Check mailed by company was delivered to the wrong house and was cashed at the bank by someone else, now neither party will tell me what to do - Throwaway account created for this. I [18] recently got a summer job with my university and I didn't create a bank ... See More account until less than a month ago. Since I didn't have a bank account, I couldn't set up a direct deposit with my job so I got my checks sent in the mail from the company. The checks take anywhere from 5-7 business days to arrive.


I received my first check and waited for my second check but it didn't arrive. I emailed HR after 7 business days and let them know I didn't receive my second check and they said they'd look into it. In the time they were investigating, my third check arrived. I emailed again to let them know my third check arrived and asked for an update. They got back to me and told me that my record indicated that my second check was already cashed and they asked me if I had a direct deposit. I told them I didn't and asked if that meant someone had already used my check and they said they'd continue looking into it. A week later they got back to me saying that my check was indeed cashed at a Wells Fargo bank and they sent me a photocopy of the check that was signed and used and a fraud claim that had the account number of the person who cashed the check. They told me they couldn't reissue the check but they said I could file a fraud claim since it wasn't me who used the check.


I reached out to them asking how to start the process and they didn't answer so I decided to call the bank directly and ask them how to start the process. The bank said that they can't do anything on their end because the check wasn't sent by them and it has no connection to my account. They said the process has to be through the company and the company should be the one to reissue the check. HR got back to me and said that the bank should help me with the fraud claim because it needs to be notarized but I sent them another email saying they couldn't help me. Now HR isn't answering and the bank said the same thing when I called again.


My question is where am I supposed to go from here? I was never educated on anything about finances or banks so I have no idea what to do. Is there really no way for me to get my money back because it doesn't seem like there's anything for me to do at this point if neither party says they can help me?

My partner and I both were made redundant as soon as we started a mortgage - As the title states, my partner (26) and myself (27) just took out a mortgage... We've moved into the new place but haven't even paid the first month yet and our workplace suddenly announced ... See More that we're being made redundant due to outsourcing our roles to an overseas office as Labor will be much cheaper there.

We both work for the same company, but we work in different teams performing slightly different roles. Now we're uncertain about how we're going to proceed with paying off the mortgage since we've only been working here for less than 2 years each and our redundancy payouts are quite small. We went right down to the bottom of the barrel to buy this house so savings are incredibly minimal. Does anyone have any advice or have you been in a similar situation?

Unsure whether to sell car to clear debts - Hi all, looking for advice on my situation not my previous decisions please.

I’m 22 y/o and have around £3.5k in credit card debt at the minute, and own my car worth ~£21/22k outright. I’m still living at home, for the ... See More next few years until I have enough to move out and rent/buy. It’s not the cheapest on fuel being a 2 litre and also potentially going travelling next year for 3-6 months and going into the military so will be doing a lot of driving. Is the best option for me to sell my car and buy cheaper using the rest to clear my debt? Was thinking of using £10k or so for a new car, clearing my debt and sticking the rest in an ISA. (I have student loans etc but not including those for now).

Many thanks

How do I save an equal amount for two kids’ college funds? - I just had my second kid on Friday evening and am waiting for her birth certificate before I can get her college fund set up. But I can’t figure out how to go about ensuring I am ... See More saving the same amount for both of my kids. My son is currently four years old, and during the pandemic we threw most of the stimulus check money into his 529 account and have a really good start on his savings. I think in our situation, it makes sense to set up a separate 529 as the kids could be in college at the same time, especially if the first chooses to go to grad school. For the next couple years, we won’t be able to make any large contributions to the kids accounts due to daycare expenses and student loans, but once we’re past that life stage we should be able to make pretty hefty contributions. But how do I ensure I’m saving an equal amount for both kids when we haven’t been putting in a consistent dollar amount each month for the past four years for our older child?

Additional question: if your child doesn’t use the full amount in their 529, what do you plan to do with those accounts? Just switch the beneficiary to their kids if they have them? Can you withdraw that money without tax penalties if it goes unused?

Parents are setting up a trust to "protect their assets" and naming me trustee - what do I need to be aware of? - My parents are in their mid-late 60s and are still in relatively good health. My mom mentioned in passing that she and my dad will be ... See More meeting with their lawyer to talk about setting up a trust to protect their assets from medicare/medicaid in case long term care is ever needed and are naming me trustee, and that she wasn't sure if I'd need to sign anything.

I know this was a massive headache with my grandparents and their end of life care, but I was too young to know/be involved with the financial stuff happening in the background.

What do I need to be aware of as far as being a trustee for my parents' assets? What questions do I need to ask, what professionals do I need to work with?

I get the sense that they don't fully know yet either, which is why they're talking to their lawyer.

Recently declined for an auto loan by NavyFed. 7.59% pre-approval from PenFed on a 72 month term. Questions. - 700+ credit score. I think I was declined due to how young my NavyFed account is (< a week old). Is this APR THAT bad in the current climate? Shopping around ... See More for a new car.

Try to understand the benefits of the 35 vs. 40-hour workweek - I am evaluating a prospective job that calculates its salary based on a 35-hour work week. My current job (and every job I have had prior) calculates upon a 40-hour work week. Therefore the prospective job technically offers ... See More a higher hourly wage even if the salary was the same. Does the shorter workday actually make a big difference? Can anyone share their experience with a 35-hour work week?

Does affordable insurance exist anymore? - I'm a 22 year old male who owns his own 2018 crosstrek, I have never made an insurance claim and I have 2 mild speeding tickets a few years apart, no accidents. I live in PA and it appears that nobody but a select ... See More few companies will insure me and they offer me $400+ a month?! Which seems insane and is much higher than the averages of even drivers with DUIs in my state. After hours on phone calls with geico and progressive they can offer me just under 200 a month with all the smart tracking and a million "discounts" for being a student and whatever other things, however after the first 6 months of each of those policies with perfect driving record and average milage of like 6 or 7k a year they jack their rates up 30 or 40% and when I ask to speak to an agent about it they seem just as confused as me but offer up flimsy excuses like inflation, cost increases, and one just said "idk it's what the algorithm says I can't change that or help you.". How is this industry allowed to price gouge so openly without consequence? How can I get insurance I can afford, I had been going for a quote that was the minimum full coverage I can get but now I can't afford to pay that, is state minimum worth the cost decrease and can anybody recommend an insurer available in pittsburgh that might fit for me?

Pay off CC debt slowly or all at once? - I (29M) have ~9.5k in credit card debt left after having been aggressive the past couple months to paying it off. I’m on track to earn 120k+ this year on 1099. I’ve been of the thought of continuing my aggressive ... See More pay down and should be able to pay off this card by end the year, latest early next year.
However, I do have an emergency fund (in a HYSA) that has 24k in it. Does it make sense to pay off the debt all at once or continue the strategy I’ve been doing?
Note: I will be having to buy/lease a car this month as my current car just became not drivable.

Any advice is appreciated!

Edit: THANK YOU FOR THE INPUT EVERYONE! I took the funds out of my EF and paid off the card.

My dad can't afford his current lifestyle and has borrowed an extensive amount of money from family. He has dementia and I do not know how to best help him. - My dad (age 64) has not managed his money well and has not saved up at all for retirement. ... See More I live out of state (attending university and going to med school next year) and am his only child.



He recently had his disability approved and has been receiving social security. Currently, he's getting $1611 in social security. $284 is taken out because he owes money on a small business admin loan. When his disability kicks in, he may make up to $1961 (if they only garner his SS disability by 15%). Luckily, he owns his home fully so he has no mortgage.



His other private bank loan, house insurance, and health insurance cost $617. He spends, on average $15 PER DAY on food and $18 per day on gasoline for his car. He apparently drives around most of the day and only eats out. He left rotting food in his refrigerator, and it smells terrible, so I am unsure if it is even safe to keep groceries in there currently. He also needs money for pet food (he has six cats and a dog), car insurance, electricity, and his water bill.



So far, I have spent $7500 on his bills and expenses. My aunt has spent $20,000 on "helping" him.

He has an old boat, several old army trucks, a very decrepit 1957 Chevy car, and just other random junk. He refuses to sell any of his things. Not sure if this is dementia-related or if he just doesn’t understand his financial situation, is in denial, or is just stubborn.



I am beyond stressed about this situation. Currently, I am becoming his payee for social security so I can get his bills paid before he spends all the money on food and gas. I and my family members cannot afford to give him money anymore, especially since I am starting med school next year and will be taking out loans to pay for that. I am also worried about future care he will need, as I have no idea how long he will be able to live independently, and we have no funds to afford memory care.

Any advice is appreciated.

Struggling immensely with making ends meet at my salaried position; what do I cut out? - Hi all, I (22F) am a “recent” college graduate (graduated August of 2022) and I’ve been working at my current job for almost a year. I work a salaried position and make around $53,000 ... See More before taxes, and my take home pay is a little over $3,000 every month.

I currently live by myself as finding a roommate was not feasible and I live at the cheapest place I could find. My rent is $978, not including utilities. My water, electric, and internet bill total around $200 a month on top of my rent. My car insurance and renters insurance is about $150. I spend roughly $350 on groceries per month and another $100 or so on gas (but that’s been increasing incrementally).

Recently, I decided to start saving more and I attempted to utilize the 50/30/20 rule. However, I’m trying to overpay on my student loans since paying just the interest every month does absolutely nothing. With this being said, it ends up being more like 70/10/20, and I am living extremely frugal. Nothing I’m not used to, but it’s admittedly frustrating. I don’t want to reduce my savings as I feel $600 a month makes me feel more secure. I grew up poor and with parents in debt, so I’m really just learning all of this as I go- while trying to feel stable. I don’t have any investment accounts at this time, even though I know I should probably look into opening a Roth IRA or something. I just don’t feel like I’m in a place to be investing when I’m still paycheck to paycheck- but I know that’s not an excuse.

With this being said, I have about $10,000 in private loans at 14% (I plan on throwing $1,000 at that loan in 2 weeks to bring it down to $9,000) and about $30,000 on federal student loans at around 4%. Payments for those start in a month, and I’ve been having hot flashes every time I go to sleep just thinking about it. I’ve been considering picking up another job like bartending or waitressing for just a few days a week to make extra cash on the side for my loan payments, but I’m really not sure what the best method of attack is here. Any advice is greatly appreciated and if there are any details I left out that are necessary for context please let me know. Thank you in advance!


ETA: Thank you all so much for the advice I’ve received so far. I had no clue the SAVE program even existed, so thank you to everyone that has mentioned this to me. I will be filling it out tonight once I am home from work. I’ll also look into refinancing the 14% loan since I’ve gotten my credit score from the low 500’s to 710 in the last 6 months. Hopefully that helps.

Thank you all for the kind words as well. I think just growing up in the situation I did I have a lot of insecurities and anxieties around money, which has been the source of most of my distress. Hearing from y’all that I’m not in a bad position is extremely reassuring, some of your comments actually brought me close to tears- so thank you. I’m going to continue to work through all of the comments as they come in, as most (if not all of them) have some awesome advice. Y’all are amazing.

2nd ETA: Thank you to those who told me the 20 in 50/30/20 also means DEBT payments. That makes a lot more sense. I’ve been pulling the $400 a month from my 50 and my 30 for some time now… oops

85k in debt. What else can I do to pay this. - Hello everyone so I currently have 16k in CC debt and my wife has about 25k so I have about 41k in CC debt and with both our cars our total debt is at 85k but that’s our ... See More only debt. I’m in the military in California and my wife is a stay at home mom taking care of our 10 mo old baby. She was working prior when we lived in NC and living out here is so damn expensive so we’ve had to resort to using our CCs a bunch to get by since I only make about 3,300 a month. I applied to my banks for lowering our interest rates with the SCRA(servicemember civil relief act). I’ve sold a bunch of stuff we don’t use and even applied for a second job. We also applied for WIC and most likely will get that since according to their website my monthly pay is under what they have listed for a 3 person household. We’ve cut out our luxury’s such as eating out and buying miscellaneous stuff. We are also considering changing our phone plan from Verizon to T-Mobile due to that being cheaper after looking at their rates. We haven’t ever missed a payment on any of our debts and have stopped using or CCs all together.

Is there anything I’m missing that could help us pay off our debts faster or assist in saving more money to pay off our debts.

Was Bank of America breached recently? - My debit card number got stolen somehow. I've already reported the fraud and had the card cancelled. But I can't figure out how anyone could have gotten my info.

I have never (literally NEVER) used my debit card to make a purchase online or ... See More in person. That card is used ONLY as an ATM card for retrieving cash if I happen to need some. And I only use it at my main BofA branch in my home town, where there are cameras everywhere. I cannot see any way someone could have successfully installed a card skimmer. So did I miss news about a BofA breach or something?

Edit to add: I do not use any payment apps or anything. The card info has never been entered into any systems, anywhere, ever.

Is there anything preventing me from taking a loan at a high interest rate but then paying it off in full immediately? - I'm in the market for a new motorcycle and while I have the cash to purchase one new off the lot in full, I know that agreeing ... See More to a dealer financing plan is a negotiating tactic I might be able to use to help get the final purchase price down. Whenever I've gone into a dealership offering to pay cash up front I've always been quoted full MSRP and then ridiculous dealer markup.

Is agreeing to a really high interest rate loan to get the purchase price down and then immediately paying it off the next day a strategy I can actually use? Or are there drawbacks I'm not considering?

Also I should note that I ought to just buy one used and most of the time I do, but this particular make/model is in short supply in the used market and hasn't significantly depreciated for the model years I'm interested in.

If 30-year treasuries were so high in the eighties at over 14% at a point, why didn't everybody just put all of their retirement money in 30 year treasuries? - I feel like this must be a stupid question with an easy answer, but I'm just not seeing it in ... See More researching it. I've seen the argument that nobody knew that would be the top or if inflation would cool, which is of course true, but an essentially risk free 14 is an amazing return and it seems like a reasonable bet that inflation would cool. Maybe folks did do this?