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wera Rodsawang / Getty Images Some 44.8% of consumers surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February reported applying for one or more types of credit over the prior 12 months, up from 34.6% in October, the NY Fed said Monday. A year earlier, before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the economy, the rate was 45.6%. The NY Fed’s credit access survey is fielded every four months to gauge how actively consumers are seeking new types of credit (including auto loans, credit cards, credit card limit increases, mortgages, and mortgage refinancing), and whether their applications are approved....

Fortunately, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Security Act (the CARES Act) offers homeowners some options. Mortgage Relief Under the CARES Act Under the CARES Act, homeowners with government-backed mortgage loans can request forbearance if the COVID-19 pandemic has caused financial hardship. Forbearance allows these borrowers to pause monthly payments while they get back on their feet. Some mortgages may have a deadline of requesting an initial forbearance of Dec. 31, 2020....

The concept of covered securities was first introduced by the National Securities Market Improvement Act of 1996. It refers to classes of securities that are exempt from state regulations under federal law. The Legislative History Additional legislation was passed in 2011 that required brokers to report the adjusted basis of these securities on Form 1099-B for tax purposes. Brokers became obligated to indicate whether gains or losses realized on the sale of covered securities were short-term or long-term....

Requirements for Deducting Employee Benefits Here are some general principles for deducting employee payments or benefits: The payments must be ordinary and necessary business expenses.Your business must pay or be liable for these costs. In addition, the payment amount must be reasonable, based on the circumstances and an amount a similar business would pay for the services. They also must be connected to services (work) the employee actually performed services for these payments....

Membership Dues You Can–And Can’t–Deduct Here’s a general list of membership dues you can and cannot deduct. This list is the same for all business types, including corporations: You can deduct membership dues for: Your local chamber of commerceA trade association, like an association of manufacturers of a specific group of productsA civic or public service organizationProfessional organizations, like a state bar association or chiropractic boardA real estate board You cannot deduct membership dues (even if you do business there) for:...

Your estimate may be wrong. You’d be surprised at how many families and singles routinely underestimate their Social Security benefits. Start by thinking of them in terms of what you would have to have in the bank at retirement to deliver the same amount of monthly income you’re living on now. How to Value Your Benefits Suppose you’ll receive $1,500 per month from Social Security beginning at age 66. Each year, that $1,500 a month can be expected to go up a little if the cost of living measured by the consumer price index increases....

A notice of termination is an official, written notification from your employer that you’re being laid off or fired from your current position. Reasons for termination can vary from gross misconduct, tardiness, and insubordination to layoffs, corporate closures, or downsizing. But what if your soon-to-be-former employer didn’t provide you with a written notification? You may be wondering if it’s legal to terminate your employment without official documentation. The answer, as we’ll see in a moment, is: “Yes—most of the time....

Comprehensive Insurance Covers Animal Accidents Knowing what damage to look for and how to handle an insurance claim due to animal damage can save you both time and money. Your car insurance can potentially cover all animal car accidents if you have purchased comprehensive coverage. Take photos of the damage, and call your insurance agent if you need help filing the claim. The cost of the damage must exceed your deductible....

That’s where your homeowners insurance could be a big help. In certain circumstances, homeowners insurance will help cover the cost to repair your foundation. Learn more about homeowners insurance, foundation repair, how to spot foundation damage, and what you can do to prevent it. What Causes Foundation Damage? Foundation damage can be caused by a sudden, catastrophic event or slowly over time. Many types of foundation damage come from natural causes, including:...

What Are Emerging Market Stocks? Emerging markets are countries with rapidly growing economies that are generally “less developed” than larger or more established nations, such as the United States and Western European countries. Some of the largest countries that are considered emerging markets (by western standards) are China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico. In general, the market risk is higher for emerging markets than that of more developed countries. This risk is usually due to political instabilities, civil unrest, questionable accounting standards, or unstable currencies....

Rafal Rodzoch / Getty Images Learn more about employee assistance programs and how they might be right for your team. What Is an Employee Assistance Program? In a perfect world, employees’ personal lives would never affect them at work. But the reality is that many workers spend time on the job worrying over personal matters that can reduce their effectiveness and curb their productivity. This has led to the development of Employee Assistance Programs, which provide support and resources for struggling employees....

Learn more about employment credit checks and how to prepare for them. What Is an Employment Credit Check? In addition to employment history and criminal background checks, some employers also run credit checks on applicants and use that information to make hiring decisions. A National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) survey reports that 31% of employers ran credit checks on some applicants, and 16% checked all applicants’ credit. Most background screenings occurred after a conditional job offer....

EOS operates using its own open-source blockchain known as EOSIO, which was developed by the company Block.one. It ranks as a top 30 cryptocurrency by market cap, which was $3.7 billion as of July 2021. There are more than 955 million EOS coins in circulation. What Is EOS? EOS is a cryptocurrency that runs on its own blockchain. EOSIO is the open-source blockchain still in development, which is led by the company Block....

The income spans adjust annually to keep pace with inflation, and the brackets and rates can change periodically as a result of legislation. This is what those tax rates and brackets looked like from 2011 through 2022, and how they’ll be adjusted for 2023. How To Use Tax Bracket and Tax Rate Information Tax rates and brackets fall into two categories that are often confused: average tax rate and marginal tax rate....

There will probably be times when the two of you are at odds regarding your finances, either due to differing viewpoints on how to do things financially, or perhaps even because you are financially incompatible. Follow these five steps to stop fighting about finances and avoid the financial problems that can lead to divorce. Does your spouse feel like you set up the budget or that the categories are not reasonable?...

As of December 31, 2020, consumer debt in the United States was at $14.56 trillion, with Americans carrying an average personal debt of $140,420 as noted in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. Think About What You Could Do Without Debt Payments Consider the amount that you pay each month in consumer debt, and what you could do with it if you were not applying it to debt payments each month....

How Electronic Checks Work An electronic check is an electronic payment from your checking account processed through the Automated Clearing House, or ACH network system. There are two ways this happens. Manual Check Entry When you provide your checking account details (your bank account and routing numbers), a business or service provider can pull funds from your checking account electronically. Your checking account information appears at the bottom of your paper checks, and you can also get those details online....

Here’s the latest: Reddit’s “wallstreetbets” forum is littered with people confessing to painful losses from playing with GameStop’s shares: “For me there’s really no point in selling, it only makes the loss real,” wrote Unstoppable Drew, while aboland96 said, “I bought stock at 329 and while I only have two shares, I would kick myself if I took that big of a loss and sold and right after I do it shoots back up....

If you consider how much overall price inflation has eroded the value of a dollar over time—especially with the recent rampant inflation—then we’re far from the priciest gas ever, Gilbert Metcalf, a professor of economics at Tufts University, pointed out in a recent blog post at the nonpartisan economics publication EconoFact.org. As the chart below shows, in today’s dollars, “real” gas prices—that is, prices adjusted for inflation—were higher in most months between 2011 and 2014....

When drivers do think about car insurance, the cost is often the main concern, along with having the right type of coverage. In most cases, adding a new driver to an existing policy is the easiest and cheapest way to get covered. Here we explain why first-time drivers should join an existing plan, along with some extra cost-saving tips. Perks of Being Added as a Driver Aside from the obvious benefit of being covered by insurance, there are many reasons that first-time drivers should think about joining an existing policy, rather than seeking out a new policy for themselves....