Late Fees and Interest Accumulate When you stop paying your credit card bills, late fees are added to your credit card account. Plus, your minimum monthly payment increases because you have to make up the payments you’ve missed, and pay the late fee. Most damaging, your interest rate will increase to the higher penalty rate after your account becomes 60 days past due—which is two missed payments. Of course, each month your minimum payment will get larger as more late-payment fees are added to your balance....

Existing home sales increased 0.8% in October from the previous month, despite double-digit yearly increases in median prices and for-sale inventory hovering just above record low levels, according to a monthly sales report released Monday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The median sale price rose to $353,900, a 0.7% increase from the month before and 13% above October 2020. Inventory figures showed the housing stock would sell out in just 2....

Sincerely, John Dear John, There’s a saying that millionaires have seven sources of income, and as you can imagine, that doesn’t mean they have seven jobs. So how do they manage to make that kind of money? The answer is through passive income. There are a couple of ways you can create separate revenue streams to cover your monthly mortgage payment and anything else that you’d like. I actually chatted about this recently with Vivian Tu, a former Wall Street trader and founder of Your Rich BFF in an Instagram Live conversation (you can watch that conversation here)....

Sincerely, N Dear N, I’ve been asked about inflation a lot in this column—and I’m not surprised. With prices rising 8.5% since this last year, inflation is stuck near 40-year highs, forcing us to shell out more of our paycheck on basics like groceries and rent. But just because inflation is high doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do about it. I’ve written about this topic before on Making Cents, but there are other ways that you can fight back....

How Does a CD Work? A CD is a form of “time deposit.” In return for a higher interest rate, you promise to keep your cash in the bank for a pre-determined amount of time. The bank agrees to pay you more interest than you’d get from a savings account in exchange for that agreement. You’ll receive a higher annual percentage yield (APY) on the funds you deposit because the bank knows that it can use your money for longer-term investments like loans and you won’t come asking for it next week....

How Banks and Credit Unions Differ Credit unions offer many of the same products and services as banks, and the experience of using those services is often roughly the same. However, there are a couple key differences. Investor Owned vs. Member Owned Ownership is the main difference between banks and credit unions. When you open an account at a credit union—no matter how small—you become a partial owner of the institution....

Even better, authorized users are able to access a lot of these perks, which can mean big savings. Let’s take a look at the benefits available to Chase Sapphire Reserve authorized users, how to add a new user to your account, and whether it’s worth adding authorized cardholders. Chase Sapphire Reserve Benefits for Authorized Users The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a lot of perks in exchange for its $550 annual fee....

Sincerely, Dani Dear Dani, I love this question. After you start investing and seeing how your money can grow for the long term without lifting a finger (thanks, compound interest!), it’s natural to wonder how you can make that happen right now. You’re looking to increase your revenue streams, and therefore, your income. So how do you do it? The short answer is: It depends. There are a few different ways to increase your revenue, but since you said you want passive income, it’s clear that you want to have more cash flowing into your bank account without having to take on an extra job or more work....

What Is E-File? E-File is both a general term for filing tax returns online and a specific method for filing taxes. For your individual tax return (Form 1040 or 1040-SR), you can file online using IRS Free File if your adjusted gross income (AGI) is $72,000 or less. If your AGI is above $72,000, you can use Free File Fillable Forms.  How to Use E-File for Business For business income tax returns, you can use the IRS Modernized e-File (MeF) system:...

Let’s dig further in bitcoin mining to learn about how it works and how it influences bitcoin transactions and bitcoin investors. What Is Bitcoin Mining? Bitcoin mining is a highly complex computing process that uses complicated computer code to create a secure cryptographic system. Similar to the secret codes used by governments and spies, the cryptography used for mining generates bitcoin, facilitates bitcoin transactions, and tracks asset ownership of the cryptocurrency....

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is the federal law that ensures credit reports are fair and accurate. That includes limiting the amount of time negative information can remain on your credit report.  For student loans, the credit reporting time limit is governed by the Higher Education Act. The Credit Reporting Time Limit Companies use your credit report information to gauge whether you’re a responsible borrower. Naturally, some information is more important than others....

Learn more about why it’s necessary to keep bank statements, for how long, and what happens if you don’t. How Long Should You Keep Bank Statements? In most cases, you’ll need access to your bank statements for at least three years (but possibly up to seven) as proof in audit situations. Bank statements of the past year should be kept for tax-filing purposes, but you may also need them to get a loan or rent a home....

Considerations for Each Type of Credit Card You may have a few different types of credit cards. These can include those from hope improvement and furniture stores, merchant cards, gasoline cards, and major credit cards. Closing each type of card should be approached differently. New or First Credit Card If you’ve just started using credit and recently got your first credit card, it’s best to keep that card open for at least six months....

While in office, the U.S. president receives a salary of $400,000 a year and a $50,000 expense account. Congress added the expense account in 1949. This pays for the president’s personal expenses, such as food and dry cleaning. On average, Americans make $53,924 per year based on a weekly pay of $1,037 multiplied by 52 weeks. If every American paid an equal portion of the president’s salary, they would pay 12 cents per year....

Pricing Methods Used by Tax Preparers If you’re working with a tax professional or accountant, you can ask up front how the firm determines its prices. Ask for an estimate of what their services might cost you, although you probably won’t get an answer—at least not a firm, definitive one—until you’ve met with the professional and they have a better picture of your tax situation. Otherwise, the firm would have to base its number on your personal summary of your situation, and this might or might not provide an accurate picture of your tax situation....

Why You Need Home-Based Business Insurance While home-based businesses may operate on a small scale, they face many of the same risks as their larger counterparts. These include third-party claims, auto accidents, and damage to company-owned property. To protect themselves from losses, business owners must purchase adequate insurance. Some home-based business owners might assume their homeowners insurance will cover claims arising from their business activities. This is a faulty assumption because most homeowners policies contain business-related exclusions and limitations....

This is a tricky question to answer. You don’t want to sound as if you’re planning to hop from one job to the next, but you also don’t want to seem as if you’re not planning for your future career. Thinking about how you would respond to this question before your interview will ensure that you are prepared with a strategic answer. Review tips and advice for answering interview questions about how long you expect to stay at a job, with examples of the best answers....

Why Shift Work Is So Challenging People who work at night may have trouble balancing their work and family lives, let alone their sleep, health, and well-being. Energy can diminish if you’re not accustomed to late hours, weekend work, or all-nighters, and morale can wane if you don’t feel like a part of the company’s daily activities. Shift work often requires a great deal of flexibility with a worker’s schedule, too....

What Is a Situational Interview? Situational interview questions are hypothetical questions about how you would respond to a situation at work. The interviewer wants to know how you would handle a workplace issue. Your response will then be compared to that of the other candidates. In many cases, situation-based interview questions involve problem-solving and handling difficult issues and circumstances in the workplace. You can share some details about how you anticipate you would respond to a situation, but the best answers to situational interview questions provide concrete examples of how you handled similar situations on the job....

Planning and preparation are key when you ask for a pay raise. When you ask for a raise, you need to convince your employer that your contribution to the work of the company is worth above and beyond the usual annual pay raise of, on average, 2-4% In addition to the planning and preparation, the timing of your asking, your employer’s current pay practices, the eligibility of other employees for contribution-based pay raises, and the market-based pay rates for your job in your location are additional pieces of the pay raise puzzle....