity line in the future? It will be difficult to get a new line in these economic times.

3. Is it better to pay off your debts yourself, and have a tight budget for the short term? Or combine them with your refinance and have a bigger mortgage in the long term?

Think long and hard about what you put into your new mortgage. Consult with your tax preparer for an objective opinion.

Is It Time To Refinance?

Are you tired of hearing about low mortgage interest rates? You’re not alone. Many of us have been thinking about it for a while now.

Here are some questions you need to think about before you make your decision:

How long are you planning on staying in this home?
Why do you want to refinance your mortgage? Are you looking to shorten the term and/or lower the interest rate?
What are your current mortgage terms (balance owed, years remaining, etc)?

Are there other options for you to consider which may better suited for you that will save you money:

Have you spoken to your current lender? You may be able to modify your existing mortgage and avoid the closing costs.
Have you spoken to your current lender? Do they offer faster payment schedule (bi-weekly mortgage payments). You would be paying half your mortgage every two weeks, therefore making 13 total payments in a year.

There is lots to consider for your individual situation and you need to take the time to do what is right for you and your situation. Talk to your professionals that know your finances (tax preparer, accountant, financial advisor, etc.) for their thoughts. If you decide to move forward with the refinance, rates are low.

Credit Card To The Rescue

For several years, we were planning this big vacation for this year. We would be visiting several European countries over the course of three weeks. Lots of time and efforts was put into the planning and coordinating with friends we would be seeing along the way. Enter 2020 and the pandemic, and we cancelled everything.

That left us with many refunds / credits to pursue. The airlines tickets were amazingly easy, we cancelled, and miles were returned to our account within days. We have a credit for future travel – easy. Hotels were all booked without a deposit – so that made cancellations easy. Excursions were fairly easy to cancel, although we have credits for one to use in the near future (I hope).

Now on to the hard part. We chose to cancel our cruise before the cruise line cancelled the cruise. We did it before final payment, as we did not want to have our money tied up. Now, we needed to get back our deposit plus some extra charges. We cancelled our cruise more than 90 days in advance, so all was refundable. We understood that refunds were taking quite a while and were patient. The credits started to come in and various amounts. No amount refunded was equal to the charges. So, we totaled up what was owed and started to subtract the refunds, but not all the money was returned. (Thanks to meticulous record keeping, we knew what was owed to us and how it was paid for).

Why is this important? Because when all was done, we were not made whole. We were shorted some of our money paid. We ended up filing a dispute with our credit card company. When you use a credit card for payment you have the added benefit for protection. We were able to provide all the details, original charge information and all the calls / emails to rectify the situation. This is important for your dispute case. Then just this past week, the dispute was resolved by our credit card company and we are all set, and we were made whole.

When you find yourself at your wits end and frustrated, know that your credit card company can help you resolve the situation. Remember this only works if you use a credit card for payment.

Your Financial Health

Do you ever wonder how your financial pictures stacks up? Are you on track to meet your goals? What do you need to still do? These and other questions are always on the many people’s minds.

I have discussed the importance of having an emergency savings, a budget to know where your money is going, great credit /score to have the best interest rates when you need to borrow and minimal high interest debt. Check out some of my past emails for more information on these topics.

This is a great article Six Numbers Reveal the State of Your Financial Health. How well do your finances compare to these six areas? All are important areas that should be goals for you to accomplish with your finances.

Tackling Your Debt – Part 2

In the last issue we talked about paying off your debt with some methods that you could do on your own. Let’s talk bout other options to payoff your debt, that you will need to consult a professional and make some tough choices before moving forward.

A Home Equity Line of Credit or Home Equity Loan: this is a mortgage against the equity in your home. This is similar to debt consolidation except for using your home as collateral. While this can be a much lower interest rate (and may be tax deductible), you are taking possibly unsecured debt and securing it with your home. In addition, there may be closing costs, attorney fees, etc. involved with the mortgage process. And if you cannot make the monthly payment, there can be substantial consequences involved up to and including the loss of your home.

Debt Settlement sound like a great option to settle your debt for a lesser amount. You would be paying a smaller agreed upon amount to pay off your debt. While it sounds good, first do you have the cash to do this? Second, there could be tax implications on the amount you save (the IRS can consider this taxable income). In addition, this will be a negative factor on your credit report / score.

Bankruptcy, this is typically the last resort. The is a legal / financial decision that you will need to discuss with your professionals (lawyer, tac preparer, etc.) before moving forward. There are two types of bankruptcy. One you will enter a payment plan to payoff your debt for a fixed period of time. The other option, you will eliminate your debt entirely. But you need to think about what is involved in the big picture – your will have legal fees that will need to be paid, your credit will most certainly be affected, and your will have difficulty receiving new credit at a reasonable interest rate for a period of time. You will be able to get credit but at a much higher interest rate initially. Until your credit is reestablished.

One tool that I find useful is a financial calculator and BankRate.com is one of my favorite websites that offer a variety of calculators to help you make a decision that is right for you. https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/index-of-credit-card-calculators.aspx

Now that you have several options, make the choice that is right for you and your situation. Talk to your professionals to get their option. Then consider the benefits and costs involved. These are not easy choices, but one that you need to make if you have substantial debt that you want to payoff once and for all.

Tackling Your Debt – Part 1

Now if you are someone who has accumulated debt in 2020 (or previously), lets talk about ways to payoff your debt. You have heard the ads on the radio and see the commercials on TV, but are they legit? Maybe, but do you want to try and find out you have been scammed?

Here are some of the ways that you can payoff your debt by yourself:

There is the snowball way: Here is an example: you have a $500 medical bill, a $2,000 credit card balance and a $10,000 car loan. You would make the minimum payments to the credit card balance and the monthly payment to the car loan, while paying as much as you can to the medical debt. Once the medical debt is paid off, you would start to pay off the credit card debt. You payoff your debt by paying the smallest balance first and moving to the next smallest debt and so on.

The avalanche way: In this scenario you will pay the minimum payments to all your debt except the one with the largest balance. Here is an example: you have a $7,500 credit card balance on one card, $9,000 on another and $1,000 balance on a personal loan. With this method, you would pay the minimum amount due each month on the $1,000 loan and the $7,500 credit card. You would pay as much as you can (more than the minimum due) on the $9,000 credit card to pay this off faster. Once this is paid off, you would move to the next largest balance and so on.

Debt consolidation is another option: You would apply for an unsecured loan and consolidate all your debt into one loan and have one monthly payment to deal with. Depending on what type of debt you are consolidating, you may have a lower interest rate. Typically, this would be lower than credit card rates, but may be higher than student loan debt. You would need to compare terms and costs to see if this method is right for you.

A Balance Transfer can be an option: With either your current credit card or opening a new one, you can transfer your debt to this credit card with zero percent interest for a fixed term. A few cautionary notes: look at what fees might be involved for your situation. Also, if you chose this option on a credit card that you have a balance on, your payments will be applied to the highest interest balance first. Meaning you are not paying down the zero percent balance until the higher interest rate balance is paid. This might take longer than the zero percent offer is good for. If you do this, plan your payments wisely. Take the balance and divide it by the number of payments during the zero payment term. This is the amount you will be nee to be able to pay every month to pay this balance off. If you fail to payoff the balance during the zero interest period, you will owe the remining balance with the new interest rate back from the date of the transfer.

Next issue, we will discuss other options that are available, that you will need to think about before moving forward. Remember that debt is your financial enemy, so make a plan to tackle your debt now rather than later.

You will need to check with the appropriate professionals to discuss the pluses and minuses of each option before you make a choice.

2020 A Year For The Records Books – Part 2

This is part 2 of 2020 A Year For the Record Books – click the link to read part 1.

We must learn to adapt our finances to changing times.If you live in the tri-state areas, we had a hurricane Esaias. Many people had damage to their homes / property and lost power for days. Having to replace all the food in your fridge and freezer is a huge expense, that you probably weren’t expecting. Look into reimbursement from your renter’s / homeowner’s insurance (and possibly the power company) to ease your budget.

Spending more than you have. With more time at home and less going out, did you find yourself spending more online than your budget allows? Just because something is a good deal, doesn’t mean you need to purchase it. As they say, you don’t need to keep you with the Jones’s.

Credit card debt. You know that debt is the enemy of your budget, so carry a balance month to month on your credit card in not good. Yes, I know that right now creditors are working with you if you are having trouble payment your debt. But think long term, what is it costing you? Make a plan to payoff your debt in full each and every month, so this won’t be an issue with your finances.

With the holidays just around the corner, that will be another big expense for many. Think about what your plans are and how they may need to be adapted to fit your finances. Another words, don’t overdue it. Now is the time to make a plan and stick to it.

Now that I have shared with you some of the ways you might be accumulating debt, what are you planning on doing (or have done) to stop debt from accumulating?