Jan 31
If you’re counting on a tax refund this year, you may have heard of refund anticipation loans (or RALs), which some tax-preparation services offer to people as part of tax preparation services. But these loans, as most consumer advocates will agree, are not a good deal for you the consumer.
Here’s a look at why tax refund anticipation loans (sometimes called a refund anticipation check) may not be all that they’re promised, and what the federal government is doing to help you avoid them.
Why RALs Are a Bad Financial Move
So what is a refund anticipation loan? Basically:
- It’s a cash advance loan that charges you a high interest rate to get some of your tax return dollars earlier than you would have otherwise gotten them.
- Some tax preparation services offer them to customers who are expecting a tax return that year. Generally, a customer can receive the money for a “fee” of some kind – just like a payday loan. In fact, RALs are very much akin to payday loans: their “fees” are just high interest rates disguised to look harmless.
- RALs eat into whatever tax return you can expect to get. After all,
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Tags: Anticipation Loans, Refund Anticipation, Refund Anticipation Loans, Tax
Jan 31
As anyone recovering from bankruptcy, trying to eliminate debt or otherwise reshaping their finances knows, shopping and buying new things can be a source of stress – after all, we all need stuff now and then (whether it’s a new part for a car, a new refrigerator or new shoes for our kids). But we shouldn’t have to worry that our purchase will turn into a nightmare if something goes wrong.
A recent post from WalletPop.com outlines what it calls a “Customer Bill of Rights,” which offers suggestions for what ordinary consumers should look for in their purchasing to make sure they won’t be scammed or led into a labyrinth of red tape should something malfunction.
Know What to Look for in a Company
Here’s a summary of how to better navigate your spending and buying experiences.
- Look for contact information. If a company doesn’t readily display contact information (with email addresses or phone numbers on a web site and actual representatives in a store), you may not want to shop there. After all, if you can’t easily communicate with the company, you’ll probably be in for some serious headaches if you want to ask about a return or repair policy down the road. Before you spend
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Jan 30
“Reduce credit card debt and eliminate it prior to it assumes a horrifying shape” – This is seriously the gist of the story. So, how do you reduce credit card debt? Well, you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from increasing and by paying off what it is currently. Straightforward, isn’t it?
Not genuinely. If it was that very simple to reduce credit card debt, then we wouldn’t have had so many persons with credit card debt related troubles. We would have been able to reduce credit card debt troubles and finally eliminate them (or decrease them considerably). You will find all kinds of advice readily available on the way to decrease credit card debt, but still nothing significantly seems to change. The difficulty still appears to persist and actually, worsen. Even so, it’s not that challenging to decrease credit card debt. As we just said, there is a great deal of guidance out there on the best way to decrease credit card debt and the only thing you’ll want to do is put that advice, on how to decrease credit card debt, to practice in real life. Well, no 1 but you’ll benefit in the event you reduce credit card debt.
So the 1st step to reduce credit card debt is to prevent it from taking dangerous proportions. The 2 most esse
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Tags: Card Debt, Credit Card, Credit Card Debt, Debt
Jan 24
This personal bankruptcy story was posted on the internet in December of 2009 as a comment in a discussion on bankruptcy: “Back in August of 2007, we came across a foreclosed condo in awful condition purchased it for $90,000 renovations [of $12k] were on creditI got pregnant, and we looked forward to starting our family in a home of our own. However, my sons delivery cost us over $4k with insurance in January of 2009, at 8 weeks old, my son developed RSV with bronchiolitis and had to be hospitalized for three days. It cost us $4k the hospital sent us to collections same for the physicians. In February 2009, my husband was laid off ..unemployment was only $275 per week, and we again had to put groceries and other necessities like pediatrician co-pays on credit. Then two things happenedour son had to go into daycare at $235 per week and every single one of our cards doubled or tripled their interest ratein August, I was laid off. Although we do not pay daycare as I am now home, we are running at a deficit of $1700 per month. We now have no more credit, and next week I get to sit down and figure out which bills go unpaid so that we can eat. I
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Tags: Bankrupt, Bankrupt Debtor