SoFi now offering margin investing at one of the lowest rates, but still lacks options

SoFi is now offering customers the ability to trade on margin. The introductory rate is one of the lowest in theindustry. Through May 31, 2022, SoFi’s margin rate will be 2.5%. Beginning on June 1, 2022, SoFi will increase its margin rate to 5%, which is still quite low considering that brokerages that do offer similar rates only do so after the customer initiates negotiations. Despite offering low margin rates, SoFi’s lack of options trading takes SoFi out of the race for some investors. While SoFi’s offerings may be sufficient for the beginner investor, and even …

Digital Federal Credit Union announces outages as it prepares for new platform

Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) has alerted members that certain money services will be unavailable as it prepares for the rollout of its new customer portal. Notifications were sent via email and can also be accessed in the inbox of the current member portal and on a dedicated page on DCU’s site. What DCU anticipates Internal transfers will work as normal during the transition to the new platform. The outages appear to only affect users’ ability to set up new payments and transfers during the designated downtime. DCU members will be impacted as early …

Truist transition leaves some customers without access to their funds

Customers have started reporting that they lost full access to their funds during the final stages of Truist’s integration of BB&T and SunTrust customers. Truist acknowledged the issue and encouraged customers to activate their Truist debit cards “through online banking or your mobile app, at a Truist or non-Truist ATM, or during a purchase with your PIN.” Earlier versions of the site message warned customers, “After activating your new Truist debit card, you may experience a delay of up to a few hours before it’s ready to use.” This caused frustration for some customers …

Family Dollar temporarily closes over 400 stores due to rat and bird infestation

The FDA has issued a public advisory that “FDA-regulated products purchased from January 1, 2021, through the present from Family Dollar stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee may be unsafe for consumers to use. In January of 2022, the FDA began its investigation of Family Dollar after a consumer complaint. The investigation concluded on February 11, 2022. The FDA issued a public advisory a week later and revealed that its investigation uncovered “live rodents, dead rodents in various states of decay, rodent feces and urine, evidence of gnawing, nesting and rodent odors throughout …

The IRS reversed its decision to require taxpayers to use facial recognition software to access tax records

Just last month, it was reported that the IRS would require taxpayers to go through a facial recognition process through ID.me in order to access certain online tax records. Now, after heavy criticism, the IRS has announced that it will “transition away from using a third-party service for facial recognition to help authenticate people creating new online accounts.” The notice on the IRS site states that the “transition will occur over the coming weeks in order to prevent larger disruptions to taxpayers during filing season.” As to how this will affect taxpayers who need …

Apple’s Tracker Detect app helps Android users determine if they’re being stalked

The app is Apple’s response to reports of its Apple AirTag being used to stalk people. The small tracking devices launched by Apple in April of 2021 were designed to help Apple users track their own property. However, some users with malicious intent have armed unsuspecting people, their vehicles, clothes, and other belongings with the GPS devices and secretly monitored their locations. Apple’s remedy for iPhone users includes providing a phone notification if Apple detects that the person is traveling with an AirTag that doesn’t belong to them. AirTags will also make noise after …

How to find unclaimed money that the government may be holding for you

The United States government has billions of dollars in unclaimed funds and they make it extremely easy for you to reunite with your lost money. You can visit usa.gov/unclaimed-money to start your search. Why does the government retain unclaimed money? If a company or government owes you money and can’t successfully deliver the funds to you after a certain time, they are required to report the funds as unclaimed. Examples of unclaimed money: Tax refunds: returned by mail or rejected by your bank Utility company refunds: refunds of payment overages or security deposits Bank …

Using credit card float to deter payments and interest for almost 60 days

Credit card float is likely the biggest benefit of using a credit card to make purchases. With strategic planning, you can make a purchase and avoid making a payment and paying interest for almost 60 days. A few caveats To simplify things, in this article, we assume that the customer has no pending or posted transactions and that the only purchases made with the credit card are the purchases described in the hypothetical scenarios. We also assume that the credit card has a grace period. The goal of this article is to demonstrate how …

Should you pay with a debit card or credit card?

Paying with a credit card usually provides more benefits than using a debit card. Credit cards typically pay higher cashback than debit cards and they also offer more protection and benefits than debit cards. Cashback While there are debit cards that offer cashback and other rewards, there is usually a cap on the amount that the customer can earn. Some credit cards have maximum cashback limits, too, but they are normally much higher than debit card cashback limits. Float savings Float refers to the amount of time or days between the purchase date and …