Monroe County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 6 percent in February, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis.The state’s rate remained at 4.8 percent for the ninth consecutive month and the national rate has been at 4.1 percent for five months straight.Over the year, Monroe County’s joblessness has not kept up with the state or country’s [...]
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الثلاثاء، 3 أبريل 2018
"At age 28, how do I get the best from my workplace pension?"
With decades to go before retiring, one reader seeks a second opinion on whether he can take more risk.
I’m 28 years old and my workplace pension is invested in the default fund, Aviva Diversified Assets II. I’m happy to take more risk and I’d like to see if I could do better. I’ve picked four funds – BlackRock 50:50 Global Equity Index Tracker, Old Mutual UK Mid Cap*, Artemis Global Growth and Man GLG Japan CoreAlpha. Is this a good idea?
Initial diagnosis
Switching out of your pension’s default fund is regarded as a good move by the experts.
“At age 28, you have a long time until you will be taking your pension benefits so, if you are comfortable with it, you can afford to take a high degree of investment risk,” says Patrick Connolly, certified financial planner at Chase de Vere. “If your investments fall in value, you have plenty of time to claw back any losses.”
He adds that the default fund, Aviva Diversified Assets II fund, holds around 60% in shares and most of the rest in fixed interest and cash. “This is a medium-risk fund designed to manage risks,” he says. “You can afford to put more into the stock market.”
Health check
Your selection of funds offers much more exposure to equities, with Joshua Gerstler, financial adviser at The Orchard Practice, pointing out positives on all three of the actively managed funds.
“Putting a portion of your portfolio into each of the funds will give you exposure to most of the developed market regions, with deep-dive expertise coming from the Old Mutual UK Mid Cap and the Man GLG Japan CoreAlpha funds,” he explains.
Your choice of an index tracker, the BlackRock 50:50 Global Equity fund, receives mixed reactions though.
Mr Gerstler prefers the active management approach.
“While cheap, with an ongoing charge of just 0.02%, an index tracker might not be the best option considering where we are in the market cycle,” he says.
Global stock markets ended 2017 on record highs, while in January 2018 London’s FTSE 100 index and the main US stock market indices, the Dow Jones and the S&P500 hit new highs. However, by early February, the fi nancial markets had started to plunge.
“You might want to stick to active managers for now to provide a buffer against potential downturns,” says Mr Gerstler.
But Jason Witcombe, chartered financial planner at Evolve Financial Planning, is happy to go for an index tracker.
“Costs make a big difference when compounded over a multi-decade investment term,” he explains. “Actively managed funds typically cost more than index trackers.”
For example, with your selection, the three active funds have ongoing charges of between 0.9% and 1.6%.
Treatment recommendations
While the experts are happy with your choice of funds, they offer some suggestions to enhance your investment strategy.
“You might want to consider adding a fund specialising in another asset class, such as corporate bonds or property,” says Mr Gerstler. “These offer decent return prospects, but are lower risk than equities and will provide a parachute of sorts in a wider market fall.”
Mr Witcombe suggests another approach too, focusing on keeping charges to a minimum.
“If you have access to the BlackRock UK Equity Index Tracker and the BlackRock World (ex-UK) Equity Index Tracker, you could combine these, or similar funds, to give you a low-cost, globally diversified portfolio with a home bias,” he explains. “Then you could add in extra exposure to certain areas – for instance, a Japan fund if you wanted to make a bet on it outperforming other regions.”
However you decide to invest, Mr Connolly recommends monitoring your funds regularly to ensure they are performing as expected.
* Denotes a Moneywise First 50 Fund for beginner investors. For Moneywise’s recommendations for corporate bonds and property funds, visit www.moneywise.co.uk/first-50-funds.
Do you have a question for the Investment Doctor? Email editor@moneywise. co.uk
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Order Panera Bread Online? Your Personal Info Might Have Been Stolen
The geniuses over at Panera Bread managed to leak millions of customer records for the past eight months at least, according to a KrebsOnSecurity report.
The cybersecurity blog claims anyone who signed up for an online account had their personal information — names, email, addresses, birthdays and the last four digits of their card numbers — revealed in plain text on the Panera Bread website.
Apparently, Panera knew about the leak back in August 2017 but dismissed it as a scam. Oy vey.
Panera Bread Stopped the Leak… For Now
Panera took its website offline briefly yesterday to fix the leak, and when it came back up, customer’s personal information was no longer accessible.
After things started to get a little crispy, Panera Bread said that fewer than 10,000 consumers were affected — while KrebsOnSecurity said it’s more like 37 million.
Panera Bread said it will continue investigating the issue and claims no payment card information had been retrieved from the leak.
What to Do if You Have an Online Panera Bread Account
If you have a loyalty card number, be on watch, because those were apparently exposed in the Panera Bread data leak, too.
Scammers could use any prepaid values or points before you even notice. (Maybe you should go cash those in today.)
Always be mindful of sharing personal information, even if it’s with a “trusted” company, because, well, this.
Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot else to be done right now other than monitoring your credit and bank statements for any suspicious activity.
It doesn’t look like the breadmaker’s blunder will go stale anytime soon, so stay tuned.
Stephanie Bolling is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Mmmm, bread.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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Want to Travel the Country and Eat Free Tacos? Moe’s Has a Job For You
It may sound like a pipe dream, but I’m here to tell you that your taco-related fantasies can become reality.
Moe’s Southwest Grill is partnering with Monster.com to find a CTO — Chief Taco Officer.
Yes, you read that right. The Tex-Mex chain needs a Chief Taco Officer to lead the charge on its upcoming Taco Tour to promote the restaurant’s new Three Amigos tacos.
The Chief Taco Officer will travel across the country for two weeks in a food truck (you’ll ride shotgun), handing out free tacos and spreading the Tex-Mex love. The tour kicks off June 1 in Atlanta, so make sure you clear your schedule.
No, it’s not a long-term gig, but you’re getting an all-expenses-paid road trip and all of the free tacos you can eat.
And if two weeks of free tacos for breakfast, lunch and dinner isn’t enough to entice you, Moe’s will pay its CTO a $1,000 “fun budget.”
So who qualifies to be the Chief Taco Officer?
First of all, of course you must be a taco fanatic.
Here are some telltale signs that you might be perfect for the gig:
- You have very strong opinions about hard vs. soft shell
- The team at your local Moe’s knows your name and regular order — and your life story
- You celebrate Taco Tuesday religiously
- And then Taco Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
- You have a taco tattoo
- Taco Belle is your Disney princess of choice
On top of a borderline obsession with tacos, you need to be social media savvy, fun-loving and willing to travel for two weeks. Candidates must also be a U.S. citizen and at least 18 years old.
How to Become the Chief Taco Officer for Moe’s
- Sign up for the Rockin’ Rewards member program through the Moe’s app
- Pick a social media platform (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) to explain why you would be the perfect candidate
- Make sure your post is public and use the #MoesCTOContest hashtag
And here’s a pro tip: you can enter one time on each social media platform to boost your chances of being chosen.
Three lucky finalists will be announced May 7 on the Moe’s Facebook page, and then fans get to vote for the winner of the coveted title of Chief Taco Officer.
The deadline for submissions is April 20 so hurry up and apply. Free tacos are on the line!
Kaitlyn Blount is a junior staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She worked at Moe’s all through college and still gets the urge to say “Welcome to Moe’s!” when a door chime goes off.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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Achieve Financial Literacy! April is National Financial Literacy Month, but Flash your Skills Year-Round
Sound financial decisions are important all year long, but most Americans never learned how to manage money or save for goals, so financial security is a bigger challenge than it needs to be.
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Here’s Why Watching Sports on TV May Push Your Kids Toward Unhealthy Drinks
The American Academy of Pediatrics says, think again.
The Skinny on Sports and Energy Drinks
Sports drinks may contain carbohydrates, minerals and other ingredients designed to replace electrolytes lost through sweating.
Energy drinks may contain caffeine, ginseng and performance-enhancing ingredients to keep up an athlete’s stamina.
But these types drinks can cause all kinds of issues for growing bodies, including dental erosion, sleep problems and obesity.
The Academy says water is “generally the appropriate first choice for hydration before, during, and after most exercise regimens.”
The organization steers parents away from sports drinks in general but acknowledges they may benefit kids who exercise vigorously for long periods of time.
But pediatricians say “stimulant-containing energy drinks have no place in the diets of children or adolescents.”
It seems like the easy solution would be to just not allow your kids to have energy and sports drinks. But as any parent knows, when you try to steer your children away from popular products, you fight a regular battle against a pretty fierce nemesis.
Advertising.
Watch just about any professional sporting event and you’ll see plenty of sports and energy drink companies advertising their products.
A new study published in the medical journal Pediatrics looked into which televised sporting events these companies advertise with most.
Of the events researchers studied, the National Football League has the most food and beverage sponsors, followed by the National Hockey League and Little League.
Researchers concluded that “sports sponsorships are commonly used to market unhealthy food and nonalcoholic beverages” and that “youth watched telecasts associated with these sports organizations over 412 million times.”
The next time your youngster begs for a sports or energy drink, keep in mind there’s a chance it’s because they saw ads for it during a game on TV.
If you’re not sure whether or not to avoid these types of drinks, consult your pediatrician for advice on what’s best for your child.
And remember, water is a great alternative, and a lot cheaper to boot.
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She loves telling readers about affordable ways to stay healthy, so look her up on Twitter (@lisah) if you’ve got a tip to share.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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Score a Free Passport When You Book International Travel With This Company
Contiki, motor-coach tour company that caters to 18- to 35-year-old travelers, offers guided trips throughout Europe, Russia, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America and Asia.
Contiki is running a great deal right now. If you want to travel outside the U.S. but don’t have a passport, book a weeklong trip with Contiki and the company will pick up the tab for your passport fees.
How to Score a Free Passport From Contiki
Getting a passport as part of your travel package with Contiki is a pretty straightforward process.
Just book an international trip, order a passport and the company will cover the cost.
But buckle up and put your tray table in the upright position. There’s a lot of fine print.
- The offer is valid only for U.S. residents applying for a passport for the first time and booking intercontinental trips seven days or longer to Europe, Latin America, Canada, Asia, Australia or New Zealand.
- Travelers must submit their own passport application information, and Contiki is not responsible for handling or processing it.
- The $145 passport fee will be applied to the booking as a discount.
- Travelers must submit passport information before the final payment date of 46 days before travel.
- This offer is not combinable with Contiki’s last-minute deals or special deals.
If this offer isn’t right for you, there are a few other ways you might be able to snag a free or reduced-fee passport.
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. One of her favorite things is the world is getting a new stamp in her passport.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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Shop at Saks or Lord & Taylor? Check Your Card Statement Right Now
Hudson’s Bay Company, a Toronto-based luxury retailer better known for its Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th and Lord & Taylor stores announced a big data breach yesterday.
While HBC hasn’t released many details, cyber-security company Gemini Advisory discovered more than 5 million credit and debit card numbers for sale on the darknet.
Following further investigation, it was determined that the entire network of Lord & Taylor and 83 Saks Fifth Avenue locations, mainly in New York and New Jersey, were compromised.
Using its super sleuthing tools, Gemini uncovered that cyber criminals have most likely been stealing card numbers since May 2017.
While HBC is still investigating, it maintains the breach did not extend to its digital platforms, Hudson’s Bay, Home Outfitters or HBC Europe.
What to Do If You Shopped at Saks or Lord & Taylor
The breach comes in the latest string of data-driven credit card theft where it feels like no one — retailer or customer — is safe.
HBC plans to notify any customers who have been affected and fortunately will offer free identity protection services including credit and web monitoring.
The company said customers will not be liable for any fraudulent charges.
Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off Fifth and Lord & Taylor have uploaded security statements with detailed information for concerned customers.
In the meantime, if you’ve shopped in-store at any of the Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue locations, check your credit and debit card statements and monitor all your activity closely.
Report any fraudulent activity immediately.
Stephanie Bolling is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Leech rhymes with breach, and she hates both of them.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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Congress Just Gave Jurors a 25% Raise, So Forget About Your Fake Excuse
“Um, yes, your honor, I am super racist and opinionated.”
At The Penny Hoarder, we don’t support that. We think participating in the justice system is a privilege — and also kinda fun.
So when Congress passed a bill to raise the daily juror pay by 25%, we got excited — and wanted you to know.
Starting May 7, jury duty pay for those summoned will increase from $40 to $50.
It’s not as lucrative as fake jury duty, but hey, when’s the last time you got a 25% raise somewhere?
This is the first juror pay raise in 28 years and inches closer to the federal minimum-wage rate of $58 a day.
The salaries for members of Congress may or may not have increased over 80% in that time period, but who’s counting?
Jen Smith is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and gives money saving and debt payoff tips on Instagram at @savingwithspunk.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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Should a Person Pay Attention to Financial News?
This started off as a reader mailbag question, but as many of them do, the answer ended up with so much detail that it grew into an article of its own. Lori wrote in to ask this:
What financial news do you pay attention to? FBN? CNBC? Do you read WSJ?
My initial answer was straightforward: I don’t really pay any attention to financial news at all. I don’t watch Fox Business Network. I don’t watch CNBC. I don’t read the Wall Street Journal.
Why not? The reason is really simple. I read things for three reasons: I’m learning about a topic, I’m shaping my opinion on an issue, or I’m preparing to take action on something in my life. The vast majority of “news” out there doesn’t do any of those things.
First of all, fast news reporting is often factually incorrect. Accurate facts often take a little while to become clear – the initial reporting right after a major event is usually at least a little inaccurate. Thus, I usually don’t feel the need to know more about an extremely recent event other than the one sentence summary, because the details are usually a mix of right and wrong. I don’t want to know those details until the truth has been figured out, and that takes time.
Second, I put little value in “quick” opinions, the kind that are typically shared on cable news. There are some newspapers with good editorial and opinion pages, but for the most part, “quick” opinions and “hot takes” aren’t useful, either. They’re usually snap judgments based on the hurried reporting mentioned earlier.
Finally, I’m never going to take action based on things that are hurriedly reported, nor am I going to take action based on someone’s “hot take.” I’m not going to change what I’m doing based on anything I see on CNBC or FBN. It’s just not happening.
So, if I’m not really learning anything, I don’t trust the opinions, and I’m not going to take action, there’s no real reason to pay attention at all, so I don’t.
To me, it’s a form of entertainment, but there are much better forms of entertainment out there. I’m going to laugh a lot more watching a well-written comedy or be compelled by a well-written drama.
Furthermore, I generally feel like it is a really poor idea to take significant financial action on anything without being factually well informed and having a strong understanding of why you’re taking that action. Since I don’t fully trust “breaking news” reporting or “hot takes,” I’m definitely not taking action on it.
So, how do I keep up with things, then, if I don’t watch cable news and don’t really read current reporting on events?
I browse a lot of independent personal finance blogs. The exact ones I follow change constantly, mostly because interesting ones constantly pop up and then disappear just as quickly because the people involved discover it’s a lot of work to keep them updated with decent, thoughtful content, and when people burn out they often let the site die on the vine. If I gave you a “top ten” list of my favorite ones I’ve ever read, virtually all of them would be defunct now (I remember sites that I really enjoyed that stopped publishing in 2007 and 2008). I usually find new sites because readers send me articles from them to read, and if the articles are interesting, I stick around for a while.
I tend to enjoy these sites because they’re steeped in personal experience and the opinions are unvarnished. It takes a lot of work to start your own site and write thoughtful long-form content, and when people do it about their finances, it usually comes from the heart. I love reading how different people see different angles in the core principles of personal finance. I love reading about people coming from different backgrounds and how they approach financial improvement. It not only gives me insight into my own practices, but it often gives me food for thought into areas I haven’t explored before.
Aside from specific frugality tactics, such blogs don’t really lead me to action. They mostly just make me think and entertain me while also giving me insight into topics that others are thinking about.
I completely ignore all short term changes in my investments. I truly don’t care what the stock market did today. I don’t want to know, because all that knowledge could possibly do is cause me to make a move that goes against the plans that I’ve researched and considered carefully over the years.
I don’t look for what the Dow Jones Industrial Average did today. I don’t look at what the S&P 500 did this week. I don’t want to know because that knowledge would just disrupt my plans. I don’t care because my investing plans are all long term and short term volatility has zero impact on what action I’m going to take. I don’t believe day-to-day changes are any sort of useful economic indicator, either. I just don’t see any value in it, so I don’t even bother to look. I don’t even look at the balance of my own investments very often.
I research specific things that come up in my own life. When I find myself bumping up against a specific problem in life, I tend to study that specific problem with a high intensity, grabbing books and articles that deal very specifically with that narrow issue I’m having.
For example, Sarah and I are considering adding an addition to our home (for a number of reasons) and we’re interested in how to do it in a way that minimizes our cost and adds to the value of our home, even if that means doing much of the work ourselves. While I have done a lot of small DIY projects, this is on a scale far beyond what I have done before, so I’m reading a lot about what would need to be done to do this properly, how much of it we can actually do ourselves, how we could serve as our own general contractors, and so on. (With topics like this, I tend to like to write at the junction of my own experience and what I’ve learned, so as we actually move into handling this project ourselves, I’ll likely be writing about it on here.)
Basically, when I find myself curious about an area in my life or want to take on a specific project or handle a particular problem, I seek out books and articles from well-regarded publications on that topic and rely on them to fill out my understanding.
I read financial magazines, but I usually get frustrated. Once a week or so, I spend several hours at the local library doing research for articles for The Simple Dollar or for other writing projects and for my own improvement as well. This usually means that I grab the latest issues of all of their publications that are even remotely related to financial topics, like Money Magazine and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
When I read those publications, I tend to skim more than anything. Many of the articles are on topics I find frustrating, as they often point people toward investing principles that I don’t fully agree with such as managing mutual funds and so on. The writing in those articles is often geared toward people who are successful in non-financial career paths and the writing tends to be very much in line with what appears in the advertisements of investment firms (to the point where I sometimes wonder if the articles are advertorials).
Mostly, what I’m looking for is a general sense of the kinds of topics that people are reading about and thinking about in general financial publications and I want to hit upon those topics. I generally don’t read financial publications like this for my own personal finance enrichment, as they tend to address financial problems and offer solutions that I’m not fully on board with, such as using a financial advisor or investing in managed mutual funds. They tend to also focus on issues that really only affect people that are very well off, with annual incomes in the high six figures or the low seven figures. I don’t have much interest in writing about having a third vacation home, and I don’t think you have much interest in reading about it, either.
Sometimes, there are really good articles in personal finance publications and I devour them, but more often than not the articles tend to address topics that are either not of interest to the vast majority of Americans or cover financial strategies that don’t match very well with my principles (which I’ll talk about below). So, I tend to browse and then move on.
I read long-form feature reporting on events, the kind that usually doesn’t pop up for a while after the event. I read magazines like The Economist, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Science, Nature, and a bunch of others. About once a week, I go to the library, gather up a bunch of issues of different magazines (see above), and go through them, reading a bunch of the most interesting articles and taking notes as I read them. If I can find the articles online, I bookmark them using Pocket and read them later.
Online, I often visit Longreads.org for the same reason – long-form detailed reporting on a particular topic – and I do the same thing, bookmarking the interesting ones to read later on in Pocket.
When I have some spare time at home, I’ll pull up Pocket and read one of those articles, usually taking notes in Evernote if there’s something important or interesting that I want to remember or that I want to follow up on later. Sometimes, if something is really giving me a lot of food for thought, I’ll take some notes by hand, as I firmly believe that handwritten notes in my own words stick in my brain far better than anything else.
I read books. Lots of books. My main tool for learning about financial topics is books from the library. I tend to have several books checked out at any given time and I use two different local libraries on a regular basis.
Most of the time, I find myself intrigued by a particular topic, then I’ll seek out a few well-regarded books on that specific topic. Recently, I’ve been reading a ton about meditation; before that, I was reading a lot about cryptocurrencies; before that, I devoured several books on fermentation. I’m still devouring a lot of books on philosophy, too.
I tend to do my homework on the books that I choose to read (at least the nonfiction ones). Is the author well-regarded? Is there a bibliography in the back of the book (if it’s not a memoir)? Are the reviews of the book positive, especially from people in that field? A few minutes of Google searching usually tells me these things rather quickly. I tend to prefer books that have positive reviews even from people who don’t fully agree with the author’s take on the subject matter, or books that have won awards within a particular field.
I also tend to read anything and everything that’s reputable in the area of personal finance that comes in at the library. By “reputable,” I mean that I tend to avoid books with outsized promises on the cover (like promising that you can be a millionaire in a very brief period of time) and books from authors that have a reputation that I don’t trust.
What I try to find from most books are the core principles of the idea and the reasoning behind those principles. For example, if I’m reading a book on investing, I try to figure out what the author’s core investment principles and strategies are as well as why he or she finds those strategies worth following.
I find that books do an amazing job of digging into a specific topic with a depth and clarity that you really can’t find anywhere online. Nothing matches the depth and breadth of a well-written book on a particular topic.
When reading a nonfiction book, I tend to take a ton of notes, then reread those notes a few weeks later after finishing the book. This ends up locking a lot of the ideas from the book in my head, even if it does mean that the reading is slower.
In summary, I read
– independent personal finance blogs, because I enjoy personal stories and individual angles on principles;
– opinion pieces from sources I trust;
– financial publications, because I like to understand what people are reading when they often first seek financial advice;
– long-form journalism on financial topics, like cryptocurrency and the housing market;
– and books that cover specific topics of interest or new angles on financial principles.
I don’t read or watch
– current news reporting, because I don’t trust its accuracy;
– current opinions, because they’re usually based on current news reporting;
– nor financial indicators, because they don’t provide value into my investment practices.
I focus entirely on things from which I can learn because I trust the information being presented, things from which I can shape my opinions and views in a rigorous way, and things based upon those that lead directly to action. But how does that work in practice?
In general, I start with something I’m curious about. Maybe it’s a comment from a friend, or maybe it’s something I read about in a book on a different topic, or maybe I found an article on it in a publication that I read, or maybe it’s just something I noticed in the world or in my own life. How does cryptocurrency work? What does it take to become a history professor? How should I be saving for retirement as a risk-averse thirtysomething?
Once a topic is on my radar (and I usually have several topics that are on my mind at any given time), I read Wikipedia to get a general background and then I look for long-form articles about that topic. Usually, I have one main topic that I’m really focused on and I’m usually engrossed in a book on that specific topic until I feel like I have sufficient general understanding of it, then I move onto something else, usually one of the other topics I have an interest in at the moment.
In that process, I simply don’t pay attention to day-to-day news because, as I mentioned earlier, it’s often inaccurate (through no fault of the reporters – that’s just the nature of breaking news) and I’m not going to take any real action on it anyway. I’ll sometimes skim headlines just to have a sense of what people might talk about at a social event or on social media, but that’s about it.
So, in the end, I don’t feel a person has to pay any attention to financial news at all to be successful at mastering their finances; in fact, I consider a lot of it to be distracting noise. Read some personal finance books, figure out their core principles, stick to those principles, and look for very specific help on specific topics as they come up in your life. If you want inspiration and new angles on your principles, seek it in independent personal finance blogs with a human touch or memoirs related to financial topics.
Good luck!
The post Should a Person Pay Attention to Financial News? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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What Is a Mixed Credit File, and How Do You Fix It?
Believe it or not, the credit reporting agencies (CRAs) actually make quite the effort to maintain accurate data and to post only correct information on your credit reports. They do this because credit reporting mistakes can be costly — and bad for their image, too. And, mistakes can lead to lower consumer credit scores and difficulties in getting approved for credit.
Credit reporting mistakes can also potentially lead to lawsuits and regulatory problems, both issues the CRAs would rather avoid. Throw in the fact that each CRA wants to be able to advertise to their customers (lenders, insurance companies, and the like) that their data is the most accurate available, and you can see why each CRA is highly motivated to maintain accurate information on consumer credit reports.
Despite their best efforts, credit reporting errors do occur. The Federal Trade Commission estimates there to be some 40 million mistakes present on the credit reports of U.S. consumers. From a credit scoring perspective, some of these mistakes are minor, and some are major. Some credit reporting mistakes are easy to fix, and others can be challenging.
Perhaps the most difficult credit reporting error for a consumer to have corrected is the so-called mixed credit file.
What Is a Mixed Credit File?
A mixed credit file occurs whenever a CRA inadvertently commingles the credit histories of two different individuals into a single report. The result is a credit report that contains information belonging to two different consumers, bundled together as if those two people were the same person.
Thankfully, mixed credit files are rather rare. When they do occur the problem is usually experienced by people with common names (think John Doe, Joe Smith, or David Jones) or to family members with similar names and past or present addresses (think John Doe Jr., Joe Smith III).
Why Are Mixed Credit Files Difficult to Correct?
A mixed credit file is a problem because it can potentially cause complications whenever you’re trying to qualify for financing. Even if the incorrect information showing up on your credit report is positive, the extra indebtedness and extra accounts with balances can cause debt-to-income (DTI) problems or may harm your credit scores.
And if the incorrect accounts on your credit reports are negative, then the results can be even more problematic, because your credit scores could be lower than they otherwise would be.
Most credit reporting errors occur because a data furnisher (e.g., a lender or collection agency) is sending incorrect information to a CRA. In the case of a mixed file, however, the credit reporting errors are actually being caused by the commingling of information, not by any data furnisher. The data furnisher is (likely) sending correct account information to the CRA, but the CRA is putting that correct information on the wrong person’s credit report.
Fixing the Problem
Mixed files can indeed be fixed. In order to fix a mixed file, the CRA needs to remove and suppress from your credit report the accounts that don’t belong to you. The removal fixes the issue immediately. The suppression prevents the incorrect information from accidentally being added back to your credit reports in the future.
If you think you have a mixed credit report, submit a dispute with the corresponding credit bureau, notifying them of the mistake and identifying any information that doesn’t belong to you. If you think you know who that incorrect information does belongs to, such as a family member with a similar name, let them know — Equifax says that can help the process go faster.
The National Consumer Assistance Plan (NCAP) aimed to solve the issue of mixed credit files. In September 2015, thanks to new NCAP procedures, the CRAs implemented reforms with regard to the handling of “special disputes.” These special disputes include, you guessed it, mixed files.
As part of the NCAP changes, the credit reporting agencies will now escalate special disputes to employees with the training and authority to correct the errors. And, the CRAs will share information with each other when a mixed file has occurred – that should reduce by two-thirds the work consumers need to do to have their credit report fixed.
Related Articles:
- How to Dispute Credit Report Errors
- Why You Need to Check Your Credit Report With All Three Credit Bureaus
- How Often Does Your Credit Score Change?
John Ulzheimer is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring, and identity theft. He has written four books on the topic and has been interviewed and quoted thousands of times over the past 10 years. With time spent at Equifax and FICO, Ulzheimer is the only credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has been an expert witness in over 230 credit related lawsuits and has been qualified to testify in both federal and state courts on the topic of consumer credit.
The post What Is a Mixed Credit File, and How Do You Fix It? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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