When you’re shopping for a mortgage, it can be hard to decide what the best option is for you. Should you take the lower interest rate of an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), or is it better to lock in your rate for 30 years? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) suggests seven things to keep [...]
When you are working for yourself, you may not have a human resources person or retirement specialist working for the company with which you are employed to help guide you through your retirement options. You may have to rely on yourself. As a self-employed individual, you have many of the same tax-deferred options as employees [...]
If you’ve purchased a credit monitoring product to help you stay on top of the information in your credit file, you may at some point receive an alert. When the alert is about a change you’ve recently initiated—a new credit card or mortgage, for example—it may not be a surprise. But when you receive an [...]
Among all the paperwork that is exchanged during the home buying process, the Good Faith Estimate is arguably the most important piece of information a mortgage lender will give you. A Good Faith Estimate, or GFE, is a document your lender gives you that describes the basic terms of the loan and estimates how much [...]
This article was written by guest blogger Eva Rosenberg. Last week, one of my clients forwarded me a letter he received from the IRS. It said that the agency was holding his refund and reviewing his account. As it turns out, the IRS found an extra $40,000 payment he had not included, and his refund [...]
According to Fraud.org, a project of the National Consumers League, 26 percent of scam victims are aged 55 and older. Lonely or unprotected retirees are easy targets for fraudsters, who often prey on retirees’ need for companionship or cash. “They can be desperate for company, money, or stability, and when people are desperate in any [...]
By the time spring rolls around, many of us have given up on our New Year’s resolutions—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of waiting until next January to get on track, make it a point to renew your resolutions right now. Here’s how: 1. Get rid of the New Year’s resolution mindset. [...]
My best advice for buying a home, especially if it’s your first home, is this: Don’t do it alone. Consider everything that’s on the line with a home purchase. For most people, a home is the most valuable asset they will ever have and the biggest financial investment they will ever make. While going solo [...]
The deadline to file your 2013 taxes is right around the corner. Whether you’re doing your taxes yourself or making a last-minute appointment with a tax professional, here are some things to consider this year: Your Must-Have 2014 Tax Filing Checklist It’s important to be thorough and correct when finishing up your return—even if you’re [...]
Long gone are the days when securing a mortgage required a simple credit check. Since the housing market meltdown of 2008, the path to a mortgage has been lined with paperwork and red tape. “Regulations have made the pendulum swing so far in the opposite direction that there’s an overemphasis on documentation and verification,” says [...]
