By Entrepreneur Staff A college education in the United States might be expensive, but it’s still accessible to many American students thanks to federal student loans. The only problem: It can be tough to know which student loans to choose from, mainly subsidized vs. unsubsidized student loans. If you’re unsure what to borrow or the…
Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized Student Loans: Which One Is Better? Here’s What You Need to Know.
Tax Refund: Not a Good Thing
A friend of mine is the comptroller of a small corporation. As such, she is required to handle all aspects of that company’s finances including payroll. She takes the opportunity to figure and tweak the withholding from her own paycheck to reach her goal of neither owing taxes nor being due a refund on April…
How to Make Holiday Returns With Buy Now, Pay Later
Shoppers who used “buy now pay later” to help finance gifts this holiday season may soon encounter an unwelcome surprise: Returns can be more challenging than when buying from the store with cash or a credit card. Returns and disputes are a common concern among buy now, pay later users, according to a September 2022…
Skip a Payment?!
Get a load of the “gift” that reader Julie W. got in the mail from her bank several months ago: Dear Julie: Summer is the time for great vacations. So start with a vacation from your loan payments, with Skip-a-Payment. Three easy steps put extra cash in your pocket! 1. Mail the attached Skip-a-Payment coupon…
When Student Debt Comes Home to Roost and Fast Track Mortgage Payoff
Dear Mary: Several years ago I decided to become a medical transcriptionist. I had no knowledge how school loans work and signed a student loan from Sallie Mae for $7,000 with a 12-month deferment on payments. It took 15 months to finish school, so my payments started before finishing. I am still paying $134 a…
The Problems With Using Buy Now, Pay Later to Fund Travel
Book a flight or hotel room now, and pay it off later? It’s an increasingly common trend in travel spending. Companies like American Airlines, United Airlines and vacation rental website Vacasa now offer the option to make reservations now and pay it back incrementally over time with “buy now, pay later” services. Between 2020 and…
The Secret for a Debt-Free Holiday Season in a Single Word
It’s not exactly a new word to me. But I’m pretty sure I’d never actually used the word “pre-determine” in a sentence until my pastor referred to it recently — and in a way that turned on a bright light in my noggin. To pre-determine is to make a decision in advance. That describes perfectly…
How Credit Can Beat Buy Now, Pay Later
At first glance, a “buy now, pay later” plan’s promise of no interest or upfront fees can seem more appealing than a credit card’s terms. Dividing a transaction into, say, a pay-in-four installment plan sounds straightforward and manageable. Unlike credit cards, though, these plans lack certain consumer protections and are sometimes unpredictable. In this way,…
Use of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Financing Increasing
Sales during Cyber Monday 2022 were $11.3 billion. That’s a 5.7 percent increase from 2021. It also outperformed Black Friday 2022. And even though many of those cyber sales were funded by credit cards, and “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) financing played a big role—it was up 88 percent week over week. This particular financing…
Will Forgiven Student Loan Debt Be Taxable?
By Kelley R. Taylor From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Question: I’m hopeful that my student loan debt will be forgiven if President Biden’s plan makes it through court challenges. But if it does, am I going to be hit by a tax bill? Answer: That depends on where you live. Student loan debt that’s canceled under…
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