Jonathan over at My Money Blog commented on this Wall Street Journal article about Detroit neighborhoods getting hit with foreclosures. He snickered a little at the article, and after reading it myself I was doing pretty much the same thing. Homeowners are caving in under rising payments on their adjustable, subprime mortgages, and cannot sell … Read more
We went to a pizzeria after church on Sunday with some friends. It’s a pizza buffet, so it’s all you can eat for one price, paid up front. We stood in line a few minutes before getting to the cashier. The other locations of this chain I had gone to before accepted credit cards, so … Read more
The copper ones (pre-1982) have been worth more than one cent in melt value for a while. But the newer, “cheaper” zinc ones (post-1982) are also now worth more than one cent each in melt value! With zinc trading at around $1.80 per pound, one hundred 97.5% zinc pennies are now worth about $1.01 in … Read more
Another take on the emergency fund or mortgage pay-down question: Say you have an internet savings account paying 4 1/4 % and a fixed-rate 4 7/8% mortgage. Say also that you have $100/month that you want to put toward either one. Which would you choose? Answer? It depends. There are good reasons for doing either … Read more
I’ve had a couple of recent posts about mortgage refinancing, and I promised some instruction on how to crunch your own numbers to see if it’s a good deal for you. Some lenders will be up-front with you and tell you that it’s not worth it to refinance; others will not. WARNING — LOTS OF … Read more
The first time I used LendingTree.com (back in 2001) I got only one response. Not so this time. Today I got three calls back to back from three different lenders regarding my refinance request. I was starting to answer the phone, “Hello … Lender Central …” Some things I’ve learned through all of these calls: … Read more
I’m going to be participating in a church yard sale this weekend, so I got some rolled change from my credit union. The credit union’s policy is to accept rolled coins if the account number of the depositor is written on them. They usually do a “length check” to judge whether the roll is full … Read more
Pay for gas with a debit card without entering your PIN, and the station may put a hold of $75 on your account for several days — without your knowledge or permission — resulting possibly in bounced checks or refused charges: Hosed at the Gas Pump — By Your Debit Card (Christopher Solomon) The main … Read more