Manage Your Finances With Smartphone Apps
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الخميس، 1 ديسمبر 2016
Gender Gap Identified In Mortgage Market
Gender Gap Identified In Mortgage Market
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Monroe and Pike jobless figures stable but worsened over year
Education and health services jobs were at an all-time high in Monroe County during October as the county’s unemployment rate continued to show stability.The jobless rate was at 6.8 percent in October, the third consecutive month without change, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis.The state’s unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a percent to 5.8 percent and the national rate [...]
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Barnes & Noble is Throwing a Free Harry Potter Yule Ball! Are You Going?
Muggles, squibs and wizards in training: Come one, come all!
Friday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m., Barnes & Noble is holding a magical holiday ball.
Yes, it’s inspired by the annual Yuletide dance at Hogwarts, and yes, it’s totally free.
And yes, it’s exactly what this Penny Hoarder’s putting in the “hot Friday night plans” slot on her calendar next week, quickly approaching 30th birthday or no.
How to Attend Barnes & Noble’s Free Harry Potter Yule Ball
It’s pretty simple: Just head to your local Barnes & Noble next Friday to partake in a fun night of nerdery starting at 7 p.m., local time. (According to the company’s Facebook announcement, each and every location is participating.)
Guests can look forward to “costumes, holiday attire, music, dancing and special themed crafts.”
Does this mean you get to create your own wand? I don’t know. But I definitely intend to find out.
And don’t feel weird if you’re taking a page out of my book and heading to the event as a child-free adult. “Customers of all ages are invited,” the announcement says.
To be honest, I’d probably go regardless. What can I say? “Fantastic Beasts” did little but whet my appetite.
Accio free fun!
Your Turn: Which house are you in?
Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder and a total Ravenclaw. Her writing has also been featured at The Write Life, Word Riot, Nashville Review and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.
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Feeling Out of Control at Work? It Could Be Hazardous to Your Health
We know a high-stress job can be bad for your health (and your marriage).
But a new study suggests a demanding job could actually benefit your well-being — under the right circumstances.
Researchers at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business conducted a study to find the relationship between job demands, level of control and likelihood of death. They looked at a sample of more than 2,300 Wisconsin residents in their mid-60s over seven years.
The study found job positions with low control and high demand — like retail, food service or office administrative work — increased the likelihood of death by 15%.
Plainly, lack of control in your job could mean you’ll die younger.
The demand of these jobs — dealing with customers, odd shifts and hours on your feet — take a physical and psychological toll on the body.
That’s aggravated by relatively low control. Employees have little say over how things are run or what they can do to resolve stressful situations.
However, high-demand jobs where employees have greater control decreased the likelihood of death by 34%.
A CEO may deal with a lot of demand, but they also dictate exactly how to solve the issues they face. In that case, a job is challenging and rewarding, not exhausting and wearing.
So it may not be stress in your job that deteriorates your health, but your inflexibility to deal with that stress.
“Job demands, especially those linked to challenge stressors, are stressors that individuals are motivated to resolve, and strain is likely to result when individuals are unable to resolve the source of stress,” the study authors wrote, Forbes reported.
To explain the decrease in likelihood of death for high-demand jobs with higher control, authors wrote:
“This stems from our logic that, when coupled with high control, demanding jobs provide individuals with psychological fulfillment derived from personal growth, demonstration of mastery, and increased feelings of competence because they have the necessary resources to respond to challenges in the work environment.”
How to Get Greater Control in Your Job
The study’s authors make recommendations for managers to offer employees more control — or perception of control — in their job.
“We urge managers to consider the effects that job demands and control factors have on employee mortality when structuring work,” they wrote.
That’s a heavy burden for managers to bear.
Why not be proactive and take on some of the responsibility yourself? Here are some tips for taking back control at work.
1. Ask for a raise.
Some of the most helpless moments in my life have been working a miserable job and still not being able to make ends meet. Take the reins, and ask to be paid what you’re worth.
Afraid to start? Read these tips on how to ask for a raise.
2. Change the way you work.
Do you struggle to get your work done because of inefficiencies in the processes you were taught? Do it differently!
Sometimes you just have to show the boss your way works. TPH contributor Steve Gillman said when he was working in restaurant management, he was able to get his bosses to let him log three hours’ pay for one hour of work because he saved them so much overall with his efficiency.
3. Learn as much as you can.
When I worked in retail food service in my late teens, I generally despised every rule handed down from our corporate overlords.
But I was able to enjoy my job, because I made my manager explain the reasoning behind every one of those rules, giving me a crash course of sorts in retail business management.
Learning what was going on in the corporate offices helped me better understand the work I was doing on the ground and made me feel (a little) less like an unimportant cog in the machine.
It also helped me resolve tricky customer complaints, because I could actually answer the questions customers had about why we did things the way we did.
4. Build alliances.
Alright, maybe don’t go as far as to team up with certain coworkers in battle against others. But it could help to develop relationships at work, both with people in your position and higher-ups.
Allies in your position can teach you new strategies for problem-solving. Strong ties with your managers or supervisors might mean they’re more willing to listen to your input or throw you a bone when you need it.
One study even showed people with friends at work live longer!
5. Don’t try so hard.
This may not always be the solution, but it’s not a terrible idea.
Gillman suggests, “Maybe you just take your job too seriously and work too hard. That crappy job might be more bearable if you just do less.”
You may be a natural go-getter or problem-solver. But if the problems in your job are above your paygrade, let ‘em go. Do your job, but don’t take on extra stress if it’s not going to pay off.
Your Turn: What tips can you add for taking control in a low-control job?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).
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No let-up in the North-South house price divide
The north-south divide when it comes to property prices is still firmly in place and can make a difference of £200,000, new research has revealed.
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It’s World AIDS Day. Here’s Where to Get Tested for Free
The first day of December means the holiday spirit is in full swing, but it’s also a time for a more sobering reflection.
It’s World AIDS Day, the day set aside by the U.K.’s National AIDS Trust for all of us to show our support, awareness and respect to those affected by the disease — and to unite in our fight against it.
And while wearing red or donating some of your hoarded pennies is a great start, the best way to stop HIV — and the spread of STDs in general — is to get tested.
Yes, that means you, even if you think you’re not at risk.
How to Find Free STD Testing in Your Area
To combat this important public health issue, many social service providers offer free or affordable testing for HIV, hepatitis and other STDs.
To find testing centers near you, plug your zip code into this free tool from the CDC.
Once the map of your area populates, you can filter for free HIV tests under the “HIV Tests” tab, and see the full list of each provider’s offerings.
And if you have insurance, check with your primary care doctor about getting tested. Under the Affordable Care Act, your insurance likely covers HIV testing as well as tests for other diseases.
As nerve-wracking as it can be to wait for those results, knowing for sure is empowering and potentially life-saving, whether you’re positive or not.
On World AIDS Day and every day, we owe that knowledge to ourselves… and to one another.
Your Turn: Do you know your status?
Jamie Cattanach is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at The Write Life, Word Riot, Nashville Review and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.
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Jobs Announcement, Cabinet Picks Show Economy Trump's Top Priority
Jobs Announcement, Cabinet Picks Show Economy Trump's Top Priority
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31 Days to Financial Independence (Day 16): Trimming Your Spending – Education and Miscellany
“31 Days to Financial Independence” is an ongoing series that appears every Thursday on The Simple Dollar. You might want to start this series from the beginning!
Last time, we continued looking at the average American family budget, going through each category and examining how one could trim the cost of typical expenses in that category. Here’s the “average American family budget” that we’re looking at, along with links back to the earlier entries on those specific areas:
Housing – $10,080
Transportation – $9,004
Taxes – $7,432
Utilities – $7,068
Food – $6,602
Insurance (including things like pensions) – $5,528
Debt Payments – $5,252
Healthcare – $3,631
Entertainment – $2,564
Cash Contributions – $1,834
Apparel and Services – $1,604
Education – $1,138
Vices – $775
Miscellaneous – $664
Personal Care – $608
TOTAL – $63,784
Exercise #16 – Trim Your Education and Vice Spending
Each state runs its own 529 plan, so look at the one in your own state first (particularly if you live in a state with state income taxes). Most plans are pretty comparable, with comparison sites digging rather deep to find significant differences between plans. I’ve been happy with Iowa’s plan for years.
Get electives and basic courses out of the way at a community college that transfers credits to your school of choice. The reason for this is very simple: community college credits are far less expensive than credits at a typical university, so if you can get credits at the community college level that transfer to the university you want to graduate from, you’re going to save literally thousands of dollars. Plus, it’s very likely that you can take those community college courses locally, whereas a university might not be easily available to you.
Many students follow a path of working while taking night time and weekend community college courses, then transferring to a university a few years later to finish up their studies and earn a degree from a much more prestigious school in just a year or two. This drastically cuts into their educational expenses because many of the credits were earned at the much less expensive community college.
Strongly consider a public university over a private one. When you’re considering which school to go to, don’t worry about going to the best school that you can get into. Instead, focus on the school that offers the best “bang for the buck,” and that’s often going to be a public university in your state.
Public universities are large, which can intimidate people, but they also offer tons of opportunity. You can often find classes there that you can’t find at smaller schools, plus there are often extracurricular opportunities that you just can’t find at smaller schools. Not only that, the tuition is almost always drastically lower, particularly if you’re an in-state student.
Strongly consider an in-state school instead of an out-of-state school. If you’ve made the decision to attend a public university, you’ll quickly realize that most public universities are far cheaper if you attend as an in-state student rather than as an out-of-state student. In other words, if you are a citizen of that particular state (and the exact qualifications of citizen vary, but they generally involve being a resident for more than a year), your tuition costs drop drastically.
It is almost always worth it, then, to either attend a public university in the state where you currently live or spend a year establishing residence in the state where you want to attend school before attending. In both cases, the cost of tuition will drop through the floor.
Strongly consider a school close enough to home that you can live there. If you happen to live within a reasonable radius of a public university, give strong consideration to attending there. This enables you to live at home for a few years, which eliminates your housing cost and likely a significant portion of your food cost.
You can simply “commute” to school each morning, stay as late as you need to for classes, projects, and extracurriculars, and then go home each evening. There’s no housing cost. There’s very little transportation cost if you live in an area with good mass transit. Your food is probably covered if you live at home. Basically, your only expenses are education-related.
Apply for every scholarship you can find that you’re eligible for. Yes, this can mean that you spend a ton of free time filling out scholarship applications, writing essays, and searching for new scholarships, but it’s surprisingly worth it. Many scholarships get fewer applications than you might expect (I’ve served on the review board for a few and you’d be surprised how few people spend fifteen minutes filling out an application for a shot at $500), which basically means if you fill out a bunch of applications and sell yourself well, you’re likely to catch a few worms.
I recommend starting this process as early as possible. One big reason is that many scholarships ask for your total amount of other awarded scholarships, so if you start early, you can keep that number at “$0” on as many applications as possible. Another reason is that the earlier you take care of it, the more time you have later for even more applications. You can pay for a very large part of your education through piecemeal scholarships.
Plan your courses carefully to minimize your semester count. At most colleges and universities, you pay for tuition by the semester or term, so if you want to reduce your total expenses, you need to reduce your total count of semesters or terms. It’s just that simple.
The best way to do that is to plan for it. Schedule a meeting with your academic advisor outside of the “crunch times” and come up with a plan that can get you to your degree in the minimum number of semesters. Make that plan with a little bit of flexibility because there will be times when you don’t get into every class that you need, but strive for the minimum semester count.
Fill out the FAFSA, no matter your financial situation. There’s almost nothing but upside from filling out the FAFSA, even if you think you won’t receive any aid. The truth is that you’ll likely receive more than you think, particularly if you have lots of family members.
Fill it out, even if it feels like a hassle and even if you doubt that it will help. It can do nothing but help.
Get the smallest student loans you possibly can. Many people are tempted to get student loans that help them to finance some lifestyle “extras.” I’m guilty of this myself; I got a larger student loan than necessary to help pay for a larger apartment than what I really needed, cable service, a new computer, and so on. I didn’t really need any of those things.
The best strategy to follow when you’re getting student loans is to live as absolutely cheaply as you possibly can. Live in a tiny apartment with a roommate – it’s not like you will spend a lot of time there. Have a minimal wardrobe and don’t update it unless clothes are falling apart. Eat as inexpensively as you can. Spend nothing on entertainment; let Youtube and other free online sources be your entertainment.
Go minimal when buying stuff before your first semester. Many people tend to overbuy on items that they “need” before their first semester in college. Don’t. Go absolutely minimal instead.
I took way too much stuff to college my first year. Most of it sat around completely unused. It was a waste of money, to be honest. The only things I actually used with any frequency were about a third of my clothes, my toiletries, my school supplies, and my computer. Everything else was unnecessary.
If I were to start college over again, everything I would take with me would fit in a duffel bag and I’m not even remotely exaggerating. I’d take about five changes of clothes with one extra “nice” change of clothes, a laptop computer, a Kindle, bedsheets and a pillow, some notebooks and pens… and, honestly, that would be about it. If I were moving into an apartment, I would get a few basic dishes and a pot and some silverware from Goodwill. Nothing else is really necessary or will even be used.
If you have a meal plan, squeeze every ounce of value out of it. Different colleges and universities have different value propositions when it comes to their meal plans. Whatever it is, spend the time to figure out where the best “bang for the buck” is in terms of your meal plan and then extract every dime of value out of it.
For example, I had a friend in college who had a “one meal a day” plan in the campus food service. He ate exactly once a day in there … but he got every ounce of value out of it, going through the cafeteria line several times and getting incredibly full. Aside from that, he would eat a granola bar occasionally in the early part of the day to “provide fuel.” He was a Dean’s List student and seemed to thrive on it.
You won’t starve without a three-meal-a-day plan. Trust me. Just take maximum advantage of whatever plan you do have.
Take advantage of student discounts. You’ll find that many businesses and services around your university or college offer a great discount if you show your student ID. Take advantage of that, not to buy extra stuff, but to get discounts on the stuff you’d already buy.
If you decide you need a haircut, for instance, choose a place that has a good reputation and a student discount. If you need dental work, see if any dentists offer good arrangements for students. If you need a new hat, are there any clothiers that have a student discount? Milk that discount for every dime you can get from it.
Utilize on-campus resources to help manage your basic needs. When you’re in college, you’ll often find that many of your needs are handled perfectly well by on-campus services and programs that are freely available to all students. Universities often have a fitness center or two, so there’s no need to pay for a gym. They often have free health care services. They have free internet, so you don’t need to pay for it at your apartment.
My favorite benefit is the piles of free food. When I was a student, the student organizations were always having meetings where they provided pizza or some other food that was just free for the taking for anyone who showed up. I would constantly dabble in various student organizations, going to their meetings, eating the free food, hanging out with people for a while, hearing about what the club was up to or maybe listening to an interesting speaker, and then heading out. Free dinner, free social time, perhaps a free interesting presentation – it was a good deal, and it kept my food costs really low.
Get maximum value out of every educational experience. If you’re paying for an education, wring every dime of value out of that education. Don’t just take a class – do all of the homework, participate in the online discussion forums for that class (if they exist), and go to office hours. Ask tons of questions – everything that you can’t resolve yourself – and don’t be afraid of “dumb” questions.
Take advantage of the out-of-class educational opportunties that your tuition affords you as well. Go to on-campus talks that seem even remotely interesting – and mingle afterwards. Go to any and all meetings related to your department where you might have a chance to learn something and mingle with the professors. What you’re going to find is not only do you learn a bunch of useful additional things, but that you start building some really valuable relationships with people that can help springboard you into a career opportunity.
Buy your textbooks used and then re-sell them. Unless there is literally no other option, you should avoid buying a new textbook for a class. Buy used ones instead and then re-sell them at the end of the term to recoup some of your money and invest it in the next round of textbooks for the next semester (or pocket it when you’re done).
The best way to buy and resell used books is to watch bulletin boards in the buildings that you frequent on campus as well as Craigslist and any specific messageboards for your university. I highly recommend posting your books for sale as early as possible before the start of the next semester and indicating which classes they might be used for. You’ll often find that the sale of one semester’s books basically pays for the next semester’s books.
Tune in next time for the next entry in this series, which will take things in a new direction…
The post 31 Days to Financial Independence (Day 16): Trimming Your Spending – Education and Miscellany appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Ho Ho Ho! Santa Claus is Coming to White Castle — And Kids Eat Free
I don’t have kids, but I do walk by “The North Pole” in the malls during the holiday season. And those lines are almost always incredibly, painfully long.
The worst part about standing around waiting to take a selfie with Santa? Getting hangry right in the middle of it. I can’t imagine how that would feel with kids thrown into the mix, too.
But if you live in the Midwest or Mid-Atlantic, you’re in luck: White Castle is bringing Santa Claus to town and will feed your kids for FREE!
If you want a family portrait with Santa but would rather skip the fuss of an overcrowded mall, this deal is sure to put White Castle on your nice list.
How to Get a Free Kid’s Meal at White Castle in December
On Sunday, Dec. 11th, White Castle will host Santa Claus himself. Kids can meet and take photos with him — and enjoy a free My Size meal while they do it!
All you have to do is grab your camera and head over to your local White Castle between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Simply snap a photo of your little ones with Santa and then head to the counter for their free meals!
Free My Size meal options include an original or grilled chicken slider, or three chicken rings, and come with fries or applesauce and a My Size drink.
There’s a limit of four children per adult, so plan accordingly.
This deal is almost better than cookies and milk — but don’t tell Santa I said that!
Your turn: Will you take photos with Santa this year? Let us know in the comments below!
Kelly Smith is a junior writer and engagement specialist at The Penny Hoarder and a senior at The University of Tampa. She loves White Castles with cheese.
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Loyal savings customers getting a dud deal, says FCA
New research from the Financial Conduct Authority has highlighted the dismal rates being paid to the longest standing customers of banks and building societies.
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Read our 10 most popular stories from November 2016
1. Santander slashes 123 account interest: other options - Santander 123 account holders will earn just 1.5% interest from today (1 Nov), as the bank has slashed the rate from 3%.
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Motorists set to pay £5 more at the pump after Opec cuts oil supply
An agreement by Opec members to cut the oil supply by 1.2 million barrels per day between them saw oil prices rise dramatically early this morning – and UK motorists are due to bear the brunt of this to the tune of £5 per tank for the average sized family car.
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Three Things NOT to Do at Your Year-End Performance Review
The end of the year is performance-review time at many companies, which means that you’re probably reading this in between frantically reacquainting yourself with your goals for 2016, and wondering how to persuade your boss to give you a raise.
If you’re feeling a little nervous, take a deep breath. While annual reviews can be stressful, they’re also an opportunity to make your accomplishments known, advocate for yourself, and get on track for the coming year.
Go into the meeting prepared and with a clear head, and you could come out ahead. But first, let’s talk about what you absolutely shouldn’t do, if you want a productive and positive performance review.
Don’t…
1. Expect the worst.
Ideally, your manager is your partner, not your adversary. If he or she is any good at their job, you should already know where your weak spots are and what you need to do to improve, thanks to plenty of one-on-one meeting during the year. There should be no surprises in a performance evaluation, and if there are, that’s on your boss, not on you. (Provided that you’ve kept your ears open and that you’re receptive to constructive criticism.)
That said, not every manager is clear on their responsibility to communicate areas of improvement throughout the year. Some have trouble giving constructive criticism — even though research shows that workers want corrective feedback, provided it’s delivered in a helpful fashion.
Regardless, approaching your performance review like a trip to the principal’s office won’t help you get the conversation off to a positive start. Even if your manager highlights areas for improvement, that’s not necessarily a bad sign. In fact, it might show that he or she is willing to endure a tough conversation in order to help you achieve your potential at the organization.
2. Come in unprepared.
The biggest mistake you can make in a performance review is to wing it. For one thing, your lack of preparation will be evident, and give the impression that you’re not taking the meeting seriously — not what you’re trying to convey to the person in charge of your raise. For another, it’s hard to remember everything you’ve accomplished when you’re on the spot.
Start by gathering your materials, including your job description, goals from last year (if you were at the company at that time), and a list of what you’ve accomplished. Best-case scenario, you’ve been tracking these over the course of the year, and will just have to match your accomplishments against your goals. If you’re not quite that organized yet, go through your projects, folders, and inbox, and highlight your wins. Now’s the time to put a number and a dollar sign on what you’ve done. If you can demonstrate that you’ve made or saved the company money, you’ll be in a much better position going into your review.
3. Demand a raise.
It might surprise you to know that the end of the year is not necessarily the best time of year to ask for a raise. For one thing, budgets tend to be set. There’s no point in demanding a 10% raise if your manager only has a 3% bump in the budget.
That doesn’t mean that you should give up on getting more money. Provided your review is going well, the second half of the conversation is a great time to let your manager know about your goals for your future at the company. If you’d like to be promoted, for example, ask your manager what you’d need to do to get there in the coming year. If you think your current duties seem more relevant to another, more highly paid job, you can make that point. The goal is to help your manager see your path and help you make progress.
Related Articles
- Five Signs You Need a Career Change
- Nine Strategies to Earn More Money in the Coming Year
- Six Simple Skills Everyone Can Learn to Improve Their Earnings Potential at Work
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Don’t Get Scammed: 4 Questions to Help You Land a Legit Work-From-Home Job
Your pajamas. Your puppy child. Your couch.
Work-from-home jobs are desirable for all these reasons. And more.
We hear from a lot of you who share your circumstances — your hard times, your children’s needs, your need for a magical side gig. That’s why we love showcasing awesome work-from-home jobs and encouraging you to find the one that best suits your life.
However, if you stumble upon a job that might seem too good to be true, pump the brakes for a second — it could be a scam.
We want to arm you with the best tips to avoid these work-from-home scams, so we reached out to Katherine Hutt, the director of communications of the Better Business Bureau.
How Frequent are Work-From-Home Job Scams?
The Better Business Bureau released a nifty scam tracker at the beginning of last year. Since then, thousands of people have reported scams concerning everything from credit cards to debt collections and employment.
So far, nearly 2,500 employment scams have been reported in the U.S. and Canada. The tool will soon expand globally.
However, these aren’t exclusively work-from-home job scams, but those kind of jobs are especially susceptible, Hutt says.
Why?
“It preys on people when they’re at a vulnerable point in their life,” Hutt says. She mentions those who are fresh out of work, in debt, in need of a second job to pay bills or are caring for a family.
Plus, it’s easier for scammers to extract vital information when pretending to be employers. That’s because a legitimate employer needs your bank account’s routing number, your social security number — all of those private numbers.
“There’s other scams where that wouldn’t come up naturally,” Hutt says.
What Can Work-From-Home Job Scammers Do with Your Information?
Because these scammers can naturally extract your most personal identifying information, the consequences can be terrifying. (Totally not trying to scare you here, but…)
Hutt says work-from-home job scams can fall into two major “buckets”: stealing your money and/or stealing your identity.
Regarding stealing your money, perhaps your “employer” sends you a check for any expenses. (Think: Mystery shopping — go out and buy these things and I’ll pay you.) You go to deposit the check, and it’s a fake.
Or maybe the “employer” wants to make a direct deposit. Don’t share that information.
The second “bucket” includes identity theft. This might occur when you set up automatic, direct deposits for paychecks.
This can also occur when you think you’re filling out routine employment paperwork, which asks for your name, address, social security number — everything.
Falling into either scam bucket will leave you with a hijacked identity or a sad bank account.
4 Questions to Detect a Work-From-Home Job Scam
OK, so you obviously want to avoid these nightmarish scenarios. Hutt talked me through how you can avoid falling into these traps.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Are you being asked to accept or send money right away?
Like Hutt said, don’t accept or send money — unless you’re positive it’s legitimate.
“Even for a uniform,” she says. Say a company needs you to send over $30 for said uniform. That’s not common protocol. Usually, companies just take those expenses out of your first paycheck.
Same goes for background checks, “starter kits” and other expenses. And never, ever submit your information to the company itself for a background check.
2. Is the job listing generic or too good to be true?
If the listing uses generic language or is super short or vague, this requires some digging on your end.
Common scams can be found in those classic entry-level, work-from-home customer service gigs — no training required.
“If it’s too easy, it’s more likely to be a scam,” Hutt says. “Scammers will go a certain distance, but, at the end of the day, they just want you on the hook.”
That goes for those too-good-to-be-true opportunities, too. Sure, shopping to make money sounds great, but is it legitimate?
3. Did you check the job listing URL?
“Scammers will pretend to be legitimate companies,” Hutt says. “They might steal the brand.”
Don’t trust the job listing just because the little Target bullseye and logo are on the site, for example. Hutt says even the Better Business Bureau has had its brand stolen in the past — same logo, same colors.
Examine the website. Check the URL. It is target.com? If it’s target.jobs.com, that’s a red flag. Track back to the heart of the URL by deleting anything after “.com”.
You can also stick any URL or email address into Google. Put quotation marks on either side, and search. Articles warning against scams might pop up.
“Google everything,” Hutt says. Also use that scam tracker I mentioned above to search the company’s name.
4. Who have you talked to?
Even if you get ahold of the “employer” on the phone, don’t be so sure — especially if it’s only for a five-minute interview.
Hutt says face-to-face interactions are best. Of course, that’s not always the case with work-from-home jobs, so be wary.
Hutt says the more skeptical you are, the easier it will be to detect a scam.
An Extra Warning To Job Seekers on Craigslist
Sure, Craigslist is a great way to find jobs. In fact, several of our founding employees here at The Penny Hoarder found their jobs through a Craigslist ad.
However, because Craigslist doesn’t monitor postings, you must be extra careful. One key is to see if you spot the same listing in multiple cities, Hutt says. It doesn’t mean the job isn’t legitimate, but it means you need to put your detective hat on.
What to Do If You Find a Work-From-Home Job Scam
Report it.
Hutt says this is exactly why the Better Business Bureau developed the scam tracker.
“People came with complaints, and there wasn’t really anything we could do for them,” she says. “So this provides an outlet for people who want to tell us about the scam.”
It tracks the scam type, the business name used and the date reported, as well as the victim’s postal code, the total dollars lost (but you can report a scam even if you haven’t lost money) and the scam description.
A recent reported scam occurred with “S & R Courier” and cost the victim $2,500.
Here’s part of the reporter’s description:
I was contacted by a Mr. Thomas Peterson who offered me a job as a Package Processing Manager. I had a dashboard that I signed into everyday to track the packages that were coming and he would call me to ask me to upload pictures and packing slip information and then he would send me pre-paid shipping labels to send the packages out to the clients. He said that I was on probation for 30 days and I would be compensated after that. I never got paid. I tried to log into my dashboard to contact him and now I can’t log in…
So what if you’re like Mr. Thomas Peterson’s victim?
Hutt says if you’ve lost money, start by filing a police report.
And if you’ve had your identity stolen — or suspect it — the Federal Trade Commission runs IdentityTheft.gov. Here, you report your theft and get a free recovery plan that’ll outline your next steps.
Your best bet, though? Stash this in your back pocket and look at each job listing with a critical eye.
Your Turn: Have you been a victim of a job scam? What did it teach you?
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.
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Why Working From Home is Ideal for Retirees
By Christy Schutz Thanks to modern medicine, people are living longer than they ever did. Add in economic downturns that have adversely impacted retirement savings and the extinction of the pensions of yesteryear, and you can see why people are rethinking how they want to live their lives during their “twilight years,” including working in […]
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