Category Archives: Finance
Military Members and the SCRA – What Every Servicemember Really Needs To Know!
On December 19, 2003, there was a powerful bit of legislation signed into law that gave servicemembers in every branch of the armed forces plenty of protection in the financial sense. However, a lot of people still don’t know about it, and it ends up causing military families a lot of trouble getting their lives in order when there’s a financial problem.
There are some major legal protections that you need to know about, and we’ve covered the highlights for you.
First and foremost, there is protection when it come sot the termination of residential leases. The SCRA allows servicemembers to break a lease when they go onto active. Even if the lease was entered into before going onto active duty.
What if you are a military family that’s received PCS orders or orders to deploy for a period of at least 90 days or more? Well under the new law, you can break the lease without penalty.
Of course, a lot of landlords think that you don’t know about these laws and that means that they will try to pull a fast one on you if you let them get away with it. Remind them that under the SCRA you have this right and include evidence of your PCS orders — it’s not your fault. The military requires that you comply, so you have to do that — the government’s need for you to be in a certain place trumps anything that the civilian landlord might have to say. This obviously doesn’t apply to government housing because they don’t need to be threatened into letting you leave — they have already dealt with military families a thousand times — that’s what they’re there for!
When it comes to automobile leases, there are other protections that need to be pointed out here. You see, you will be able to cancel the lease as long as you will be on active duty for at least 180 continuous days. This only applies for car leases that are entered into before you go on active duty.
You can also cancel the lease if you will be PCS’ing or if you will be deployed for 180 days or longer.
You have to make sure that you make the request to cancel the lease in writing. Just doing things over the phone isn’t good enough, and it will usually lead to a lot of problems for you. So the more that you can do in writing, the better off you will be. You also need to have a copy of your orders with you at all times.
If you are facing eviction, you have options here as well. Under the SCRA, you can have a stay or a postponement for up to 3 months if it can be proven that the servicemember’s military duties have materially affected his or her ability to pay the rent on time.
There are also protections against interest on a loan — if you can prove that your military obligation has made it hard for you to pay your credit products of any kind, and then you can have your interest rate capped at 6% for the length of your military obligation. This can actually help you pay your debts faster because you’re not going to have to deal with all of that interest!
There are a lot of different things that you’re going to have protection from as a servicemember, but you have to know your rights. Make sure that you really do take the time to look up the SCRA for yourself. If you ever get pulled into a court action, it’s the things that you know that really will make all of the difference!
Tend to Your Back Taxes Now – The IRS Is Watching!
Back taxes can creep up on the best of us, but that doesn’t mean that we should let them just stay hiding in plain sight. Even if you try to ignore back taxes, they definitely have a way of getting your attention. For one, the IRS has the power to freeze your accounts, garnish your wages, and even put a lien on your property. These measures are designed to get your attention. You definitely want to make sure that you focus on actually getting things in order.
Some credit repair fans might remember something called the statute of limitations, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be saved by that at all. On the contrary — until you file your tax return, there’s actually no statute of limitations clock running. That means that the IRS holds the right to collect that money indefinitely. That could mean a very costly battle that you don’t want.
You see, until you file, you’re going to be penalized for not filing — getting the IRS’s attention this way is not wise. You will have a 25% penalty due to failure to file your taxes. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a 0.5% penalty for failure to pay your taxes — it’s charged from the date that the return and payment were due until the month that you pay the money. There’s also 4% interest per year charged on the money. That means that you’re going to end up paying a lot of money the longer that you hold off on paying your taxes.
So it’s just better to get it all over and done with — but how do you actually get started?
Well, you have to remember that you need to file your taxes by paper if you’re talking about back taxes. While this can be frustrating, the truth is that the online world can still help you out. While you can’t file back taxes online, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use tax software to figure out all of the math. This means that you will also be able to see what your penalties are going to be.
You will probably need to work out a payment plan. You might be surprised at this, but the IRS is actually very willing to work out things with people. Don’t forget that when you go in to turn the paper return to the IRS that you take lots of photocopies. You want to make sure that you have a record of actually what was turned in. There are also local field offices that can take your return. Setting up a payment plan might be confusing at first, but you can handle everything online.
The most important thing that you can do is do whatever you want to make sure that the back taxes issue doesn’t matter again. Now is a slow time of year, and this means that it’s the perfect time to start looking at how you can make your tax time more efficient.
First and foremost, online software is definitely a good idea. Forget hunching over your desk trying to figure everything out for yourself. Let software take care of that for you. The cost of the software is actually a tax deduction for the next year that you do your taxes, so it actually benefits you in the long run. Just make sure that you save your receipts!
Speaking of receipts, did you know that this is the number one reason that people get slowed down in the first place? They end up thinking that they have all of their records, only to find that they don’t. So they slow things down and end up costing themselves a lot of time in the long run. It’s a lot smarter to make sure that you focus on the things that you can fix.
Yes, you’re going to have to pay the IRS to set up the payment plan, but it’s a lot better than having the interest constantly hanging over your head. And if you show the IRS that you are trying to pay, you’re going to be able to avoid the negative collection efforts. And just in case you’re wondering — it’s very hard to discharge tax debt in bankruptcy. This is another reason why it’s a good idea to pay your taxes as much as possible.
For the self-employed, if you’ve gotten behind in your taxes due to filing problems, make sure that you correct this now. Look into paying your estimated taxes a little more so that when tax time comes around, you might even have a refund. It’s a lot better for the IRS to actually cut you a check than having to pay them.
Don’t forget your state taxes in all of this, unless you live in a state that doesn’t have a state tax.
That’s about it — be careful out there and make sure that you remember to handle your taxes with care!
The Federal Reserve may keep interest rates low for longer than expected
It has been released in the news recently that the Federal Reserve has been put under more pressure as it faces a deflation risk. What is needed is a further stimulus package to boost the economy and further measures of ensuring that the cost of borrowing remains low.
With a slow economic recovery in the US and a flagging one over the pond in Europe the dollar has been put you under more pressure. On top of that there has been the recent report of the weakness in the labour market which has had a knock-on effect into other industries. This means to maintain a steady economic growth over the next decade interest rates must be kept low whilst more currency is pumped into the current system.
Dennis Lockhart who is the president of the Atlanta Federal reserve has been quoted this week in saying that further meetings will need to be held and that discussions may run longer than first thought. It has been indicated that although the Fed’s are set to purchase another round of bonds for the second time at the end of June there is still more support needed by them and is this can be done by maintaining low interest rates.
Doing this will help to curb the deflation and also steady any sharp inflation that may arise from more currency in the economy. The dollar has found itself week against many currencies that it purchases cheap goods from, therefore making the cost of living more expensive than in previous years.
Lockhart also was quoted saying that although the first half of the year was disappointing their predictions for the second half are very promising. The Federal Reserve is also confident that 2012 will be a prosperous year and lead to a stronger recovery in all markets.
He also warned that Congress should not start cutting any spending as this will affect the overall recovery and may even work against it.
Unemployment in the USA has climbed to 9.2% and the hope that the national labour market will pick up depends on interest rates remaining low.
With a $600 billion stimulus to the economy coming at the end of June all eyes are focused on the meeting is being held between Congress and the Federal Reserve. The second half of the year has been placed under scrutiny and there needs to be an improvement in overall growth than in the first half of this year.
Discussions continue as future of the economy lies in a fragile state.
Ladies, Kick Off Your New and Improved Financial Life – MoneyVista Is Waiting To Help You Out!
It’s been said that over 11 million UK consumers are going without access to the right financial planning information, or even a good financial adviser. However, this statistic doesn’t point out the millions of women in the UK that go without having the personal finance information that they need. With so many women living independent lives, it’s growing more and more important that they be able to have a clear picture of what’s going on with their money.
Still, it can be hard for women to figure out where to turn next. There’s so much information out there — what if there was just a visual resource that helped you work out the connections between all of the different financial components of your life? Surely you could actually achieve a better financial life, right?
Right! MoneyVista is a site devoted to all things finance — to the point where there is nothing even offered for sale! There are also no advertisements of any kind. It just lets you focus on getting back on your feet at your own pace and in your own time.
You will be able to see bank accounts, investing accounts, savings accounts — basically, all of the different accounts that make up your financial life. If you need to make a change to your accounts, MoneyVista will actually show you the consequences of every change. By being able to look at hypothetical situations before they happen, you can actually make better decisions.
Right now MoneyVista is offering a 30 day free trial to check them out. There’s also a video that allows you to see all of the features at a glance:
After the trial is over, the service is still affordable. It starts at just £8 per month, £20 per quarter, or £70 per annum.
The time is just right for women all over the UK to start taking their finances into their own hands. There’s nothing wrong with this at all. In fact, it’s been said that the culture has turned even in dating circles — men in the UK prefer independent women that can handle their finances with or without a male partner leading the way.
So, you know what to do next — give MoneyVista a try!
