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You should seek professional advice before implementing any of the strategies discussed herein, since: (1) The strategies are general in nature and will not apply to every situation; (2) Other opportunities may be better suited to your particular needs; and (3) The rules and regulations are constantly changing.
Reducing the amount of interest you pay over the life of a mortgage can yield huge savings! This month's newsletter provides an illustration of just how much you can save, even with as little as $10 a month.
Also in this edition, find out how cancelled debt may leave you holding a bigger tax bill, why banks won’t always come to the rescue if you get scammed, and how to protect your valuables before thieves decide to pay your home or apartment a visit.
As always, feel free to pass this information on to anyone that may find it useful and please call if you have any questions or concerns.
It's easy to feel secure about the money you deposit with a bank you’ve come to trust. After all, most banks and credit unions offer certain levels of protection against fraudulent transactions.
Banks, however, won’t protect you against all types of fraud.
Here’s a look at the protections that banks and credit unions usually provide to their customers – and which situations where you’ll likely be on your own.
For credit cards, banks usually provide zero liability on any unauthorized charges.
Debit cards also provide protection against fraudulent purchases, but there may be limitations depending on which financial institution issued your card. According to federal law, here is the maximum amount of fraudulent transactions you'll be responsible for depending on when you notify your bank that your card is lost or stolen:
Unfortunately, there are many types of scams that banks won’t reimburse you for if someone steals your money. Here are some of the more common scams:
Here’s how to protect yourself from getting scammed:
Small payments can save you big money when paying off your mortgage.
With 30-year fixed rates reaching levels not seen in 25 years, adding even just a little extra to your monthly payment can significantly cut down on the interest you pay over the life of your mortgage.
Here are several different scenarios to illustrate how much interest you can save by slightly increasing each monthly payment.
Here’s the assumptions used for this base scenario:
With no additional money tacked on to your monthly payment, you would pay $574,583 in interest over the course of your 30 year mortgage in this base scenario.
To buy this house for $420,800, you would end up paying just shy of $1 million after adding $574,583 of interest charges!
None of us wants to pay $1 million for a $420,000 house. So let’s take a look at the following scenarios to find out how much interest expense you can save by increasing your monthly payments by a small amount.
Here's a summary of the base scenario's assumptions compared with how much interest you can save, and how much faster you'll pay off your mortgage, in each of the following examples.
Adding an extra $100 to your monthly mortgage payment would save you $81,902 in interest expense and cut down on the time to pay off your mortgage by 3½ years.
In this example, let’s assume you make an additional lump-sum payment of $5,000 in years 5, 15, and 25 of your mortgage.
While you wouldn’t save that much extra time paying off your mortgage in this scenario, you’ll still end up pocketing nearly $37,000 just by making three lump-sum payments over the course of your mortgage.
If you can afford an extra $100 per month to put towards your mortgage, why not try for $200 a month? This is where the math starts to get fun. Adding $200 a month helps pay off your mortgage 6 years sooner and saves you $140,000 in interest expense.
Even adding an extra $10 per month can save you nearly $10,000 over the course of your mortgage. That’s a lot of money that goes into your bank account instead of your bank’s bank account!
Paying off your mortgage early and cutting down how much interest you pay over the course of your mortgage doesn’t require a lot of money. Whether it’s $100 or $10 a month, every little bit can help on your quest towards a better financial future for you and your family.
What everyone should know
Negotiating to decrease or zero out a credit card bill or other loan balance can help relieve a tough financial situation, but it can also give way to an unexpected tax bill. Here's a quick review of various debt cancellation situations and how they impact your your taxes.
Each of these themes have one thing in common – the tax laws can be complicated and you will probably need help navigating your situation.
If you are concerned about protecting your valuables, here are several suggestions to consider for protecting them from would-be thieves:
Thieves can still unfortunately steal your valuables despite multiple layers of protection. Here are some suggestions to prepare you if any of your valuables go missing:
It's easy to feel secure about the money you deposit with a bank you’ve come to trust. After all, most banks and credit unions offer certain levels of protection against fraudulent transactions.
Consumer debt. If you have a credit card balance or loan forgiven, be prepared to receive IRS Form 1099-C representing the amount of debt cancelled. The IRS considers that amount taxable income to you, and they expect to see it reported on your tax return. However, if you’ve filed for bankruptcy or have liabilities that exceed your assets, then you may not need to report a cancelled debt as taxable income.
Rent a safe deposit box. It may make sense to keep seldom worn jewelry, coins and other important documents in a traditional safe deposit box at your local bank. But beware if you go this route, as it's often inconvenient to retrieve your valuables, as well as easy to forget what is in the box and who has the key. Plus it’s important to fully understand your rights under the contract terms.