The company has spent the past few months managing expectations. With the economy tanking and our company’s performance following the trend of all other companies in the industry, there won’t be much in the way of annual raises and bonuses this year. (We receive these incentives a few months after the end of the year in which they are earned.)
Barack Obama is prepared to step in with an economic stimulus that might allow workers to take more money home in paychecks. One proposal includes a tax credit advance to taxpayers. Through changing withholding amounts, employees would see this tax break as an additional $150 or more in each bi-weekly paycheck during the first quarter of 2009. For individuals with salaries below $75,000 or couples earning less than $150,000, a payroll tax credit would be offered, $500 for individuals or $1,000 for couples.
Rather than spreading the credit out throughout the year, the proposal calls for accelerating the credit to be fully provided within the first three months of the year.
Giving more money to taxpayers hasn’t really worked as an “economic stimulus” so far. This seems to be a unique way to approach the problem of stimulating the economy, but I’m not sure it will work on its own. Nevertheless, I can understand how this would be a welcome plan in a year in which companies can’t or won’t offer pay increases. The mantra heard most often now is that one should just be lucky to have a job at all.
Throughout December, WTDirect has been offering an opportunity for new customers to earn up to $250 by opening a new account. The bank is offering a good interest rate right now (3.06% APY) for customers with balances of $10,000 or higher.
The opportunity to earn this bonus is ending tomorrow, December 31, 2008. Here is what you need to know in order to qualify.
Open an account at WTDirect and link your existing bank account while applying. Before December 31, fund the account with an online transfer from your linked bank account. Maintain an average balance of at least $10,000 between January 1 and February 28, 2009. If you’ve done this much, you will receive your bonus in March, and it will be available for withdrawal immediately.
Here is how to determine the amount of your bonus, based on your average balance throughout January and February.
If your average balance is at least $10,000, you will receive a $50 bonus.
If your average balance is at least $20,000, you will receive a $100 bonus.
If your average balance is at least $30,000, you will receive a $150 bonus.
If your average balance is at least $40,000, you will receive a $200 bonus.
If your average balance is at least $50,000, you will receive a $250 bonus.
WTDirect does not charge any fees nor does it have a minimum balance requirement (other than for the bonus and the interest rate).
When you apply for the bank account, use the promotion code WTG3DNC. This code will be automatically applied if you visit WTDirect using this link.
If your account is compromised, Visa is committed to setting things right without further aggravation or inconvenience to you. Visa’s cardholder protection policy requires all financial institutions issuing Visa products to extend provisional credit for losses from unauthorized card use within 5 business days of notification of the loss. Many institutions will provide replacement funds even faster, sometimes within 24 to 48 hours.
What if the network or the merchant experiences a “computer glitch?” That’s doesn’t necessarily mean the account is “compromised.” But this is exactly what happened recently, although the problem appears to be due to the merchant rather than the network.
On Saturday, December 20, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, stores in Macy’s Central and East divisions experienced a period of almost two hours during which customers who completed purchases using a debit card were charged twice.
As a result, their bank accounts were debited twice as much as they expected, and as a result of this, many people were slapped with overdraft fees by their banks.
A Highland Village woman said her son bought her a set of knives for Christmas at Macy’s at Vista Ridge Mall in Lewisville [Texas]. She said he spent $78 for the gift, then later discovered that another $78 had been debited from his checking account. He was eventually charged $50 in bounced-check fees, said the woman, who didn’t want to be identified.
Following, there was aggravation and inconvenience. She, like everyone else who was unlucky enough to use a debit card in this situation, had to fax checking account statements. The store would take up to 10 days before refunding everyone’s overcharges.
Will the store pay everyone back for overdraft fees incurred due to duplicate charges? It’s not clear, but I wouldn’t count on it. This is a real life example of why you should avoid debit cards or any agreement where you authorize a merchant to automatically debit your checking account.
Use cash to ensure you always have the money available for your purchase. You’ll be sure the cashier won’t take your cash twice. Use a credit card to ensure you have protection for fraud and “computer glitches” and to put another layer between the merchant and your bank account. Monitor your accounts frequently to make sure you don’t see any unauthorized or suspicious activity.
If you do not already have an account at ING Direct and you’re interested in opening up a new savings account or checking account at this online bank, you can earn a $25 bonus just by using one of these referral links. If you transfer more than $250 as your initial deposit into your new account, you will receive $25 in the form of bonus interest.
At the same time, the Consumerism Commentary reader who provided the referral link will earn $10. I’ve previously used all of my available links, so I’ve opened this up to the public. Once your account is established, ING Direct will grant you referral links to share with your friends. It’s kind of a pyramid scheme, but it’s good. When you have links to share, watch here. I’ll be opening a new waiting list soon for readers who would like to earn money by posting their links.
Update: The waiting list is now open. If you’d like to share your own ING Direct referral links, read this information. I’m now looking for Consumerism Commentary readers to share links by adding their names to the waiting list.
Six or seven years ago, a couple I knew married each other and bought a house right away. I can’t claim to know their personal financial details, but I am sure the value of the house was well beyond three times their combined income. The husband explained to me that house values never go down, so the purchase was a good investment.
It’s true that for many years, the New Jersey county they lived in has seen incredible increases in average housing values. And according to the Housing Price Index (HPI) offered by the Office of Federal Housing Oversight, it’s quite possible that prices in their area continued to increase, although data on their town is not available. A nearby locality has seen consistent price increases from 1997 through 2006, followed by decreases in 2007 and 2008.
The methodology for determining this index is not perfect. This area has seen almost constant development in the past ten years with larger and more expensive homes being built. The HPI only counts single-family residential properties that have had two mortgages originated by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Eventually, these new homes would increasingly have two mortgages as described, some sooner than others. When these larger, bigger homes enter the index, they skew the numbers higher.
While part of the index represents actual increases in house values, some of the increase is due to newer construction and the tendency to build bigger.
Meanwhile, another housing price index, the S&P Case-Shiller index, has posted the biggest decrease ever, 18% down from the same time last year. This is the 27th consecutive month showing a year-over-year decrease.
Every Tuesday, Smithee presents an article about his own experiences with credit cards and observations about the credit card industry.
A few weeks ago I was the victim of debit card fraud. In my case the system worked very well. The bank’s automatic mechanisms noticed a few big-ticket items being purchased in Chicago, which is quite far from where I live. The first one went through, the second one was held up and I started getting calls from the bank’s fraud detection department.
So, that card number had to be canceled and I got a replacement with a new number within a few days. The money was also refunded, but the surprise came when I noticed the new card had that little “PayPass” logo on it. You know, the thing that’s supposed to let you tap the card against a reader instead of sliding it through the reader? (Think of the time saved!) The old one didn’t have PayPass on it, and I was ambivalent about the technology, having read reports about how it’s not all that much faster.
The bigger problem is that it uses RFID, which is not exactly ready for prime time. To make a long story short, people can easily, and cheaply, extract the data from your card without you knowing. Here’s a video with a demonstration:
Interesting side note: Mythbusters was going to do a show about this, before the idea was quashed.
The Carnival of Personal Finance has been running consecutively for 185 weeks. The latest edition is live at the Fraud Files blog, and every Monday this celebration of the week’s best in personal finance blogs is hosted at a new location.
For bloggers, hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance is a good way to increase your blog’s exposure in the personal finance community. The Carnival is currently seeking volunteers to host on Mondays in January, February, and March. Hosts will receive access to the week’s submissions and review the articles. Here is more information about hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance. If you’re ready to request a slot for hosting, fill out this quick form.
Besides the Editor’s Picks, here are some of the most interesting articles included in the 185th Carnival of Personal Finance.
Over the last 36 years whose first five days resulted in a stock market increase, 31 of those years experienced an overall good year for stocks. While that’s a good track record, it’s not an infallible indicator. There are three trading days left in 2008, a lost cause for the stock market.
This method has an 86% success ratio. Will you make any investing decisions based on the market’s performance during the first five trading days of January?
LeanLifeCoach: In the end how much will the IRS really get; 10% maybe 20% of all this money? And how much will we spend collectively in actual dollars and... on Enforcing Tax Laws Works. Go Figure.
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Following, there was aggravation and inconvenience. She, like everyone else who was unlucky enough to use a debit card in this situation, had to fax checking account statements. The store would take up to 10 days before refunding everyone’s overcharges.
