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Posted
Sep 23 2009, 07:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Nora Dunn at partner blog Wise Bread.
How many friendships have you lost (or almost lost) because of money? If money matters are a touchy subject to begin with, then how are we expected to navigate the murky waters of borrowing from friends?
We've all been there (on either side of the spectrum) before: A buddy asks you to spot him $20, but never seems to have the cash available to pay you back, or he continues to forget when he sees you. And when, months later, he buys a fourth round of beer in front of you without handing over the $20 that has been slowly eroding away at your sanity, you pop.
Your buddy has probably forgotten that he even owed you anything and immediately hands you the cash, but the damage has been done. Your friendship now faces trust and communication issues that may or may not be overcome.
Now, $20 is a fairly easy loan amount to forgive or forget about. But what if that $20 is $200, or even $2,000 or beyond? What tension will exist in the friendship as a result of an outstanding loan?
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Posted
Jul 31 2009, 06:33 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
One of the features of many 401(k) retirement plans is that you can borrow money from your own account. While 401(k) plans are not required to permit plan participants to take out loans, many plans do.
Much has been written about the pros and cons of 401(k) loans. One of the potential drawbacks comes into play if you leave your job (voluntarily or otherwise) while you still have an outstanding loan from your 401(k) plan.
When this happens, you generally have two options: Pay back the loan in full within 60 days, or don't. If you follow the second option, the IRS will treat the loan as an early withdrawal from your 401(k) plan and, with some exceptions, smack you with a 10% penalty of the outstanding loan amount AND require you to pay taxes on the distribution.
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Posted
Jul 29 2009, 11:06 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from James Limbach at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
A new survey of overdraft fees charged by the nation's largest banks reveals that bankers are hiking fees, adding new fees, and shortening time limits to trigger fees when banks pay overdrafts and extend credit to families struggling to make ends meet.
The Consumer Federation of America blames the Federal Reserve for failing to protect consumers from escalating and multiplying overdraft fees.
Testifying before Congress recently in support of President Obama's proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, the CFA said regulatory inaction in just this one area is costing hard-pressed consumers more than $17.5 billion during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
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Posted
Jun 16 2009, 03:16 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Mr. ToughMoneyLove at Tough Money Love.
Recently I read a post by The Finance Buff which the writer entitled "The credit crunch finally hit me." After reading the post, Mr. ToughMoneyLove had to leave a comment that disagreed with the title and premise of the article.
My comment started with this: "The credit crunch didn't hit you. Common sense in lending hit you." I will tell you why I said this.
The author ("TFB") told us that he/she had applied for an unsecured personal line of credit from Wells Fargo Bank. The credit application had recently been denied. TFB was surprised enough by this to post about it:
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Posted
Mar 03 2009, 10:11 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com.
With the tax season in full swing, a new report shows that tax preparers and their partner banks drained hundreds of millions of dollars from refunds by selling refund-anticipation loans, mostly to millions of working families who get the earned income tax credit.
The annual report by the National Consumer Law Center and Consumer Federation of America says RALs drained the refunds of about 8.7 million American taxpayers in 2007, the last year for which the Internal Revenue Service provided data.
That represents about $833 million in loan fees, plus more than $68 million in other fees. In addition, another 11.2 million taxpayers spent $336 million on related financial products to receive their refunds.
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Posted
Feb 24 2009, 12:25 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you watched the Oscars, you know that Hyundai has sweetened its job-loss protection plan for those who buy or lease a new car.
Initially, Hyundai offered to take the car back without trashing your credit if you became unemployed in the first year of ownership/leasing. Now, in a limited-time offer, Hyundai will make your car payments for three months if you get laid off. You can return the car if you still can't find a job.
It's a clever device to boost sales when employment is uncertain for many. That's why homebuilders, home sellers, credit unions and other lenders are now offering job-loss plans.
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Posted
Jan 06 2009, 05:22 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Credit unions exist to help their members. Commercial banks exist to enrich their shareholders.
You read that right. That's why credit unions often have better interest rates on both loans and deposits. Commercial banks are businesses. Their sole purpose is to figure out how to make more money from customers (you). Interest rates on accounts are often very low (or nonexistent), and they always try to sell you new products.
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Posted
Dec 23 2008, 05:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What would you think of a bailout proposal that rewards people who buy new cars? That idea is the basis of several bills introduced in Congress. Car buyers would get a $10,000 incentive in one form or another to buy a new car and, in the process, heal the ailing U.S. auto industry. It's certainly not the strangest car-related stuff we've read recently. (That would be an article about a Beverly Hills physician who powered his car with biodiesel made from liposuctioned human fat.)
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Posted
Nov 19 2008, 12:26 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A mighty tough question is popping up in the personal-finance blogosphere: Should U.S. taxpayers give the Big Three automakers a $25 billion "bridge loan" to help keep them on their feet, or is this a bridge loan to nowhere?
A typical response is: I'm not sure what I think. But many believe the automakers have brought this mess on themselves. "The Big Three were once great; they just got fat and lazy. They need Jillian from 'Biggest Loser' to come whip them into shape," commented blogger "Miss M" (M is for Money and Where is my Ocean View?) after Free Money FInance posed the question.
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Posted
Nov 09 2008, 09:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. Although responsibility for every penny of debt ultimately rests with the borrower, lenders have developed tempting baits to lure consumers into their traps. A recent New York Times article by Brad Stone describes a system that works against Americans, not for them. Using sophisticated data-mining algorithms, banks and other financial institutions craft tailor-made offers that many find difficult to resist. Stone writes: The American information economy has been evolving for decades. Equifax, for example, has been compiling financial histories of consumers for more than a century. Since 1970, use of that data has been regulated by the Federal Trade Commission under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. But Equifax and its rivals started offering new sets of unregulated demographic data over the last decade -- not just names, addresses and Social Security numbers of people, but also their marital status, recent births in their family, education history, even the kind of car they own, their television cable service and the magazines they read.
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