Credit Card Debt

If you’ve ever watched a television in the last few years, you’ve undoubtedly seen the FreeCreditReport.com commercials with the guy playing the banjo. In recent months, Experian, the parent company of FreeCreditReport.com, has come under fire because:

1. The credit reports are free, if you remember to cancel the trial (big if!).
2. Consumers have been educated by the FTC that they can get a copy of their credit report for free once every 12 months, no strings attached… except they have to go to AnnualCreditReport.com, not FreeCreditReport.com.
3. Consumers are, knowingly or unknowingly, signing up for the trial service, getting their free credit score and reports, and then not canceling.

So, in early November, the Bucks blog on the New York Times wrote about how Senator Chuck Schumer of New York wants the FTC to force Experian to give you your free report and score before they ask for the credit card information. This was largely shelved because the CARD Act included a provision that required credit report services to include a disclaimer.

I understand the need to police overtly scammy negative option billing practices but how much intervention is too much? I think it was right for the FTC to force Experian to notify visitors to FreeCreditReport.com that they are not affiliated with the free credit report program. It’s also good that the site informs you that you are signing up for a free 7-day trial. It should also be clear that you will be charged for it after the trial because otherwise they wouldn’t ask for your credit card information! (to be clear, I’m fine with the regulation as it stands now… but I didn’t like Senator Schumer’s idea of forcing Experian to change their business practices in that way)

So at what point do we stop? At what point does common sense get completely thrown out and replaced with regulation? I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Your Take: Common Sense vs. FreeCreditReport.com from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Sallie Mae, normally known for their federal and private student loans, is entering the savings account area with a high yield savings account currently offering 1.35% APY with no monthly fees and no minimums. It’s your standard online bank offering with a pretty standard savings account rates. In scanning their list of offerings, the only thing that stands out is their 10% bonus for Upromise earnings, which can be substantial if you’re a big user of Upromise.

Why Sallie Mae?

I’ve been racking my brain to come up with an explanation of why Sallie Mae has started to offer banking services and I was at a loss until I remembered one key insight – most consumers, until recently, were completely unaware of high yield online banks. It wasn’t until Ally Bank made front page news that online banks started to get respect and awareness for your average consumer.

It’s easy for “us,” readers and producers of personal finance blogs, for us to forget that because we get a daily dose of it. If you mentioned “reward checking accounts” to some of your friends, I bet you’d see some puzzled looks. Ultimately, I think Sallie Mae is leveraging their connection with students and parents to bring even greater awareness to the consumer.

Upromise 10% Bonus

If you use Upromise, you can get a 10% annual match on your earnings if you satisfy these conditions:

You must link your High-Yield Savings Account to your Upromise Account and, within 90 days of opening your High-Yield Savings Account, either: (1) set up an Automatic Savings Plan with a monthly deposit of $25 or more, or (2) fund the account with $5,000 or more. Upromise will match 10% of your Upromise earnings posted as ”funded” to your Upromise Account during the calendar year of January 1 through December 31. Your 10% annual match will be deposited into your High-Yield Savings Account in February of the following year provided that both accounts remain active and are in good standing at the time of transfer.

The Upromise bonus, a partnership that makes sense, is the differentiator for this account. If you earn a lot from Upromise, this normally dull 1.35% APY might be much much higher once you factor in the 10% bonus. If you don’t, then this account doesn’t really offer much else.

Pedestrian CD Rates

Their CD rates are competitive with the best CD rates but they’re not rate leaders (but they aren’t rate laggards either):

• 12 month – 1.50% APY
• 36 month – 2.20% APY
• 60 month – 3.00% APY

There are no minimum balance requirements on CDs and standard fees for closing a CD before maturity (3 months interest if it’s a 12 month or less CD, 6 months interest for CDs over 12 months). Pretty standard stuff.

Account Fees

While there are no monthly fees and no minimums, there are fees associated with the account, set out in the Fees and Charges section of the Terms & Conditions:

• Excessive Transaction Fee – $10 (The “Truth-in-Savings” section applicable to your Account(s) sets forth transaction limitations.)
• Returned Deposit Fee – $5
• Paper Statement/Statement Copy Fee – $5 per statement

If you do open an account, be sure to avoid excessive transactions (more than 6 transfers a month) and request paperless statements.

What are you thoughts on this account? I’m especially interested in hearing from people who use Upromise a lot to get a sense of how much they’re earning in a calendar year. If the most active people are earning $1,000 a year, then an extra $100 is going to be great. If most people are earning $100 a year, then $10 is… eh, so so.

Sallie Mae Bank Review from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Did you know that if you buy something with an American Express card and it’s lost, damaged, or stolen within the first 90 days, American Express will replace the item or reimburse you up to the amount of the purchase price? My friend Michelle just came back from a skiing trip with her family in which she managed to get an oil stain on her brand new ski jacket. She had no idea how it got there but she took it to the cleaners and they were unable to remove the stain.

Her husband remembered that their American Express Blue offered Purchase Protection and decided to give them a call. Why not right? As it turns out, they’re protected by a consumer protection most people forget about – American Express Purchase Protection.

How does it work? Use your AMEX card when you pay and you get 90 days of protection against accidental damage or theft. You file a claim and the protection replaces the item or reimburses you up to the amount of the purchase price. There’s a limit of $1,000 per occurrence and up to $50,000 per cardmember account per year. You can file an American Express claim online or call 1-800-322-1277 and you’ll be asked to provide proof of theft, accidental damage, or vandalism.

They were sent a claim form to fill out and needed to provide additional documentation such as receipt of purchase, AMEX statement with the purchase, and description of the damage. Had the jacket been stolen, instead of damaged, they would’ve had to include a police report as well.

American Express has a reputation, among merchants, of having the highest processing fees out of any of the issues. Not coincidentally, they offer some of the best consumer protections like return protection and purchase protection.

Her husband told me that they make most of their major purchases using their American Express card because of these types of protections. Between the 90 day product insurance and the doubling of the manufacturer’s warranty up to a year (which many issuers offer), there are two excellent reasons why I can see an AMEX beating out a comparable cash back card.

Every American Express card I looked at on their site included this Purchase Protection insurance policy and I totally forgot it existed. Have you ever used it? Heard of a friend who used it?

American Express Purchase Protection Perk from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Now that we know how the IRS picks who to audit, we need to know what we can do to prepare for it. Even if you’re sure you got your return right, that you didn’t participate in an abusive tax avoidance scheme, or can’t possible be snared by the computers, there’s still that “randomly selected” bit.

So, like zombie attacks, the key to surviving a tax audit is to be prepared.

Keep Accurate Records

When you file your return, assume that you will be audited. Keep receipts of absolutely everything and keep them with your return. If you can’t produce proof of something you claimed and you’re audited, the deduction will be disallowed and you’ll be penalized for it. While the chances of you being audited are low, you need to retrieve the receipt now while it’s still fresh in your mind. If you get audited in four years, it’ll be hard to track it down.

Read the Notice

Read the notice carefully and respond as quickly as you can, though you generally have thirty days. Being proactive and helpful can turn the auditor into your ally. The audit will tell you what items on your return are being reviewed, prepare a copy of that documentation and bring it to the meeting (don’t give them originals, they might lose them and originals aren’t necessary). Bring only what they ask for! If they ask about certain charitable deductions, bring documentation of those deductions and nothing else. You don’t want them digging around and asking other questions. That’s not because you have anything to hide but because more questions mean more time and this is time consuming enough.

Also, you might have only received a CP2000 clarification letter, which is commonly known as a correspondence audit, which is the simplest type of audit. They call it a mail-order audit because a face to face meeting isn’t necessary, you only need to send in the documents they request.

Treat It Like A Trial

You should be cordial with the auditor but don’t treat them like your friend. At the end of the day their job is to find tax cheats and they’ve identified you as a potential cheater. It’s important that you review this IRS document that outlines your rights as a taxpayer under examinations and ensure that your rights aren’t violated.

The document also outlines the auditing process, or examination process, including a reference to Publication 556, which as details on appeals. If they disallow a deduction that you feel is rightfully yours, pursue it. Don’t let the IRS intimidate you, flex your muscles and arm yourself with the knowledge you need to prevail.

Consider a Tax Professional

If you have a particularly difficult situation that isn’t solved by offering up a forgotten 1099 or some other form, you may want to hire a tax professional who has experience dealing with audits. Audits can be very time consuming so you’ll have to select the tax professional very carefully but their expertise in dealing with numerous audits should aid you in getting as favorable an outcome as possible. It also helps that they aren’t emotionally invested in the process so they can make smart decisions.

In the end, getting audited sucks even if you don’t end up paying an additional cent in taxes. They are time consuming, stressful, and prevent you from doing something else (that you enjoy!). If you are well prepared and know how to respond, you can minimize both the cost and the time.

(Photo: wiredwitch)

How to Survive a Tax Audit from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

My friend Flexo at Consumerism Commentary has created the Plutus Awards, to celebrate the best in personal finance. The awards are broken up into two categories. The first goes to personal finance products and services while the second focuses solely on the best the personal finance blogging world has to offer. The nominees were submitted by the “community” and now voting is open until March 16th.

I’m honored and happy to share that Bargaineering was included in several categories and is up against very stiff competition. Many thanks to those of you who may have nominated Bargaineering but know that this site is as much a product of your contributions as it is my own. Without your comments, this place would be nothing more than my ramblings and would not be a place I’ve come to treasure. This recognition is as much a tribute to you as it is to me, so thank you.

If you have a few moments, please cast your vote for your favorites.

Thank you!

2010 Plutus Awards from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.