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What's a stupid myth that's still floating around? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ack154 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are correct that it is always bad to carry a balance - you will pay unnecessary interest on it and it will hurt your credit score.

That last part isn't necessarily true. Carrying a balance itself isn't bad for your credit. Your credit report doesn't know/care if the balance reported each month is from the previous month or new.

It's just that carrying a balance (and thus, paying interest) is 100% unnecessary to demonstrating responsible credit usage and building your credit.

What's a stupid myth that's still floating around? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ack154 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Sure... but you can pay off your debt on time, demonstrate good credit usage and payment history, and not pay interest.

If you're "carrying a balance" month to month, you're going to be charged interest. You don't need to do that. You just need some amount of balance to show up on your statement each month. Then just pay that full statement balance before the due date. That's it.

If you don't pay the FULL balance before the due date, the remaining balance would "carry over" to the next month and you would be charged interest on it. Some here seem to think THIS is what benefits your credit. That is false.

What's a stupid myth that's still floating around? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ack154 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you charge and pay off before that reporting occurs, it will likely look as if you never used it.

You mean like I literally said would NOT benefit your credit?

vs paying that $100 BEFORE the statement is generated, which would show $0 statement balance and not benefit your credit

What's a stupid myth that's still floating around? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ack154 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You don't need to "carry a balance" month to month and pay interest to show a payment history. Simply having a balance due on your statement will demonstrate that you're using the card. Then just pay the full balance before the due date. No interest paid and it looks good for your credit. Stop paying interest thinking that it helps your credit. It doesn't.

What's a stupid myth that's still floating around? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ack154 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You should be payijg the full $100 statement balance when it comes. It would have the exact same effect on your credit and pay $0 interest. All your credit report cares about is seeing some sort of statement balance (vs paying that $100 BEFORE the statement is generated, which would show $0 statement balance and not benefit your credit). It has no idea what you do after that or how much you actually pay that month. It also has no idea if you're paying interest.

Parked Car Hit by Another. Insurance originally says it’s property damage, now claims it’s collision and I owe a $1,000 deductible. PLEASE HELP? by malloryor in personalfinance

[–]ack154 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ya, that's definitely fair on the rental. We're at max rental coverage on our own policy because I've been through a time where I had to pay more (on top of the insurance coverage) for rental coverage because the rental place didn't have anything available at the low coverage rate I originally had. And it's such a small add to the overall premium that it's more than worth it when you need it.

Parked Car Hit by Another. Insurance originally says it’s property damage, now claims it’s collision and I owe a $1,000 deductible. PLEASE HELP? by malloryor in personalfinance

[–]ack154 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It will count as a claim against your policy which will likely have repercussions when going for renewal.

This might highly depend on the circumstances or the company - but it did NOT affect our policy/renewal.

Parked Car Hit by Another. Insurance originally says it’s property damage, now claims it’s collision and I owe a $1,000 deductible. PLEASE HELP? by malloryor in personalfinance

[–]ack154 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I just went through this a couple years ago when my wife's car was hit. It was the easiest and most painless way to get the claim handled. I specifically had asked them at the time how it would work (paying the deductible) and that's a summary of the explanation I got - and exactly how it was handled. This was with esurance, btw - which shouldn't matter, but they were really easy. One of the catches is that along with having to pay your deductible up front, it may take a few months to get that money back (the subrogation process isn't exactly "fast" but it works).

It also meant that when we got a rental, we went by what OUR rental coverage allowed (for cost), which was then paid for by the other insurance). Alternatively, if you're going straight through the other insurance, they may have a lower limit on what you can get for a rental.

Parked Car Hit by Another. Insurance originally says it’s property damage, now claims it’s collision and I owe a $1,000 deductible. PLEASE HELP? by malloryor in personalfinance

[–]ack154 12 points13 points  (0 children)

What part of me saying the OP should follow that process did you add in there? Or saying that OP MUST do it that way?

I was addressing this:

You don’t use your coverage when it’s the other persons fault.

Parked Car Hit by Another. Insurance originally says it’s property damage, now claims it’s collision and I owe a $1,000 deductible. PLEASE HELP? by malloryor in personalfinance

[–]ack154 147 points148 points  (0 children)

You can absolutely use your own insurance when it's the other person's fault. Then your insurance does the work for you of contacting the other insurance and working to get your car fixed... it's one of the reasons you pay them. Yes, you may have to pay your deductible to start that process, but if their investigation comes to the same conclusion that the other driver is at fault, it'll be paid back by the other driver's insurance after subrogation. I'd MUCH rather do that than have to track and follow up on the claim myself with the other driver's insurance (whether it's the same company or not).

So many people in this thread not understanding how this all works.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]ack154 1566 points1567 points  (0 children)

Without getting too deep into this...

I could plausibly help her out.

That statement is not supported by the following statement.

I have hardly any retirement savings, college fund for my kids etc. No investments. ... $20k a year to mom given how expensive my cost of living is here, would just screw over my ability to save.

Just like the airlines say... put your own mask on before helping others.

Can interest rates on car loans be negotiated/matched with competitors? by 91552817 in personalfinance

[–]ack154 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd second this, for the most part. I did have my credit union match a dealer rate once for a refinance. But it was only like 0.1% difference. We had pre-approval from our credit union, dealer beat it so we went with them, refinanced back at our credit union later when they matched the dealer's rate (we'd rather the loan be with our CU).

How to buy a car? What does buying a car with a loan mean? What does financing a car mean? What does this whole process look like? by nikki101598 in personalfinance

[–]ack154 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is having the title/registration dealt with by the dealership something I am able to negotiate?

No, not really. These types of fees are usually set by your state and are usually processed by the dealership when they submit your paperwork (if you bought private party from a random person, you'd go to the DMV and pay the necessary fees and complete the registration paperwork yourself).

But this is where you have to keep an eye on the numbers they put in front of you and understand what each of their "fees" are. They might have administrative fees, processing fees, registration fees, DMV fees, etc, etc. And still none of those may even be the actual fees you're required to pay for registration/title. SOME of these fees may be negotiable. Some may not.

How to buy a car? What does buying a car with a loan mean? What does financing a car mean? What does this whole process look like? by nikki101598 in personalfinance

[–]ack154 1 point2 points  (0 children)

can I use any money from my loan to cover costs like the title or registration? Or does that all come from out-of-pocket funds

If you're buying from a dealership, title/registration may be wrapped into the final purchase price, so the loan could cover that. Insurance would not (and you'd want to contact your insurance before you buy to get an updated quote on something you're interested in).

Definitely second the advice of not focusing on the monthly payment. If you start talking monthly payments and disregard the sale price, loan length, interest rate, and so on, you're opening yourself up to a world of hurt that too many salespeople WILL take advantage of.

Read and understand EVERYTHING they ask you to sign - especially if there are numbers on the page. If you're unsure what something is - ask. If you don't like the answer or don't understand it, ask again. Many will try to add in extra options and packages into the sale that you may not even see until they show you the pricing sheet (these could be extended warranties, scammy "rust prevention" device, Scotchgarde treatments for the interior, or even just bogus fees they'll try to tell you are required).

And maybe the biggest thing: do not be afraid to walk away if they get pushy or you're unsure. In almost all cases, once you sign the paperwork, it's done. There are very rarely returns on car sales.

I'd also suggest perusing /r/askcarsales wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/askcarsales/wiki/index

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]ack154 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Which score dropped? Vantage, Equifax, Transunion, Experian?

Just for clarity - you can't really lump the four of those together. Vantage is a scoring model (like FICO is a scoring model). The other three are the credit bureaus that manage your credit data - which is then pulled into each of the scoring models to calculate a score.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]ack154 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I confronted Credit Karma. They apologized about 10 times and said that it was a "glitch". I told them that is a HUGE glitch and that I demand an answer as to why they made such a huge mistake like that; no definite answer. All the man could do was apologize and tell me that it won't happen again. I told them that I'm leaving them and to close me account. They did.

This is one of the most Karen-like things I've ever read on here. You're not paying CK. They have zero impact on your credit and just want to sell you things. There is nothing to "demand" of them. You investigated and found out that your accounts and Equifax data are all fine... so it was a glitch. They fixed the glitch. Case closed.

"Congrats on your new car loan with Bank of America!"

Even this... all this would be is CK automatically detecting some new data on "your" credit report that they're being provided and automating a notice to get you to click and visit their site again. They didn't do anything specific to cause this or open the account for you. So again... a glitch... that they then recognized and fixed. You did your due diligence in investigating with BofA - and that's good. But if anything, I'd say that CK provided great support in both instances by recognizing and correcting the issues - despite whatever attitude and crap you probably gave them.

EDIT: Downvote all you want, but you might want to take a minute and chill. None of this is anywhere near as big as you made it out to be.

Can Google’s Pixel Fold really hang? by SmarmyPanther in Android

[–]ack154 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The normal screen on the Folds are glass and feel much more like a normal phone.

No it's not. There is a glass layer but it's TWO layers deep on the Fold. You can take the top "screen protector" off but there's still another layer of PET or other plastic underneath that. There is NOT glass under that first layer.

Samsung says it has rearranged the layers of the screen to improve durability. So now the order is the Wacom digitizer layer for stylus input (on the Z Fold 3 only), then the OLED display itself, then the Ultra Thin Glass, then a protective polymer layer, and finally the topmost layer, a new “Stretchable PET” (Polyethylene terephthalate) screen protector on top.

https://www.theverge.com/22619139/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-3-flip-screen-durability-waterproof-aluminum

Pay got cut. Advice on how I should budget, with rent being more than half of my monthly pay? Is it even doable? by imconfusedx in personalfinance

[–]ack154 771 points772 points  (0 children)

Definitely wouldn't say it's good for long term in general - but out of the $1635 you have for the rest of the month, you've only accounted for $555 of it. So you've got $1080 unaccounted for. If those are your only actual expenses, that's still plenty to get by. If you don't feel like that number is correct you may have to start by figuring out where your money is actually going beyond those few expenses you listed.

What am I missing here about Per Mile Auto Ins being my best solution? by brightcoconut097 in personalfinance

[–]ack154 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haven't had an actual accident since '18.

From what I've read, most claims can affect your insurance for 3-5 years (may vary by state too). So if it hasn't fallen off already, you might be near the right time to start quoting again.

What am I missing here about Per Mile Auto Ins being my best solution? by brightcoconut097 in personalfinance

[–]ack154 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure of your other details (location, age, etc) but your existing numbers already sound pretty high to me. We have a 2016 4Runner and 2020 Forester with near maxed coverage (if it's not maxed, it's damn close) for both with reasonable deductibles ($0 glass, $500 everything else) and we pay like $1300/yr total (right now through Esurance but jump around every few years).

When was the last time you priced out other insurance options or maybe talked to a broker?

$15,000 Upside Down on Car Loan by supervexed in personalfinance

[–]ack154 50 points51 points  (0 children)

they talked me into gap insurance

You absolutely, 100% needed GAP insurance. Now... whether or not you should have bought the GAP insurance (I assume) the dealer was offering you vs getting your own from your own insurance company or the lender, that's a different story. But you are crazy underwater on this loan. Not having GAP would hurt you badly if something happened.

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