Take control of your finances with a budget

Creating a budget is an important part of managing your finances and your credit. If you don’t monitor how much you’re making and how much you’re spending, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Without a budget, you’re more likely to spend more and save less, which, over a lifetime, could wreak havoc on your finances. If you don’t have a budget now, it’s probably because you didn’t know where to start, you thought that budgeting is hard, or you felt that you didn’t need a budget (until you read the last sentence). So, we’ll make this easy …

Important deadlines for the 2022 tax season

The IRS will start accepting and processing 2021 tax returns on Monday, January 24, 2022. Other dates to remember for the 2022 tax season April 18, 2022 (Monday) Tax returns and payments owed must be submitted if an extension hasn’t been requested. If a filing extension is requested, the taxpayer’s tax bill is also due on April 18th. The filing extension is, as its name implies, an extension to file a return. Taxes are normally due on April 15th. This year, taxpayers have a few extra days to pay their taxes …

IRS to require some online users to use facial recognition software

Beginning in the summer of 2022, the IRS will require users of its IRS.gov site to go through a facial recognition process in order to access certain information, like account transcripts. The account verification process will be handled by third-party identity verification company, ID.me and will require users to upload a photo ID. The photo ID will then be compared to a video that the user is prompted to take. If the verification fails, the user can try to reach an ID.me employee, called a Trusted Referee, who will complete the process via a …

Credit scores used for a mortgage or home loan

When you apply for a mortgage or home loan, the lender will use your FICO score. In fact, three FICO scores will be used to determine what’s called your “middle score”. The middle score Your lender will pull one FICO score from each of the major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). Of those three scores, your middle score is the second-highest score, or the score that’s in the middle when the scores are sorted from lowest to highest. Let’s consider the following scenario in which you have the following FICO scores: Equifax: 722 …

Different ways that your credit can affect you

Most people likely think that their credit history is only important when they’re applying for credit. But, your credit history can impact you in other ways, too. Employment Your indebtedness can affect an employer’s decision to hire you. The policies regarding credit vary by employer, but it’s common for financial institutions to place restrictions on hiring candidates with poor credit, including those who have a certain amount of bad debt. If hired, the employee would have access to funds or other sensitive information. Because of the large amounts of outstanding debt, some employers see …

Why you still need a real estate agent when working with a builder

If you’re considering buying a new construction home and will be working with the builder’s agent instead of your own real estate agent, you’re doing yourself a disservice. It seems obvious, but it needs to be stated that you’re being “represented” by the seller’s agent when you buy a new construction property without your own agent. In fact, the seller’s agent has a legal responsibility to serve the seller’s best interest. The builder has a team of experts in their corner. You’ll need a real estate agent in your corner, too, to represent you and keep …

Myths about making early or multiple credit card payments

Often, consumers are advised to make weekly or multiple payments throughout their credit card billing cycle. However, there’s not much context given with this advice. This could leave consumers tying up their funds unnecessarily. Let’s consider the following credit card account activity: The billing cycle ends with a $0 balance There are no pending transactions on the account When the next billing cycle begins, a $2,000 purchase is made There is no other activity on the account There is no interest being accrued Given everything that we know about the consumer’s credit card account …

How mixing personal and business could cost you

We’ve all heard the warnings: “Keep business and personal separate.” “Don’t mix business and personal. Sometimes, these phrases can refer to the concept of keeping personal life and work (or business) life separate. In the context of finances, it refers comingling, which occurs when personal and corporate funds are treated as one. A business owner using their personal bank account or credit card for business purposes (or vice versa) is comingling business and personal funds. When a business is incorporated, it receives certain liability protections. By comingling business and personal funds, the business owner …