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TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down
Is there a good site/service that lets you get honest quotes for refinancing that don't just point you to predatory services charging $7k for market rates? With the ten year dipping under 1% today I'm looking to refi my 30 at 3.625% to something 2.5% or under for 15.

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tumblr hype man
Jul 29, 2008

nice meltdown
Slippery Tilde

totalnewbie posted:

Volcker rule makes this illegal.

I mean if you think invest means only in listed securities you're right. But deposits are literally how banks fund loans.

DNK
Sep 18, 2004

TraderStav posted:

Is there a good site/service that lets you get honest quotes for refinancing that don't just point you to predatory services charging $7k for market rates? With the ten year dipping under 1% today I'm looking to refi my 30 at 3.625% to something 2.5% or under for 15.

I’ve used Zillow’s refinance tool and eventually ended up with New American Funding. The entire experience was great.

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

DNK posted:

I’ve used Zillow’s refinance tool and eventually ended up with New American Funding. The entire experience was great.

Thanks, they're showing 4% for 15 years, so I'll give it a few days for maybe their systems to update. Those are way out of market rates.

Medullah
Aug 14, 2003

FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS
I refinanced to a 20 year loan at 3.5% in September...would I be crazy to look at refinancing again with the current drops?

DNK
Sep 18, 2004

TraderStav posted:

Thanks, they're showing 4% for 15 years, so I'll give it a few days for maybe their systems to update. Those are way out of market rates.

fwiw, i started the refinance to 3.25 (1pt) around... July(?) 2019. It closed Nov 1st.

If it drops to 2.25 I’ll refinance again, but... doubt it.

Fezziwig
Jun 7, 2011
What's the best way to shop for term life insurance? I'm about to turn 30 and my wife and I are also planning on trying for children soon, so we want to lock in a 20-30 year policy soon.

I currently have car and house insurance through USAA but I'm not sure that they would offer the best deal.

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

TraderStav posted:

Is there a good site/service that lets you get honest quotes for refinancing that don't just point you to predatory services charging $7k for market rates? With the ten year dipping under 1% today I'm looking to refi my 30 at 3.625% to something 2.5% or under for 15.

I use aimloan. If I were to refinance, obviously I'd want to get quotes from more than one company, but they offer a no bullshit rate, and it has always been much closer to actual offers than places like bankrate has shown me.

Dik Hz
Feb 22, 2004

Fun with Science

TraderStav posted:

Is there a good site/service that lets you get honest quotes for refinancing that don't just point you to predatory services charging $7k for market rates? With the ten year dipping under 1% today I'm looking to refi my 30 at 3.625% to something 2.5% or under for 15.
Go to the quote tool on zillow: https://www.zillow.com/mortgage-rates/quotes/

Their main link is a funnel for salespeople, but that link will get you good quotes.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

drive me nuts to school posted:

What's the best way to shop for term life insurance? I'm about to turn 30 and my wife and I are also planning on trying for children soon, so we want to lock in a 20-30 year policy soon.

I currently have car and house insurance through USAA but I'm not sure that they would offer the best deal.

I did a bunch of online requests for information, eventually you get back answers that start looking similar.

I hit up AAA, my local homeowners/rents insurance provider, USAA, and lifequotes.com (a multi-agency broker/search/spam engine). There is an insurance thread with some recent life insurance posts that are good, check there.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
I'm dumb about houses but apparently ours is worth more now than when we bought it by more than I would have thought possible in 5 years and, since interest rates seem lower too, I'm wondering if it makes sense to refinance. Does my home having a higher assessed value make any difference for refinancing a loan? We bought it for about $100k five years ago, and now our taxes are being assessed at $167k. I seriously doubt it's worth that, but the cheap house market in my city is apparently really tough and stuff sells fast so who knows. I'd guess it's probably more like $150k -ish.

gregday
May 23, 2003

powderific posted:

Does my home having a higher assessed value make any difference for refinancing a loan?

Not unless you’re looking to get a cash-out refi, where you pocket the value of the increase (then owe it back with interest in then new loan amount).

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

gregday posted:

Not unless you’re looking to get a cash-out refi, where you pocket the value of the increase (then owe it back with interest in then new loan amount).

Could remove PMI if you are paying that.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Yeah, I am paying pmi so that’s part of the equation.

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down
In some situations if you have enough equity you’ll get a fast track or no appraisal.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Stupid question, but if we've only paid our loan down $8k or so, is that plus our downpayment the equity, or does the increased value of the house count? It'd take our equity from like $17k to something around $67k if we go by roughly what the house is worth now. I assume it'd be a very safe loan for a bank to do ~$80k on a house that's worth ~$150k.

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

powderific posted:

Stupid question, but if we've only paid our loan down $8k or so, is that plus our downpayment the equity, or does the increased value of the house count? It'd take our equity from like $17k to something around $67k if we go by roughly what the house is worth now. I assume it'd be a very safe loan for a bank to do ~$80k on a house that's worth ~$150k.

Depends on the appraisal, which would include the increase in value if it was done properly. The equity is the difference between the market/appraised value and what you owe.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Gotcha. I’m going off what my county property tax assessment is, so I’m guessing I’ll have to get an actual appraisal if I want to show increased value?

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

powderific posted:

Gotcha. I’m going off what my county property tax assessment is, so I’m guessing I’ll have to get an actual appraisal if I want to show increased value?

Ask them for an automated valuation model and see what they say. Otherwise it's an appraisal which could be any number. Look at comps in your area, actual sold houses. My AVM was dead on the Zestimate, but yours could be wildly different.

The Iron Rose
May 12, 2012

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:
I want to set up a high yield savings account for short-medium term savings. I just started a RRSP at 10% of my monthly income and want to put 5% in a savings account for liquidity. I've been looking at some online banks like EQ as they're offering rates of 2.45% vs my bank's 1%-2%. How do I make the right choice of online bank? Can I set up automatic monthly transfers? Unfortunately I'm a dual US/Canadian citizen so I can't use a TFSA.

I have no debt, I'm 24 and I work in tech, and I have no big expenses upcoming. Maybe I'll buy a condo in 10 years if I can afford it. At some point in the next five years my partner and I may get a car. I have no desire or expectation to withdraw this money anytime soon.

The Iron Rose fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Mar 6, 2020

GWBBQ
Jan 2, 2005


My credit score as reported by TransUnion through Chase is 605, obviously not great but 100 points higher than it was this time last year. I've started using YNAB and budgeting ahead rather than keeping track of expenses and due dates has helped me get spending under control. I'm much better with money now that I was previously (plus not being the sole source of income for mom, brother, me for most of the last 10 years is a welcome change since my brother has a good steady job and mom is getting social security) and would like a bit of guidance and a mix of info and questions.

-My credit utilization is 87% of $18570. I'm working on paying down highest interest first. I have $23k in student loans and just got a 5.45% car loan for $15k a month ago because I can't afford the time/money pit of 20-year-old cars that actively try to kill me and constantly break down.

-My oldest card was opened 14 years ago, but my credit history is 20 years because I'm an authorized user (but never use) one of my mom's cards that's 20 years old. She's at 94% of her $2000 limit on it. I haven't used the card in at least 5 years and don't know where it physically is beyond somewhere in the house. Would it be worthwhile, neutral, or negative to ask her to remove me as an authorized user to knock that utilization down but shorten my credit history? It has 100% on-time payments as far back as I can see on the report.

-I have about $1800 left on a credit account that's ~25% interest and has been closed for years because back in the early 2000s I guess it seemed like a good idea to give a college kid working part time a credit limit of 75% of his annual income and I was about as responsible as you would expect from a financially illiterate student with what I was sure I would pay off as soon as I graduated and got a real job). Do closed accounts with balances count against me more than open accounts? Does account age (13.5 years) factor into that?

-I have a $500 limit card with an annual fee of $80 but no balance that I got in 2017 to cover an emergency. Would closing it hurt me more than eating the fee because of increased utilization percentage? I also have pretty much no emergency money other than a Firestone card for car repairs.

-I have 4 hard inquiries on my credit report since 2018, one for the car loan and 3 for credit cards (all Paypal, I think they inquired twice on one of them). No derogatory marks, collections, or public records. The credit union that provided the car loan offered me a $1000 pre-approved CC with 4.9% interest for 18 months and no fee on balance transfers (no inquiry shown, but it may just not have updated), so I accepted that and am going to transfer then close a 35% interest rate card (another one pre-approved that I opened to cover an emergency) and pay it off during the introductory rate period. Also going to see if I can do multiple balance transfers and payoffs at that rate with no fee to quickly clear a couple of 30% cards since April is a 3 paycheck month for me.

-Last question, I asked the person I spoke to at the credit union about getting a card with a $15k limit with the same no fee, 4.9% for 18mo balance transfer so that I can move almost everything to that and pay it off in big chunks rather than accruing interest and slowly chipping away at existing cards with minimum payments on most of them. I doubt that they're going to give it to me considering my credit rating and utilization, so would it be a good idea to see if I can get a consolidation loan from them with a lower interest than the credit cards, cancel the two with the annual fees, then throw the rest in drawers and not touch them as I pay it off over whatever term they give me?

I think I'm generally on the right track, but whipping myself into shape from being very bad with money to trying to finally acting like an adult comes with a lot of questions and uncertainty. Adding to the stress and uncertainty is a very real possibility that this all becomes irrelevant because my mom can only kick pancreatic cancer's rear end for so long (although she's almost three years past "she might only have a few weeks left") and my half of the life insurance payout will cover everything, so as you can imagine I'm stressed the gently caress out about a lot more than just money. All that said, thanks in advance for any answers or advice, I hope my rambling summary was reasonably coherent.

Fezziwig
Jun 7, 2011
Are you planning on taking out a loan any time in the next year or two? You just bought a car, and I assume you're not in the position to buy a house.

If not, don't be worried about your score going down by any time if closure, removal, etc. Paying everything off is going to benefit you far more in the long run, and your credit will recover and improve so long as you continue to pay everything down and on time.

I recommend closing everything with a fee associated, and finding a 0% balance transfer credit card to help alleviate the accruing interest. If you can't, get a consolidation loan at a lower interest rate than whatever cards have a higher rate than it.

Do not refinance the student loans if you can still forbear them. The interest rate is probably low enough relative to everything else that the benefit of temporarily stopping payments with no penalty other than interest accrual is worth it in case of an emergency.

Once your score starts to improve, you may be able too refinance the car to a lower rate if you desire. Alternatively you can pay it off similar to everything else.

Good work so far! It's going to be a while before this mess is behind you, but each paid off account is going to feel like a mountain off your shoulders. Keep it up.

Duckman2008
Jan 6, 2010

TFW you see Flyers goaltending.
Grimey Drawer

The Iron Rose posted:

I want to set up a high yield savings account for short-medium term savings. I just started a RRSP at 10% of my monthly income and want to put 5% in a savings account for liquidity. I've been looking at some online banks like EQ as they're offering rates of 2.45% vs my bank's 1%-2%. How do I make the right choice of online bank? Can I set up automatic monthly transfers? Unfortunately I'm a dual US/Canadian citizen so I can't use a TFSA.

I have no debt, I'm 24 and I work in tech, and I have no big expenses upcoming. Maybe I'll buy a condo in 10 years if I can afford it. At some point in the next five years my partner and I may get a car. I have no desire or expectation to withdraw this money anytime soon.

I think we need clarification: do you live in USA or Canada ?


drive me nuts to school posted:

Are you planning on taking out a loan any time in the next year or two? You just bought a car, and I assume you're not in the position to buy a house.

If not, don't be worried about your score going down by any time if closure, removal, etc. Paying everything off is going to benefit you far more in the long run, and your credit will recover and improve so long as you continue to pay everything down and on time.

I recommend closing everything with a fee associated, and finding a 0% balance transfer credit card to help alleviate the accruing interest. If you can't, get a consolidation loan at a lower interest rate than whatever cards have a higher rate than it.

Do not refinance the student loans if you can still forbear them. The interest rate is probably low enough relative to everything else that the benefit of temporarily stopping payments with no penalty other than interest accrual is worth it in case of an emergency.

Once your score starts to improve, you may be able too refinance the car to a lower rate if you desire. Alternatively you can pay it off similar to everything else.

Good work so far! It's going to be a while before this mess is behind you, but each paid off account is going to feel like a mountain off your shoulders. Keep it up.

This wouldn’t always be the advice, but since the government temporarily made student loans 0% interest, that would put that loan on the back burner as the last one to be paid, since the others are still accruing interest.

Someone correct me if I’m missing something here, but makes sense to me.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost

drive me nuts to school posted:

Are you planning on taking out a loan any time in the next year or two? You just bought a car, and I assume you're not in the position to buy a house.

If not, don't be worried about your score going down by any time if closure, removal, etc. Paying everything off is going to benefit you far more in the long run, and your credit will recover and improve so long as you continue to pay everything down and on time.

I recommend closing everything with a fee associated, and finding a 0% balance transfer credit card to help alleviate the accruing interest. If you can't, get a consolidation loan at a lower interest rate than whatever cards have a higher rate than it.

Do not refinance the student loans if you can still forbear them. The interest rate is probably low enough relative to everything else that the benefit of temporarily stopping payments with no penalty other than interest accrual is worth it in case of an emergency.

Once your score starts to improve, you may be able too refinance the car to a lower rate if you desire. Alternatively you can pay it off similar to everything else.

Good work so far! It's going to be a while before this mess is behind you, but each paid off account is going to feel like a mountain off your shoulders. Keep it up.

Agreed. Good job so far, you're taking all the right steps. Your score is only important if you're trying to get a loan, otherwise it's meaningless. Focus on reducing your debt burden and how much of your money is going to servicing it - that will make more of your payments easier to make, improve your credit utlilization, and generally make your life much less stressful since you'll have effectively a lot more money.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

GWBBQ posted:

My credit score as reported by TransUnion through Chase is 605, obviously not great but 100 points higher than it was this time last year. I've started using YNAB and budgeting ahead rather than keeping track of expenses and due dates has helped me get spending under control. I'm much better with money now that I was previously (plus not being the sole source of income for mom, brother, me for most of the last 10 years is a welcome change since my brother has a good steady job and mom is getting social security) and would like a bit of guidance and a mix of info and questions.

-My credit utilization is 87% of $18570. I'm working on paying down highest interest first. I have $23k in student loans and just got a 5.45% car loan for $15k a month ago because I can't afford the time/money pit of 20-year-old cars that actively try to kill me and constantly break down.

-My oldest card was opened 14 years ago, but my credit history is 20 years because I'm an authorized user (but never use) one of my mom's cards that's 20 years old. She's at 94% of her $2000 limit on it. I haven't used the card in at least 5 years and don't know where it physically is beyond somewhere in the house. Would it be worthwhile, neutral, or negative to ask her to remove me as an authorized user to knock that utilization down but shorten my credit history? It has 100% on-time payments as far back as I can see on the report.

-I have about $1800 left on a credit account that's ~25% interest and has been closed for years because back in the early 2000s I guess it seemed like a good idea to give a college kid working part time a credit limit of 75% of his annual income and I was about as responsible as you would expect from a financially illiterate student with what I was sure I would pay off as soon as I graduated and got a real job). Do closed accounts with balances count against me more than open accounts? Does account age (13.5 years) factor into that?

-I have a $500 limit card with an annual fee of $80 but no balance that I got in 2017 to cover an emergency. Would closing it hurt me more than eating the fee because of increased utilization percentage? I also have pretty much no emergency money other than a Firestone card for car repairs.

-I have 4 hard inquiries on my credit report since 2018, one for the car loan and 3 for credit cards (all Paypal, I think they inquired twice on one of them). No derogatory marks, collections, or public records. The credit union that provided the car loan offered me a $1000 pre-approved CC with 4.9% interest for 18 months and no fee on balance transfers (no inquiry shown, but it may just not have updated), so I accepted that and am going to transfer then close a 35% interest rate card (another one pre-approved that I opened to cover an emergency) and pay it off during the introductory rate period. Also going to see if I can do multiple balance transfers and payoffs at that rate with no fee to quickly clear a couple of 30% cards since April is a 3 paycheck month for me.

-Last question, I asked the person I spoke to at the credit union about getting a card with a $15k limit with the same no fee, 4.9% for 18mo balance transfer so that I can move almost everything to that and pay it off in big chunks rather than accruing interest and slowly chipping away at existing cards with minimum payments on most of them. I doubt that they're going to give it to me considering my credit rating and utilization, so would it be a good idea to see if I can get a consolidation loan from them with a lower interest than the credit cards, cancel the two with the annual fees, then throw the rest in drawers and not touch them as I pay it off over whatever term they give me?

I think I'm generally on the right track, but whipping myself into shape from being very bad with money to trying to finally acting like an adult comes with a lot of questions and uncertainty. Adding to the stress and uncertainty is a very real possibility that this all becomes irrelevant because my mom can only kick pancreatic cancer's rear end for so long (although she's almost three years past "she might only have a few weeks left") and my half of the life insurance payout will cover everything, so as you can imagine I'm stressed the gently caress out about a lot more than just money. All that said, thanks in advance for any answers or advice, I hope my rambling summary was reasonably coherent.

:toot:

Stop checking your credit score right now. If you only do good things (on time payments) it's going to go up. Having a decade of history is good, beyond that it's your actual actions that matter. The various companies have set it up so that you obsess over it, don't.

If your credit union (or Visa.com's referral service) will let you consolidate higher interest to lower interest do that. Don't worry about your student loans other than making the minimum right now.

Once you know what you are doing with the other debts call and close that card you are paying 100% interest on an $80 balance. That fee is there to be usurous to poor people with just barely any credit. If it's going to renew before you can handle the above close it before it renews.

Does that authorized user actually show up on your report as utilization and on time payments? If so yeah consider nuking it, you don't want mom to oops a payment and undo your hard work. Remember in her older age her credit matters less and less.

Otherwise keep up the good work.

The Iron Rose
May 12, 2012

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:

Duckman2008 posted:

I think we need clarification: do you live in USA or Canada ?


I live, work, and will likely retire in Canada. I don’t owe any tax to the US government since I make a fair bit under the income exclusion limit. Mostly, I want to know how I can get started on investing for the short (1 yr emergency fund, I don’t want that money doing nothing for me) and medium term (5-10 years). I’ve about 8,000 CAD in sitting in a checking account right now I want to do more with. I also want to put as much money in the market as possible right now since it will soar in the long term vs temporary covid depression.

The Iron Rose fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Mar 21, 2020

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer
My mother worked for a non-profit that was a state agency in all but name for 40+ years. At one point, they changed her retirement from a TSA (Tax-Sheltered Annuity) to CALPERS (California State Employees pension). They rolled over the TSA into an indexed annuity ten years ago, and locked her out of it for a decade; with the lockout expiring, she's asking me what she should do, and while I consider myself relatively financially savvy, I still don't fully understand this thing. My mother is 67 years old and retired.

This annuity has a participation rate of 100%, which is good, but an index cap of 4%, which (as I understand it) maxes the interest it can get at 4%. I'm not sure what it's indexed to (couldn't find that information on there). There's about $33,000 in there, the withdrawal penalty is about $2,400 (~6.5%), and the free withdrawal limit is $6700. At their income level, no matter how much they withdraw, taxes will be 22%. It seems like the smart thing to do would probably be to take the free withdrawal until it's cleaned out (roughly five years). She could roll the first bit into an IRA (because she worked last year), I think, and not get hit with the taxes yet. Could they roll the whole thing into another tax-sheltered account, like an IRA?

Finally, the thing has an income rider, with an income base of $53,000. From what I've read, that means that somehow magically the thing is valued at $53,000 if she takes certain disbursements, but I can't figure out sort of special disbursements need to be taken to value it at the $53,000 instead of the $33,000? I've Googled this income rider thing and haven't been able to make heads or tails of how it works; can someone explain it to me like I'm five? Thank you.

balancedbias
May 2, 2009
$$$$$$$$$

Thanatosian posted:

My mother worked for a non-profit that was a state agency in all but name for 40+ years. At one point, they changed her retirement from a TSA (Tax-Sheltered Annuity) to CALPERS (California State Employees pension). They rolled over the TSA into an indexed annuity ten years ago, and locked her out of it for a decade; with the lockout expiring, she's asking me what she should do, and while I consider myself relatively financially savvy, I still don't fully understand this thing. My mother is 67 years old and retired.

This annuity has a participation rate of 100%, which is good, but an index cap of 4%, which (as I understand it) maxes the interest it can get at 4%. I'm not sure what it's indexed to (couldn't find that information on there). There's about $33,000 in there, the withdrawal penalty is about $2,400 (~6.5%), and the free withdrawal limit is $6700. At their income level, no matter how much they withdraw, taxes will be 22%. It seems like the smart thing to do would probably be to take the free withdrawal until it's cleaned out (roughly five years). She could roll the first bit into an IRA (because she worked last year), I think, and not get hit with the taxes yet. Could they roll the whole thing into another tax-sheltered account, like an IRA?

Finally, the thing has an income rider, with an income base of $53,000. From what I've read, that means that somehow magically the thing is valued at $53,000 if she takes certain disbursements, but I can't figure out sort of special disbursements need to be taken to value it at the $53,000 instead of the $33,000? I've Googled this income rider thing and haven't been able to make heads or tails of how it works; can someone explain it to me like I'm five? Thank you.

Yes, a pension lump sum can typically be rolled over into an IRA.

*for the emboldened part* Unfortunately, no because it's an indexed annuity. You summed it up well, but I would still have a question:
Why is there a withdrawal penalty at all if your mom is 67 years old AND it had a lockout period of 10 years? That sounds like a harsh contract.

nelson
Apr 12, 2009
College Slice
How much does she get per month if she doesn’t touch the principal?

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer

balancedbias posted:

Yes, a pension lump sum can typically be rolled over into an IRA.

*for the emboldened part* Unfortunately, no because it's an indexed annuity. You summed it up well, but I would still have a question:
Why is there a withdrawal penalty at all if your mom is 67 years old AND it had a lockout period of 10 years? That sounds like a harsh contract.
The contract being locked out for ten years is something I heard from my mom, so it's possible she is misunderstanding something (she's usually pretty on top of this stuff, though). They refer to it as a "withdrawal charge," not a penalty, but I don't see much of a difference.

nelson posted:

How much does she get per month if she doesn't touch the principal?
Is that an option? I did some more digging and found an annual statement on their website that has a few more numbers for the income rider:

Annual Maximum Lifetime Income Withdrawal - Level: $2,800
Annual Maximum Income Withdrawal Amount: $3,600
Income Account Value: $51,000

Is that what those are referring to? Can she pull out $3,600 a year until she hits the cap of $51,000 sort of thing? Or is it $2,800?

One of the letters references an "income rider contract," and I haven't been able to find a copy of that to download yet; I may just ask my mom to call them and request that. I feel like this poo poo is designed to be deliberately confusing.

nelson
Apr 12, 2009
College Slice

Thanatosian posted:

The contract being locked out for ten years is something I heard from my mom, so it's possible she is misunderstanding something (she's usually pretty on top of this stuff, though). They refer to it as a "withdrawal charge," not a penalty, but I don't see much of a difference.

Is that an option? I did some more digging and found an annual statement on their website that has a few more numbers for the income rider:

Annual Maximum Lifetime Income Withdrawal - Level: $2,800
Annual Maximum Income Withdrawal Amount: $3,600
Income Account Value: $51,000

Is that what those are referring to? Can she pull out $3,600 a year until she hits the cap of $51,000 sort of thing? Or is it $2,800?

I think it means she can get $2800 for life or withdraw more sooner (but not for life). Is there an official email address or phone number for the annuity company so you can ask?

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Thanatosian posted:

The contract being locked out for ten years is something I heard from my mom, so it's possible she is misunderstanding something (she's usually pretty on top of this stuff, though). They refer to it as a "withdrawal charge," not a penalty, but I don't see much of a difference.

Is that an option? I did some more digging and found an annual statement on their website that has a few more numbers for the income rider:

Annual Maximum Lifetime Income Withdrawal - Level: $2,800
Annual Maximum Income Withdrawal Amount: $3,600
Income Account Value: $51,000

Is that what those are referring to? Can she pull out $3,600 a year until she hits the cap of $51,000 sort of thing? Or is it $2,800?

One of the letters references an "income rider contract," and I haven't been able to find a copy of that to download yet; I may just ask my mom to call them and request that. I feel like this poo poo is designed to be deliberately confusing.

CalPERS is one of the best state pensions out there as I understand it, at least the old contracts were. I know my city is going broke trying to pay for it. You need to conference in on a call with them. Pensions often pay a fixed amount annually. You should ask "how much will I be paid per year for the rest of my life if I leave my account alone?" Don't talk about withdrawals or anything.

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer

nelson posted:

I think it means she can get $2800 for life or withdraw more sooner (but not for life). Is there an official email address or phone number for the annuity company so you can ask?
Yeah, she's planning on doing that, but I was really hoping for something in writing. Any idea what the difference between the Annual Maximum Lifetime Income Withdrawal and the Annual Maximum Income Withdrawal Amount are?


H110Hawk posted:

CalPERS is one of the best state pensions out there as I understand it, at least the old contracts were. I know my city is going broke trying to pay for it. You need to conference in on a call with them. Pensions often pay a fixed amount annually. You should ask "how much will I be paid per year for the rest of my life if I leave my account alone?" Don't talk about withdrawals or anything.
Yes it is, and because my mom worked where she did for over 40 years, she's pulling in something like 110% of her salary on it (and it only reduces her Social Security by, like, 33% or something). This is an old retirement plan, though, that pre-dates CalPERS; when my mom was put on CalPERS, this is what the old plan was converted to. Another ~$2300 a year post-tax certainly isn't going to hurt them, though.

danielski
Aug 14, 2003
Clapping Larry

Thanatosian posted:

The contract being locked out for ten years is something I heard from my mom, so it's possible she is misunderstanding something (she's usually pretty on top of this stuff, though). They refer to it as a "withdrawal charge," not a penalty, but I don't see much of a difference.

Is that an option? I did some more digging and found an annual statement on their website that has a few more numbers for the income rider:

Annual Maximum Lifetime Income Withdrawal - Level: $2,800
Annual Maximum Income Withdrawal Amount: $3,600
Income Account Value: $51,000

Is that what those are referring to? Can she pull out $3,600 a year until she hits the cap of $51,000 sort of thing? Or is it $2,800?

One of the letters references an "income rider contract," and I haven't been able to find a copy of that to download yet; I may just ask my mom to call them and request that. I feel like this poo poo is designed to be deliberately confusing.

Based on just the descriptions, and without viewing the original contract, a best guess would be there are a couple of options for the riders:

1. Take an annual withdrawal of $2,800 and they will guarantee that annual amount for the rest of her life, even if it depletes the annuity value

2. Take an annual withdrawal amount of $3,600 and they will guarantee that amount until she withdraws a total of $51,000, even if it depletes the annuity value

Any residual value in the annuity (if the guarantees don't actually have to kick in) would go to the beneficiary of the annuity.

balancedbias
May 2, 2009
$$$$$$$$$

danielski posted:

Based on just the descriptions, and without viewing the original contract, a best guess would be there are a couple of options for the riders:

1. Take an annual withdrawal of $2,800 and they will guarantee that annual amount for the rest of her life, even if it depletes the annuity value

2. Take an annual withdrawal amount of $3,600 and they will guarantee that amount until she withdraws a total of $51,000, even if it depletes the annuity value

Any residual value in the annuity (if the guarantees don't actually have to kick in) would go to the beneficiary of the annuity.

Yeah, that's the way I read it too with the new information provided. Certainly better than a kick in the teeth. As with all annuities the "better" option is only known when the person dies, but if your mom has a decent chance of living past 80-85 taking a lifetime payout is probably the best bang for the buck.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

What's the long and short on personal line of credit

Looks like major banks are offering 5.5% with three year repayment period. This seems like a credit card, but with a lower rate. I think you can get a personal line of credit for less than 5% if you go through any number of credit unions. I think a line of credit is good for a long as you have an account with the bank, and it's revolving? Or is it more like a secured car loan where once you pay in to it, you can't pull money back out later.

Seems like a personal line of credit is a good way to buffer cash when you need to move $5,000-10,000 around quickly. I've not had this need in the distant past (seemed absurd) but this is becoming a regular thing.

We recently opened an LLC, should we think about opening a business bank account? I'm thinking the bank/credit union would offer more favorable rates, especially after 3-5 years of "credit history" on the account

Is there any reason to go with an official "bank" vs a federal credit union? AFAIK credit unions are functionally just like banks, but they are less incentivized to gently caress you in the rear end

nelson
Apr 12, 2009
College Slice

Hadlock posted:

We recently opened an LLC, should we think about opening a business bank account? I'm thinking the bank/credit union would offer more favorable rates, especially after 3-5 years of "credit history" on the account

Yes. Never mix business and personal money or you will forfeit limited liability.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
I have a revolving line of credit for my LLC and it’s currently at 4.5%. Mine’s just on a yearly contract and then at the end of the year I can either renew it, or if I bought equipment or whatever roll it into normal loan. I know almost nothing about business money or lending and am a 1 year old tiny just me business, but it wasn’t too hard to get setup. And yes absolutely get a business account, in addition to the above it’s just gonna make your accounting life a lot easier.

GreenBuckanneer
Sep 15, 2007

Question: I have been budgeting for a while now, at least a few months seriously with YNAB, and have been paying as close of attention to my finances as I can (which YNAB is helping with, though, with stuff going on I haven't really had the wherewithal to save too much, since I only really have $600 of "free" money a month not indebted to other jobs)

I have a bunch of things on auto-pay, and a 1% cash back $2400 CL card, and a 1.5% cash back $2500 CL card. I usually end up hovering about 20-30% on each card and don't tend to go higher than that.

I had to pay $700+ just to get my car up to sticker, and thankfully with this whole COVID thing, even taking that "surprise" car payment into account, the plan next is to pay off the credit cards. With working a lot of OT (I'm finding it's much easier to goad myself into working overtime if I can work in my PJs) that $600 of "free" money a month is closer to $1200 this month, not including the COVID check.

As such, I should have made enough this month to pay off both credit cards, including the amount I put on the credit card for the car sticker this week, zeroing out that debt.

I have a few questions though:

Once I've "reset" this debt, I still have student loans (about $14k in a 0% interest because it's in not-quite-collections I pay $150 a month to, which is already planned out and budgeted for) and a $15,275 with great lakes which is in forbearance because of COVID, so technically it gains 0% interest and I don't have to pay anything on it until november. However, my plan right now is instead of saving the $256.04 a month I'd normally pay on it, I already have budgeted and can continue budgeting for it with my income vs expenses, so why not simply keep paying it to focus fire down my principal?

I don't really think I have the economic strength to really put a dent in these loans without burning myself out, and I seem comfortable enough now I would tend to lean towards the status quo with this one, at least when I ran the numbers previously on it, it was something like pay it off 6 months sooner and feel worn out, or don't feel worn out and it's going to take a while anyways.

Anyways that's not really my question for now, right now once the cards are zero'd out:

1. Is it a good idea to put the auto-payments for things I already pay off immediately by having the payees just rip it from my bank account onto my credit card so I'm slowly gaining free cash back?
2. Should I only do this with the smaller funds as to not overly increase my credit card usage ratio? (ex. electric, internet, car insurance, etc)
3. If this CC usage spikes during when they do their monthly CC check, but then flatlines in the coming months to 0 utilization, how much lasting damage will that do to my credit score? (over 700 at this point)

GreenBuckanneer fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Apr 22, 2020

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Hoodwinker
Nov 7, 2005

GreenBuckanneer posted:

Anyways that's not really my question for now, right now once the cards are zero'd out:

1. Is it a good idea to put the auto-payments for things I already pay off immediately by having the payees just rip it from my bank account onto my credit card so I'm slowly gaining free cash back?
2. Should I only do this with the smaller funds as to not overly increase my credit card usage ratio? (ex. electric, internet, car insurance, etc)
3. If this CC usage spikes during when they do their monthly CC check, but then flatlines in the coming months to 0 utilization, how much lasting damage will that do to my credit score? (over 700 at this point)
I'll answer number 3.

Credit utilization has no memory. Once it's paid off, your score immediately gets recalculated based on the new zero balance. Don't feel concerned about having spikes on your cards affecting your credit score long-term.

That said, if you're not seeking new loans (mortgage, auto), then you need not give more than zero fucks about your credit score. It only tangentially relates to your overall financial well-being, and matters significantly less than your actual cashflow and dollars in the bank.

Actually, I'll answer number 2 also, because it's roughly the same answer. If you're not applying for credit anytime soon, don't worry about your credit score.

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