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Finance FAQLast modified: Nov 14, 2006 5:44pm
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Thank You for reading this!
You will reap great rewards looking here before participating in our Finance Forum! Don't take it personally if someone suggests you look here first. That's what it was designed for, to help you and other members make FW Finance the best it can be. PLEASE scroll down for Links; FAQ's; and tips on Posting, Searching General Use! Check out these links to popular topics: Original Thread Banking Credit Unions ATM and Bank Account fees Online Banking interest rates Online Payment Methods HELOC deals Mortgage Credit Cards -Amex Rebate and Blue Cash Getting and KEEPING high credit scores Private Banking / Private Client Discussion Thread Investing US Savings Bonds Savings Bonds IRA 401k Real Estate Legal Debt Collection/Disputes/Credit Issues General Legal Insurance Auto Health Life Property Warranties Big Tickets Auto Misc Warehouse club programs Microsoft Money My quest to become debt free Please read before posting a new thread:. Original Thread Reposts clutter this forum and reduce its usefulness. This thread lists many of the most common questions, and also gives tips on searching, so that you may quickly find the answers to your questions on your own. No discussion of individual stocks, funds, or bonds. COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS Are listed below. Please read the FAQ THREAD (OP copied above), or search bankrate.com or Google to get more detailed information. 1. Q: What do I do / where do I invest $xxxx amount of money for XXX time? A: See Bycracky's The "What do I do with $XX,000 question?" we love to hate thread! Presidential, ING Direct, VirtualBank and many others all offer good rates that are usually much higher than local banks. See the FAQ The Mother of All Online Banking, Checking, Saving, and Money Market, Interest Rate Threads. 2. Q:How will doing XXXX affect my credit score? A: We don't know. And since we also dont know about the specific loan you may be applying for, no one here can tell you whether doing XXX may cause your credit score to drop to the point where they increase the rate they offer you , or deny you entirely. There are many factors involved in the mysterious and elusive credit score. See how certain actions may affect someone's score here (more threads on how various actions can affect your credit score are found in the Credit Card FAQ) 3. Q:Can I pay my mortgage with a Credit Card? A: Yes, there are ways to do it, but you generally wont earn rewards unless you use some "roundabout", multi-step strategies. See this thread. 4. Q:I want to start/build my credit. Whats the best card to get? A: Department store cards, gas cards, and "student" cards (they are all over campus) tend to be the easiest ones to get. Credit unions and Secured credit cards are also good to look into, especially for those new to this country or with prior credit problems see this thread (and be SURE to check out the Credit Card FAQ) 5. Q:My lender offers a biweekly mortgage payment plan. Is this good? A: If they charge you any fees for this service (which you can accomplish yourself for free), its generally NOT a good idea. see this thread to see an example of how many biweekly plans work. 6. Q:I have a problem with XXX company A: Again, its time to read the FAQ THREAD, particularly the Debt Collection/Disputes FAQ , and Winning Disputes With a Company That's Giving You the Run-Around 7. Q: I have several debts with different interest rates. Which should I pay down first? A1: Pay down the loans with the highest interest rates, taking into account possible tax benefits (for instance, a mortgage at 5% verses a credit card at 4%, with the tax write-off you may be better off paying down the credit card). A2: Pay down the smallest loan first, then use that payment money to pay off the next loan (debt smowball effect). 8. Q.: I am $xxxx in debt. Shall I file for bankrupcy? A.: Post at creditnet.com , a specialized discussion site for people with credit problems. Also see the Overcoming debt FAQ. 9. Q.: I want to open a bank account. Which bank account is the best? A. What is best depends on individual situations. If interest is important to you, see the FAQ The Mother of All Online Banking, Checking, Saving, and Money Market, Interest Rate Threads. If you are interested in account opening bonuses, see the Free money for bank accounts thread 10. Q.: Which credit card is the best? A.: What is best depends on individual taste, whether you want CashBack, airline miles, o%, etc. See the Credit Card FAQ), read existing threads and pick whichever you like the best. Also, cardoffers.com lists many more credit cards with promotional terms. You can compare and pick your favorite. 11. Q: I have a car buying / car selling / car warranty / car repair/ car financing question A: Chances are the general topic has already been covered here. For purchasing, read through The Father of all Car Shopping, Financing & Leasing threads Posting information on current automotive financial deals of general applicability is relevant to this forum. Questions related to a specific deal or specific make/model, specific problem, etc. are better handled by posting in a discussion forum for your particular car. Many makes and models have their own discussion forums. You can get better responses from owners of the same model, rather than starting a new thread for each make and model of car in this forum. 12. Q: I a) Have a legal problem b) am getting/about to get screwed by a business/individual or c) thinking of entering an agreement for several thousand/hundred thousand dollars. It will probably cost me a lot of money, but I do not want to invest in professional competent legal advice, so I am coming here for free advice from a bunch of strangers on the internet. By doing so, I will save hundreds in legal fees, even if it costs me thousands in the long run. A. BAD IDEA. This is not a legal forum, and an internet forum is no substitute for professional advice from someone who can see the relevant documents in front of them. See the LEGAL FAQ in this forum for some tips on obtaining low cost legal advice. And if you are determined to get free internet armchair lawyering, there are forums such as freeadvice.com and lawguru.com better suited to such discussions. Please read this section to help with your Finance Forum SEARCH: 1. USE JUST A PORTION OF THE SEARCH WORD. The FW search function offers more help if you just type the first few LETTERS of the word you want to search...for example, if you want to look for a thread on "online brokerages", dont type that whole thing into the search box. Type BROKER, so it will pick up threads with broker, brokers, brokerages, etc. in the title. You are much more likely to find the thread you want. 2. TRY MULTIPLE SEARCH WORDS If you are looking for a thread on auto loans, try searching using the words AUTO, CAR, etc. If you are looking for home loans, try HOME, MORTGAGE, LOAN, etc. The search function is only as smart as the person using it. 3. IF SEARCHING USING THE LITTLE BOX DOESNT WORK, GO TO THE SEARCH PAGE There is a separate search page which lets you perform more detailed searches. you can search active and old threads, threads started by a particular user, etc. I frequently use this function when I remember that a specific member posted some good info but I cant find the thread... 4. TRY SEARCHING THE NET BEFORE POSTING A QUESTION. Doing a Google search will often yield an answer quicker and more accurately than posting a topic on FW and waiting for a reply...often times, when someone posts a question, someone else just googles it and posts the results. Save yourself and others the wasted time and try Google FIRST. 5. READ THE FAQ TOPICS IN THIS FORUM. Many prior threads have been categorized into FAQ threads. Please read through them. 6. READ THE GUIDE TO POSTING Following the simple tips in the Guide to Posting will help ensure that your post contains the information needed for others to best help you. SEARCH tips! -submitted by PeanutButterAndJelly Here are some tricks for using the search box that is directly above the list of threads. 1) How to search for words in order. Suppose you want to find a thread about borders coupon. Normally this will not match a thread titled "borders $5 off coupon" (try it in HD). If you search for borders % coupon instead, it will find it. The "%" tells the search to ignore any stuff in the thread title that comes between the words "borders " and "coupon". You can use "%" more than once. For example, 256%usb%drive will find all threads that have a "256", "usb", and "drive" in the title (in that order) even if there are other words in between (the first match I got was Iomega Mini 256MB USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $9.99 AR at Staples). Note: if you search for 256 %usb%drive (with a space after the "256") you are telling the search to find all threads where there is a "256" followed immediately by a space, then some random junk, then "usb", then more random junk, and then "drive". 2) The character "_" is a wild card. It will match any single character. So searching on USB _.0 will match threads whose titles are USB 2.0 or USB 1.0 (as well as "USB A.0", "USB B.0", etc) Those of you who know SQL will already be familiar with those, those of you who don't, play around with the search But what if I want to search for "0%" ? Enter a space before "0" so you don't get 20%, 30%, etc... then, place backslash before the "%" to get search to see it as a character instead of a wildcard. Pleae read these tips by Taylor to get the most from our Finance Forum: Original Thread Welcome to FW. This thread is a response to initial discussions that took place in tooshy's original Finance forum posting etiquette thread. If you are new to FW Finance, we would request that you read this before posting. FW Finance began as a discussion area for little-known and lucrative financial deals. Since its beginnings it has broadened its scope some. This thread was created to help you make the most of this forum. Included here are tips on how to make FW Finance as useful as possible for you and others. Specific Tips
Credit for this post belongs to many FW members who contributed their ideas. In particular: DaveHanson, mshen11, SUCKISSTAPLES, sygyzy, Witold and zender. General FAQ Cash Back FAQ Hot Deals Forum FAQ In the interest of keeping this information as short, sweet and readable as possible, I'm locking this thread. Please PM nunaliorte with suggestions on how to improve this post. Thanks! Credit to Footn200 from FatWallet. |
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