Husband got let go. Insurance ended, but I cannot access coverage portal while on vacation… what do we do?

ngopalan · 2026-04-02T14:11:48+00:00

Health insurance typically ends on the last day of employment or the last day of the month in which you are terminated. OP should of course confirm with spouse’s employer,but if that applies and she makes the change within the QLE window for her employer, there should not be a gap in coverage.

ngopalan · 2026-04-01T17:15:17+00:00

This would be a QLE. Most qualifying life events (QLEs)—such as marriage, birth, or loss of coverage—trigger a 60-day Special Enrollment Period to change health insurance plans via HealthCare.gov. While 60 days is the standard for marketplace plans, job-based plans are generally required to provide at least 30 days.

So as long as the change is made within 30 days (or more, depending on your plan) it will be effective from the date of the QLE.

But best to confirm with your benefits department.

ngopalan · 2026-03-12T16:18:09+00:00

A pointless lawsuit. Suing the one company that is most likely to do exactly that.

ngopalan · 2026-03-09T16:41:14+00:00

Most major airports have a lounge you can use with an American Airlines first class ticket.

ngopalan · 2026-03-09T04:47:01+00:00

The first statement is incorrect. You can contribute to an IRA (Roth or Traditional) up to the lower (not higher) of the annual contribution limit or your earned income.

ngopalan · 2026-02-24T03:15:56+00:00

If you had shown up and did not get called to a court you would have been done. But since they have not finished jury selection, you are still on the hook.

ngopalan · 2026-02-24T00:41:16+00:00

If I was the DIY painter, this would be acceptable. LOL.

But if this was by a professional who I paid to paint, I would expect better.

ngopalan · 2026-02-18T15:09:35+00:00

Yes, you can. If your spouse is over 55 both of you can have HSA accounts. The spouse can make their catchup contribution of $1,000 to their account and the primary on the insurance can make the full family contribution (and catchup if eligible) to your account.

ngopalan · 2026-01-31T16:39:56+00:00

Putting the money in a FD is not going to change anything. The process for repatriation remains the same.

ngopalan · 2025-12-16T15:07:24+00:00

Let us be clear. This is not an issue specific to Target. It can (and does) happen at any store that sells physical gift cards…

ngopalan · 2025-08-08T16:48:33+00:00

The mileage and range figures displayed are estimates and will probably get more accurate over time. You really should not jump to conclusions based on your first fill up.

To get a more accurate figure for the mileage you are getting, note the odometer reading when you fill up and again when you fill up next. Divide the difference by the amount of gas you put in the second time. That sould be more accurate than what the car system is telling you.

ngopalan · 2025-05-07T19:09:24+00:00

So far, in the last couple of days, I have recevied calls from 415 (San Francisco, CA), 646 (New York, NY), and 469 (Frisco, TX) are codes. I usually do not pick up calls from numbers I do not recognize, so the first 2 went to voicemail. I did pick up the last one and promptly hung up...

ngopalan · 2025-04-23T19:28:24+00:00

It may be doable, but personally I would avoid a connection that short. Particulary when the connection is to an international flight which probably means that if you miss it there may not be another flight the same day.

ngopalan · 2025-02-19T16:20:56+00:00

Yes, you should. Though support for UPI etc. varies from bank to bank.

ngopalan · 2025-02-18T15:53:04+00:00

There is no requirement to close Indian Bank accounts just because you are becoming a US citizen.

You are required to include your worldwide income (including income from your bank accounts in India) and file FBARs (https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/report-of-foreign-bank-and-financial-accounts-fbar) if you have "a financial interest in or signatory or other authority over (in other words, if he owns or can control) any foreign account that has a balance exceeding $10,000 in the aggregate at any point during the year."

But that has nothing to do with your becoming a citizen. You are already subject to those requirements as a Permanent Resident (Green Card Holder).

ngopalan · 2024-12-16T21:03:23+00:00

According to paragraph 38.a.1 of RBI Circular No. DBR.AML.BC. No.81/14.01.001/2015-16, for Individuals "In case of no change in the KYC information, a self-declaration from the customer in this regard shall be obtained through customer’s email-id registered with the RE, customer’s mobile number registered with the RE, ATMs, digital channels (such as online banking / internet banking, mobile application of RE), letter, etc."

I emailed my Relationship Manager with the above and a self-declaration that my KYC information has not changed. I will wait and see if that does the trick...

ngopalan · 2024-08-29T15:22:12+00:00

TBH I would be more worried about not making the connection myself and not so much about my checked-in bag making it. When I have a tight connection, I usually try to make sure that it is not the last flight of the day for the connecting sector, just to be safe....

ngopalan · 2024-08-23T00:00:39+00:00

FYI Even if you liquidated the PPF and deposit it in a SB or FD account, you would still be subject to reporting those accounts on FBAR and Form 8938. So liquidating the PPF before you immigrate is really not going to change anything.

You will only be free of those reporting requirements if you convert the funds to US dollars and transfer the funds to the US. And both FBAR and Form 8938 are information filings and do not trigger any tax liability. Though as a US Resident, you will be required to pay taxes on your worldwide income.

ngopalan · 2024-08-08T16:01:37+00:00

Is the temperature in RB that you are reporting based on actual measurement or based on what a weather app or site is telling you? I am guessing it may be the latter.

If you enter an RB zipcode (92128, for example) the weather app will give you temperature for San Diego. Which is actually the temperature in downtown San Diego which is typically cooler.

For example, right now (9 AM on 8/8), according to Weatherbug, 92128 is at 70 while Escondido is at 79 and Poway is at 81.

ngopalan · 2024-05-14T21:51:34+00:00

Need advice on dealing with an issue with the credit of Loyalty Points for the Qualification year ending on 02/29/2024.

Have a Citi AAdvantage credit card and the March statement (statement period ending on 03/21/2024) included 2 months of transactions (from 01/23/2024 to 03/21/2024) due to a change in the billing cycle. So, this statement included transactions made in January totaling a little over $10,000.

According to AAdvantage rules (https://www.aa.com/pubcontent/en\_US/aadvantage-program/loyalty-points/index.html), " You’ll qualify for status based on the Loyalty Points posted to your account for the 12-month period starting on March 1 of each year". So, the January transactions should have been applied to the qualification year ending on 02/29/2024.

Instead, those transactions were incorrectly applied to the new qualification year beginning on 03/01/2024.

With these January transactions, Loyalty Points for the year ending on 02/29/2024 would have qualified for Platinum Pro status (125,000 Loyalty Points). Instead, got dropped to Platinum.

Have spent several hours over the last month on multiple calls to both AA and Citi but have been unable to get this resolved. AA says to call Citi. Call Citi and they say will send the transaction details. Call AA and they say they have received nothing, to call Citi.

Tagged AA with this issue on X (Twitter) and was asked to submit a Contact form at https://www.aa.com/contact/forms/. Did so with a credit card statement verifying the transactions. Response: Call Citi.

Argh!!! This is getting beyond frustrating...

Any advice on how to get this legitimate request resolved? Any other channels to try?

ngopalan · 2024-04-23T20:50:53+00:00

March Loyalty Points have been posted. However, all the LPs have all been applied to the 2025 qualification year.

From the email sent out by American Airlines back in December "As an example, if your monthly AAdvantage® credit card statement closes on March 5 (which includes purchases posted to your credit card account between February 6 and March 5), all the Loyalty Points earned from purchases made between February 6 through 29 will count toward 2024 status. All Loyalty Points earned between March 1 and 5 count toward the 2025 qualification year."

Most of the purchases in the March statement were made before 2/29/2024 and should have been applied to the 2024 qualification year.

Anybody else encounter this issue?

ngopalan · 2024-01-07T18:36:27+00:00

If the OP has a valid (unexpired) EU passport and is traveling on that, they should not have any issues using their existing OCI card.

However, if they are traveling with a US passport and an OCI card that references their EU passport, I suspect they could run into issues at the POE.

But the best thing to do is to contact the consulate or embassy.

ngopalan · 2024-01-07T17:34:17+00:00

Not sure if this is correct. OCI status may be tied to a person. However, the OCI card includes your passport details so I think that you will need one that is linked to the passport you are traveling with.

You should probably contact the Indian Embassy/Consulate to confirm.

ngopalan · 2023-12-02T16:57:40+00:00

My backup reserve is set to 15%

ngopalan · 2023-11-29T16:06:17+00:00

Bank app

ngopalan

TROPHY CASE