uscgbeachbum

About a year ago my wife and I had to shortsale our home after me being out of work for 9 months. The house sold for approx 100k when the amount owed was around 167k. Since we had PMI, the MI company required us to sign a promissory note for 20k in order to agree to the shortsale. The terms of the promissory note were 0% interest, monthly payments for 20 years, and that the note could be paid off at any time for 50% of the balance owed. Since they are willing to actually accept 10k in lieu of 20k the 0% interest really isn't 0%. My wife and I just want this note over with. We are prepared to offer them 5k to have it considered paid in full. I've drafted a debt settlement letter, but before I send it I have some questions for you guys. Will we get a 1099 for the remaining amount? In my letter I've asked that they report to the credit agencies that the account is paid in full. What forces them to actually do this rather than "settled for less than the amount owed" or similar? What's keeping the creditor from having some joe schmoe sign the letter, we pay it, and then only credit the accout the 5k and not consider my account paid in full? Thanks

Did you not see the interview w/ OPEC? He stated that since prices are falling they are going to reduce oil production to bring the price back up.

I just pulled all 3 of my CR and I've got a negative hit from the Dept of Veterans Affairs stating that I owe them $5,300. The account was "opened" 02/2008 and sent to collections on 06/2008. I'm pretty sure it is due to my GI Bill since I've been contacted before stating that unless I show proof of finishing college classes I owed them money, but I graduated over 3 years ago. The thing is that I've never been contacted in any way, shape, or form from them stating that I had an open account let alone going to collections. I'm sure I can easily get this resolved, but will it stay on my CR as a negative hit regardless of the resolution?

I've got a loan through Honda Financial at 7.99% and I'd like to see what refinance rates are out there. I've got about $11k and approx 50 months left on the loan. Current payment is $275. FICO scores are 820+. My sister works for a credit union and she was saying that with my credit scores she can get me rates of 5.05% and 5.14% for 36 months and 48 months, respectively. I'm finding it very difficult to compare these rates to any other lender since many don't publish their rates. I'm in the military if that makes any difference. I've called USAA (who I have all of my insurance, retirement accounts, etc through) and the best they told me I could get is just over 7%. I've gone into a few banks and they all want to run my credit before they even want to talk rates. I don't mind a higher payment, but I can't handle a refinance of less than 36 months since the payments start getting pretty high.

I just don't understand it. I came from a POOR family (single mom, 13k/yr income, 2 kids). I worked hard in school. First person in my family to go to college. Got a bachelors in Ocean Engineering. Now I work a nice white collar job (not too bad for being 25 yrs old). When my wife and I bought our home we chose a blue collar neighborhood. Sure, they might not have the BEST schools or NEWEST homes, but we've got a 1/2 acre lot, can vacation whenever we want to, and we're probably considered the Jones' who don't really buy anything. I drive a Civic (no complaints from the gas dept here) and the wife drives a 6 yo Hyundai. No credit card debt. All of my (white collar) friends ask me why I don't have a "nicer" car or more "play" toys. Well, I have no worries when the phone rings, and have no problem thinking about whether we will be able to retire. I guess my wife and I are living the "true" American dream.

Sadly enough there are people who think this way.

If there was an easy way to make that kind of money fast then I really doubt the US would be having the foreclosure issue. My wife is a server at a pretty nice place (much nicer than Fridays, Chili's, etc.) and she MIGHT make $2.5k in a month, but that's during the busy season. You say that you're bad at sales, well then don't even think about being a sever to make that kind of money. You want the kind of money that requires high education or that only highly experienced people make. I'm also assuming that you want to make that kind of money after taxes, insurance, etc. At those wages expect to have about 30-50% taken from your paycheck. I hope you're good at poker.

All landlines are connected to 911 regardless of whether you have service or not. Also, I had this discussion with 2 cell phone service aficianodos who both say that all cell phones can pinpoint your exact location in the event you needed 911. If you have DSL internet you may be required to have a landline so you should factor that in.

OK. I think I see what you are all saying. I was hoping that since I PIF each month that technically the interest on those charges are 0% and therefore be able to "PIF" each month then add the $275 for the car payment. We aren't quite to the 6 figure income, yet. My office is a small satellite office so I buy all of our office supplies and then get reimbursed (and reap the cash back rewards). Our portion of the 4-5k is usually about 2k/mo, but that includes almost every bill and expense we have. Right now we are putting most of our money into our EF and home renovations. I thought that the credit card check thing would be like having our cake and eating it, too.

I'm considering using one of those credit card checks to pay off my car loan. I currently owe about 12.5k to Honda for my Civic at 7.99%. I received a 3.99% for life of balance from Chase. I'd continue to make my regular payment amounts (around $275) to Chase rather than the min payment. I used Excel and I would shave off around 6 months doing this. Are there any negatives to this? Also, I use my credit card for all of our monthly expenses (around $4k-5k per month). Would doing the BT to chase upset my use of the credit card for regular purchases? We pay it in full at the end of each month.

One thing that you have to remember is that regardless of what you drive the oil companies still know that you need gas. They have you by the cahones because they know you aren't going to state a gas price threshold where you will suddenly bike to work or ride the bus. Also, all of the gov't mandates that require the gas companies to "go green" cost the consumer at the pump. Sure, they might get a tax break, but it isn't a "free endeavour" for them. Also, too many people cry about record profits by oil companies. Look at overal return on their money and you'll soon realize that the profit % of things like cereal, cars, shoes, jewelry, etc. are MUCH higher. Exxon, BP, etc. are only making about 6-7% profit on their money. Sure, the overall quantity is a record high (more people buying gas), but the % isn't. Not too long ago you could find high yield savings accounts at around 6%.

I second the emergency fund. Regarding 401k options...I was like you. I was used to seeing about 18-24% on my 401k (mostly international high risk stuff since I'm only 25) and by Feb 08 I was -10%. I moved all of my stuff to bonds and, while I haven't seen any real earnings, I've stayed in the positive values. I will more than likely be switching all of my stuff back in the next week or so as well as increase my 401k withholdings. I will add that my Roth IRA (all in money market accounts since I don't have enough to get into the mutual funds I want, yet) has been doing much better than my 401k lately. I'm at about the 4% / yr range with my Roth.

Personally, I'm not too keen on the idea of getting a tax refund. That being said, is there anything wrong with increasing your dependents to have less money taken out? Obviously you'd end up paying at the end, but if you put the "extra" into a savings account you could make money. Are there any negatives to this?

There is a concept out there called hypermiling which deals with squeeking every last mile out of each tank of gas. Some people overdo it like blocking your radiator with cardboard to make your car more aerodynamic. One of the biggest things I've learned is to not go over 2000 rpm unless you are on the highway and need to. My buddy has a 2003 Civic and drives 60 mph on the highway (posted speed is 70) and he gets 45 mpg highway.

More than likely when you're 401k went into an IRA you didn't specifically "move" it anywhere within your IRA. What probably happened is that since you didn't "move" it anywhere you were automatically placed into a money market account which has a lower rate of interest, but relatively no risk. For example, I have a Roth IRA with USAA. Lets say I put $3000 into my IRA to place into a Vangaurd Mutual Fund. I then add $100 into my Roth IRA but DID NOT put it into the Vanguard Mutual Fund. That $100 would be in a money market account until I decided to move it elsewhere.