• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Faithful with a Few

  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

bank

A Quick & Easy Way To Make $100 By Independence Day!

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

So you probably all know by now that I love the concept of online savings. An online bank account is a great way to avoid the fees associated with traditional banking, reduce the temptation of impulsive spending, and earn higher interest rates and cash back in the process!

A few times this year I have linked to the 52-week saving challenge that we are doing, and tracking the progress on our weight loss and debt repayment blog. For a number of reasons (which I highlighted in this post), we decided to go with Capital One 360 (formally known as ING Direct) to open our online accounts.

Capital One 360 Independence Bonus

Well, for the next few days, Capital One is offering a $100 bonus for opening a checking account with them!!! Here’s how…

  1. Open a fee-free 360 Checking® account between June 30th and July 3rd.
  2. Use your Debit Card to make 5 purchases or use CheckMateSM to make 5 deposits (or a combo of both) within 45 days.
  3. Snag your $100 bonus on day 50.

Here’s how you can earn an additional $76 Bonus…

  1. Open a no-fee 360 Savings® account between June 30th and July 3rd (with a deposit of $500 or more).
  2. Snag a $76 bonus and start earning interest.
  3. Celebrate the fact that you’re on the road to saving.

Click here to get started with both a checking and savings account and earn your bonuses today! Note that there are also additional bonuses that you can earn – you’ll see them when you reach the site.

Filed Under: Personal Finance Tagged With: bank, bank accounts, bank bonus, banking, capital one 360, free money, online banking, online checking account, online savings account

Dealing With Financial Stress Is Driving Us To Get Out Of Debt!

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

I had a lot of crazy things happen to me this week financially with my business and my personal bank accounts and even credit cards.

My Poor Business Accounts

On the business side everything started off fine. I made a few purchases from Amazon.com and everything went through without a problem. Then all of a sudden I received an e-mail from Amazon telling me that the payment didn’t go through, and they needed me to adjust the payment information on the purchases.

Problems With My Business Credit Card

When I logged into my credit card account, it showed that I was late by two or three business days in making this most recent payment. Apparently the electronic notification got lost in a bunch of other e-mails in my inbox. Things have been so hectic lately and when I went to check on things, the payment was already late.

I guess it’s their policy that if you miss a payment by a couple of days they automatically shut down the credit card; Which on one hand I can understand – I think it’s a good thing (because if you’re having trouble making your payments you probably shouldn’t be extended any further credit), but on the other hand, it is definitely is a pain if it was an oversight (and not due to financial struggles), as was the case this.

So I immediately log into my business checking account to send over a payment so that I can clear this up immediately. Even though I use the same bank for my checking account (like this one from http://www.bbt.com) and the credit card, it still takes a couple days in order for them to process a payment.

Computer Problems

Did It Really Spread To My Business Checking?

Once I logged in to the checking account I noticed that the account was in overdraft. As I looked further to figure out what was going on, I noticed that there was a huge charge that hit my checking account through PayPal. Well, I had my PayPal purchases set to all go through my credit card, because I don’t like surprises popping up in my checking account. I had no idea why PayPal chose to my bank account rather than my credit card, since the credit card was still active at the time of the PayPal withdraw.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that I can do about that payment coming out of my bank account instead of the credit card, so all that was left for me to do was to try to put money in my bank account so that I wouldn’t be in the negative and so that I can pay my credit card.

Since the time of the PayPal debit (which was just a day or two) I had received money into my business PayPal account. I transfered that money over immediately, but of course, like all other electronic transfers it would take a couple of days to hit the checking account.

Slow Transfers Within The Same Bank…Ugh

Initially, I didn’t remember that I had set up another online account a while ago and connected it to a system that was set up for me to earn money for my business. Once I remembered, I had to go into that account and make a transfer; but before I could do that I had to connect the two accounts. This meant that this online bank account had to make two small deposits into my business checking account and then I had to log in and verify those payments, so that they would know that I had access to the business account.

What makes this crazy is that all of this is with the same bank; the credit cards, my business checking account, and also this online banking account (which was recently taken over by my business bank).

Unfortunately they don’t have their systems set up to where they recognize different segments of their company as being one in the same, so that I can have my money transferred immediately – if that was the case this whole problem would’ve been solved on the same day.

I love the bank and have had no problems with them and ultimately this was my fault, however if the sites were a little more up to date, this problem would have been taken care of immediately.

Riding In The Rain

I’m actually sitting in my car on a rainy Saturday morning dictating this into my voice recorder. I just came from another bank where we have an account set up for emergency purposes. I took money out of that account and then drove over to my business bank and made a deposit with them. Of course, since this is a Saturday I won’t see that deposit hit the account until Monday.

Once that happens I will be able to make the payment on my business credit card and free up that account.

Safeguards That I Will Put In Place

What I plan to do to avoid this is to set up reminders on my calendar that will prompt me to go check my credit card statement. I don’t like to have a balance at the end of the month on my business credit card, however over the last month or two I’ve had to make several large purchases, which I hope to have paid off over the next couple months.

I also plan to set up a business savings account so that I don’t have to keep relying on these online transfers that take two or three days or waking up driving out in the rain to take out cash and make deposits.

Problems With Our Personal Accounts, Too?

Stress Over Debt

As all that was going on, we also had a very tight month financially with our personal finances. Now, this was to be expected because the prior month we had to go over our budget in several categories because of different things that came up in life.

At the beginning of the month I projected our finances for the next couple of weeks (which I do with every paycheck), and I knew that we would be extremely tight for this entire month. However, we had a couple small things, that we had to take care of which were somewhat unexpected.

The other day I woke up to a low balance threshold alert from my bank. I’m glad that I set this up at some point in the past, so any time our checking account balance goes below $100 my wife and I are both sent an e-mail just to give us warning.

Fortunately I was able to log into our savings account and move some money over, because I know we have one annual payment that is due at some point this month.

Unfortunately, as I was doing our finances, I did notice that one of our credit card companies said that we had a late payment. This is quite odd, since I schedule all payments weeks in advance. When I looked at the e-mail that I  received from them when the statement was ready, I noticed something quite peculiar: the e-mail was sent on one particular day, and the payment was due 2 or 3 business days after they sent the e-mail!

Well, I go over our finances every Friday or Saturday, depending on my schedule, so if I received an e-mail on Monday saying there is a new statement I would just review it on that Friday or Saturday! Usually you are given about 20 or even 30 days in some cases before the payment is due, and I usually don’t worry about logging in on that same day.

Now that I think about it while I’m talking, I’m not sure if what they did was even legal. I think there was something in the credit card act  signed a few years ago that states that they have to give maybe 15 or 20 calendar days from the time that the statement comes out until your next payment is due (I just checked the article that I wrote back then…they have to give you 21 days). So I’m going to check that. And even if that isn’t a requirement, the fact that they gave me five calendar days of perhaps three business days is unacceptable my opinion and I definitely plan to fight any charges that may come.

More Reasons To Hate Debt!

This just furthers the biblical principle that debt is equivalent to slavery. It causes undue stress and it puts us under the rules and regulations of another person, financially. This is even more motivation for us to get out of debt and to have some freedom in our lives.

Filed Under: Personal Finance Tagged With: bank, banking, Business Account, capital one, Cause, credit card, Credit Card Account, Dealing, debt, electronic commerce, Financial Stress, Financial Struggle, online banking, Overdraft, Paypal, stress

How to Create Your Own CD Ladder

By //  by Kevin M

Lots of people are really disappointed with the rate of return they are getting on their savings. That’s even causing a lot of people choose not to save. After all, the alternatives are a lot more exciting. Instead of putting your money in the bank, you can spend it on things that you like, or take a chance at higher returns by investing in the stock market.

Both outcomes are the exact purpose behind the super low interest rates we are seeing. If you are out shopping and/or investing your money in stocks, you are doing exactly what policymakers want you to do with your money. But what if that’s not quite what you want to do?

If you like having money in the bank, and you want to get better interest rate returns than you are getting in money market funds and savings accounts, you may be interested in building your own CD ladder.

CD Ladder Strategy

What is a CD Ladder Strategy?

A CD ladder is a portfolio of certificates of deposit (CDs) with varying maturity dates. The best way to explain this is with an example. Let‘s say that you have $12,000 that you want hold in your savings. You want to invest it in CDs because they pay more than savings accounts or money markets. But at the same time, you don’t want to tie all of your money up in one CD for six months or a year.

You can create a CD ladder by investing $1,000 each month in a one year CD. Since you have $12,000, you can purchase one $1,000 CD each month for a year. After one year you will have a portfolio of CDs, with one renewing every month.

In effect, you will have created your own high interest rate money market fund, complete with FDIC insurance. Since you will have a CD renewing every month, you’ll be able to take advantage of higher interest rates as they become available. Should rates drop (which is hard to imagine considering how low they are right now) you will still have a large number of older CDs drawing higher interest rates.

Why Should You Want To Build One?

The reason for building a CD ladder is simple: money market funds and savings accounts are paying interest rates that are a low fraction of 1%. Because they are time deposits, CDs have higher interest rates. By laddering several CDs you avoid tying your money up in a single security.

Using A CD Laddering Strategy For Liquidity

In the example above, we described a CD portfolio in which one CD will be up for renewal every month. That will enable you to have access to at least some of your cash each month, with more coming available with every passing month. This will enable you to earn higher rates of return than you will get in savings accounts and money market funds, while still preserving some measure of liquidity.

If you want to increase the liquidity of your CD ladder, you can always invest in short-term CDs. You can build your ladder using three months or six months CDs, rather than one year CDs. That will improve your liquidity but it will also cut down CD rates of return, since shorter-term securities pay lower rates of interest.

CD Ladder Strategy For Interest Rate Return

You can also extend your CD maturities in order to increase the rate of return. You can do this either by investing in longer-term CDs, such as 18 month or two year CDs, or you can build a portfolio of CDs with various maturities.

As an example, you can make a CD ladder that includes maturities of six months, one year, two years and five years. Longer-term CDs will generally pay higher interest rates, while the shorter-term CDs pay less. The blending of the various maturities will create an even higher rate of return than you will get on a ladder composed entirely of short-term CDs. But with the longer term CDs you will also be losing liuidity, since longer maturities also mean slower renewals.

How Complicated Is It To Develop A CD Ladder Strategy?

Building your own CD ladder isn’t that complicated. In fact once you get it going it’s a completely passive undertaking. You can set up your CD ladder, then authorize your bank to automatically roll the CDs over as they mature. Typically, you will have them rolled over into CDs of the same term.

You can purchase CDs out of your savings account or bank money market fund. You can make your monthly purchase, or purchase a portfolio of CDs with varying maturities, either of which is a simple process. There will be little to do, and higher interest income to collect.

It will be like creating a high interest money market fund, but one that you control.

photo credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

Filed Under: Investing Tagged With: A Cd, bank, Building A Cd Ladder, cd, Cd Ladder, Cd Laddering Strategy, Certificate Of Deposit, funds, Interest Rate, Ladder Strategy, Laddering, low interest rates, Money Market Fund

The Treasury Department’s New Regulation To Protect Social Security Benefits

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

Recently, the United States Treasury Department put a new rule into place that seeks to protect those the garnishment of Social Security benefits. When you are collecting, and depending on, Social Security benefits, it can be extremely difficult to deal with debt collectors. To then have your bank garnish your Social Security benefits, can put you in a position where you have very few options.

According to an article on Market Watch:

Before the new rule, when debt collectors pursuing an unpaid debt secured a court-ordered garnishment, the bank often would simply freeze the money in the debtor’s account, whether or not it included federal payments, such as Social Security benefits, said Margot Saunders, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center.

The easiest thing for a bank to do in this instance is to freeze the entire account, regardless of the source of the deposits. The problem with that type of response, is that it can leave the recipient – oftentimes an elderly person – with no way to pay for basic living expenses.

There are actually rules and exemptions in place, which govern when and how a debt collector can garnish Social Security benefits, but as Saunders points out, “It’s very, very difficult for an elderly person to step through the hoops that are required for exemptions… In the meantime, while they’re going through that process, they have no money.”

Having all of your money frozen at once can lead to financial disaster for someone in a social welfare program.

A New Rule For Banks Ordered To Garnish Social Security Benefits

In an effort to help beneficiaries avoid undue hardship, the Treasury Department will now require banks to verify whether the money in the accounts came from an automatic deposit of federal benefits (including Social Security). If so, the bank is required to leave two months’ worth of federal benefits in the account untouched, so that they can be used to cover living expenses.

However, if the benefits were deposited more than two months in the past, or if they were deposited by check (no matter how recent), then the bank is free to freeze the entire account. The recipient will then have to follow the normal procedure for claiming an exemption in their state.

You may not think that there are a lot of people who are affected by this, but the National Consumer Law Center says otherwise:

NCLC estimates that more than 1 million federal-payment recipients annually had their benefits garnished in a bank account. That estimate is based on “the number of complaints and concerns we get from lawyers around the country,” Saunders said. She said legal-aid lawyers cite such garnishment as among the most significant consumer problems, second only to mortgage-related issues.

This new rule will be a welcome relief to many who were already struggling to make ends meet, and pay off debt at the same time. Whether they be dealing with student loan repayments, credit card debt, or medical debt, they will now be given a little bit of breathing room while they consider their options.

Garnishment Of Your Social Security Benefits By The Government

Keep in mind that this new law only governs court orders directed at banks (after the benefits have been paid). It is still possible to have money withheld from your payments at the Federal level, before you receive a disbursement.

According to the Social Security Administration, here are a few common circumstances in which the Federal government can garnish Social Security benefits:

  • To enforce child support or alimony obligations under Section 459 of the Social Security Act;
  • Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can levy against benefits to collect unpaid Federal taxes according to Section 6334(c) of the Internal Revenue Code;
  • IRS can collect taxes due by levying up to 15 percent of a monthly benefit until the debt is paid;
  • IRS allows beneficiaries to have a portion of their check withheld to satisfy a current year Federal income tax liability according to Section 3402 (P) of the Internal Revenue Code;
  • Other Federal agencies can collect money from benefits to pay a non-tax debt owed to that agency according to the Debt Collection Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-134); and
  • Under the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act, certain civil penalties provide the right to garnish benefits under 18 USC 3613.

This list looks similar to the circumstances in which your tax refund can be garnished. This is why it is so important to take care of all debt before you retire, and never become a cosigner for a loan.

It is much easier to deal with these issues when you have a lot of options, instead of waiting until bankruptcy and debt are all that you have in front of you.

photo by DonkeyHotey

Filed Under: Debt Management, Retirement Tagged With: bank, benefits, civil procedure, collection agency, contract law, credit, debt, debt collectors, federal benefits, federal insurance contributions act tax, federal reserve system, finance, garnish, garnish social security, garnishing, garnishment, labor, law, protect, rule, social security, social security act, social security administration, social security benefits, the elderly, treasury department

Need To See A Doctor? Go Rob A Bank!

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

According to a recent article by the Gaston Gazette, James Richard Verne decided to rob a bank in order to receive free medical care. My first thought when I read about this was, “who robs a bank in order to get medical care?”, but the question became a little more clear as the story unfolded.

On June 9th of this year, James Richard Verone walked into a random bank in Gaston, N.C., and handed the teller a note demanding $1 and medical attention. He then told the teller that he would sit down and wait for the police to show up.

Growing Medical Ailments

The purpose of him “robbing” the bank, was to get medical care. He actually has a part-time job as a convenience store clerk, but apparently doesn’t have medical insurance.

Here is what the article had to say about his work situation:

Verone worked for Coca-Cola for 17 years. He prided himself on keeping his nose to the grindstone. Don’t make enemies. Sell the product. Make your deliveries and stick to your schedule.

When his career as a cola delivery man ended some three years ago, Verone was knocked out of his comfort zone.

He hopped back in the saddle driving a truck. But that employment didn’t have near the longevity, and Verone found himself jobless.

He lived off of savings and sought a part-time job.

Many people in this country work either full-time or part-time jobs with no (or inadequate) health insurance coverage, and do just fine. However, Mr. Verne had a host of ailments that made him want to take desperate action:

But the bending, standing and lifting were too much for him. The Gastonia man’s back ached; problems with his left foot caused him to limp. His knuckles swelled from arthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome made daily tasks difficult.

Then he noticed a protrusion on his chest.

Strapped for cash, Verone looked into filing for disability. He applied for early Social Security.

The only thing Verone qualified for was food stamps. The extra money helped, but he felt desperate. He needed to get medical attention, and he refused to be a burden on his sister and brothers.

“The pain was beyond the tolerance that I could accept,” he said. “I kind of hit a brick wall with everything.”

Verone is 59 years old, and has a host of medical problems. The article doesn’t tell us what steps he took in order to get medical care, so we can’t say anything about injustice or unfair treatment by the “system”.

The Solution: Rob A Bank!

I am not sure how much time and energy he spent seeking more traditional avenues, but his actions show that he spent time planning this move!

He considered turning to a homeless shelter and seeking medical help through charitable organizations.

Then he had another idea: commit a crime and get set up with a place to stay, food and doctors.

…Verone sold and donated his furniture. He paid his last month’s rent and gave his notice.

He moved into the Hampton Inn for the last couple of days.

The article didn’t say why he only “considered” seeking medical help through charitable organizations, or free clinics. I know many people who don’t have insurance either due to being unemployed or part of the contingent workforce, but they still find ways to get medical treatment when they need it.

It can be easy to feel sorry for this guy – and in a way, I do – but, there seems to be a large part of this story that is missing. Maybe he could have simply gone into debt, trying to pay for treatment. Then his choices would have been to either pay off debt, or file for bankruptcy.

He could have shown the determination that the parents of Michael Bibbo (a young man who is suffering from Primary Lymphedema <–click to read his story and donate to the cause) are showing! His potentially life-saving surgery will cost over $90,000 and is not covered by insurance. Instead of sending him off to jail, they are trying to raise money, and are even willing to borrow whatever they don’t raise, in order to save his life!

From The Mouth Of Verone

To make sure that his intentions were clear, Verone mailed out a letter to The Gazette  on the day that he robbed the bank (but before he committed the crime). He even listed his return address as the Gaston County Jail:

“When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me. This robbery is being committed by me for one dollar,” he wrote. “I am of sound mind but not so much sound body.”

“I knew that a felony would not hurt me. I cannot work anymore,” he said. “That felony is going to hurt my reputation.”

Unless I were to receive more information – showing that he was denied medical care because he didn’t have insurance – I am compelled to believe that he didn’t explore all of his options!

He doesn’t feel bad about his decision, and says that he will do it again if his sentence isn’t severe enough for his liking!

photo by Ben Goff/The Gazette

What Do You Think?

I have a habit of being hard on people in situations such as these. Besides considering how ridiculous and wrong this is, I can’t get passed the fact that (based on the information we have) it doesn’t seem as if he exhausted all of his options. I know (and have known) plenty of people who didn’t have health insurance, but still managed to get health care when needed – even if that meant incurring debt!

So, I want to hear what you all have to say about this story.

  1. Based on the information that we are given in the article and his letter, do you think that he made the right decision?
  2. Would you be willing to go into extreme debt in order to seek medical help?
  3. Would you be willing to go to jail in order to get medical care?
  4. Considering the fact that he wasn’t facing a life or death situation, if you were in his position, what would you have done?

Filed Under: Healthcare, Insurance Tagged With: bank, bank robbery, Economics, finance, gaston gazette, health insurance, Insurance, james richard verone, medical ailments, medical attention, medical care, medical insurance, medical treatment, medicine, robs, strange story, verone

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Copyright © 2022 · Mai Lifestyle Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in