There are essential money numbers everyone should know, to give you a great picture of your financial health, and help you understand your finances. Net worth: Add up the value of everything you own and subtract everything you owe. Assets minus liabilities. Home equity: The current value of your home minus the balance on your  … Read More

Get a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com. You can get one free credit report from each of the three major credit reports, once a year. You do not have to pay for a credit report. Make sure to check all three credit reports for any mistakes. The three reports may contain different information. When disputing  … Read More

Thieves are increasingly stealing children’s Social Security numbers and using them to create phony identities under which they take out loans or credit cards. In 2017 the Federal Trade Commission received 14,000 complaints of identity theft targeting people age 19 and younger. The fraud can go unnoticed for years unless parents check their children’s credit  … Read More

Always read the fine print. Low-interest rates may not be as low as advertised when the ad says “as low as”. The consumer may be charged the higher rate. Cards labeled as gold or platinum are designed to make the consumer believe they have more value. That is not always true- don’t choose a card  … Read More

The government has begun mailing to participants new Medicare cards with individual identifying numbers and without Social Security numbers. These cards are free. Beware of scammers posing as Medicare representatives who have been calling and emailing seniors to try to get them to pay a processing fee for the cards. Other scammers are saying beneficiaries  … Read More

A credit freeze blocks credit bureaus from sharing your credit reports with lenders, and lenders won’t open new accounts when they cannot access these reports. Starting September 21, 2018 it will be free to freeze or unfreeze your credit reports under a new federal rule. Previously, each of the three major credit bureaus-Equifax, Experian and  … Read More

There is a transaction fee charged for each cash advance. This fee is usually 2% to 5% of the amount of the transaction. If you do not use designated machines, you may be charged ATM fees on top of that. Also, interest rates on cash advances will be higher than on regular purchases. It is  … Read More

Finding love again after a divorce is a wonderful thing. A blended family may bring additional challenges to estate planning. A few tips for dealing with the financial concerns associated with bringing two families together are: (1) consider a pre-nuptial agreement; (2) define what accounts or assets belongs to each person; (3) update medical documents  … Read More

More individuals may now file for custody. On May 4, 2018, Gov. Wolf signed a statute to broaden the definition of who may file for custody. The new statute provides that any person who is willing to assume responsibilities for a child; and who has sustained, substantial and sincere interest in the welfare of the  … Read More

We all receive those unsolicited marketing notices telling us that we have been preapproved or preselected for a card. Being preapproved for a credit card does not mean you have been approved for the card, however. You must still apply to be approved. And if you apply you could still be rejected, or even approved  … Read More