vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
It is called trailing interest, and you can read about it [here](http://www.extracreditcards.com/trailing-interest/).  edit: IIRC, the argument is that resulting total interest charges are lower for the customer calculating the interest this was as apposed to whatever the alternative is. The sneakiness is that you don't expect to owe another $1.50 on the next statement, neglect to remit the payment on it, and boom, late fee. I used to encourage my clients to overpay their account when trying to achieve a payoff.
My Credit Union offers a market-linked CD where the investment has FDIC protection if it is held to maturity, but otherwise they are linked with the S&P 500. it comes with this warning: Market-Link CDs are not appropriate for all depositors including   clients needing a guaranteed interest payment or seeking full   participation in the stock market.  If redeemed prior to maturity, the   amount received will be subject to market risk including interest rate   fluctuations an issuer credit quality. So they still do exist. Another credit union I belong to has a similar product. The risk is that if you need the money early, there may be losses. There would also not be a way to switch to a more conservative posture as the CD approached maturity, if you were interested in protecting your gains.
Need is a strong word. As far as merchants are concerned, if they accept, e.g., Visa credit, they will accept Visa Debit. The reverse is not necessarily true. Up until lately, Aldi would only accept debit cards (credit cards have higher merchant fees), and when I used to got to Sam's Club, they would accept Visa debit, but not credit (they had/have an exclusive deal with Discover for credit). So, yes, they can tell from the card number whether it's credit or debit. However, I've never heard of a case of the situation being biased against debit.*  That said there are some advantages to having a credit card: ETA: I don't know how credit history works in the EU, but in the US having open credit accounts definitely does affect your credit score which directly affects what rate you can get for a mortgage.  *ETA_2: As mentioned in the comments and another answer, car rentals will often require credit cards and not debit (Makes sense to me that they would want to make sure they can get their money if there is damage to the car). Many credit cards do include rental car insurance if you use it to pay for your rental, so that's another potential advantage for credit cards.
My bank charges me on my statement for debit transactions, but rewards me with bogo points when I run transactions as credit. AFAIK, retailers are prevented by contract with VISA et all from recouping the merchant fee from you (instead they can mark up all prices and offer a 'cash discount'), not that you'll be able to convince your vietnamese grocer of this. The difference between debit and credit fees is large enough that even these small tricks by the bank can mean a lot of money for them. Since most retailers accept either, they recruit me into their profit game with carrots and sticks.  I've since moved to an actual cash back credit card and haven't regretted it yet.
Definitely not.  Credit cards only exist to suck you into the soulless corporate system.  What you want to remember here is that you can't trust banks, so you'll want to convert all your savings into some durable asset, say, bitcoins for example, and then hoard them like Smaug until after the Fall.
If so, it seems to me that this system is rather error prone. By that I mean I could easily forget to make a wire some day and be charged interests while I actually have more than enough money on the check account to pay the debt. I have my back account (i.e. chequing account) and VISA account at/from the same bank (which, in my case, is the Royal Bank of Canada). I asked my bank to set up an automatic transfer, so that they automatically pay off my whole VISA balance every month, on time, by taking the money from my bank account. In that way I am never late paying the VISA so I never pay interest charges. IOW I use the VISA like a debit card; the difference is that it's accepted at some places where a debit card isn't (e.g. online, and for car rentals), and that the money is deducted from my bank account at the end of the month instead of immediately.
For whatever reason, I don't believe they offer it.  Yahoo does.  A google for google finance VIX turns up people asking the question, but no quote on google.
Most of these blogs/websites that you mention above promote banks that pay a commission and hence you never realize there are better banks out there that offer a higher rate.   I went through the same exercise to find the bank that paid the best rate and realized the truth I mention above.   I currently bank with Alliant Credit Union, which doesn't pay a commission or have affiliate fees.  If you find a bank that pays a higher rate than ACU, let me know, I'd like to switch to that bank as well! To give an example, ACU's regular savings rate is equivalent to EverBank's 2 year CD!  See what I mean when I say affiliate and commissions run the show? Disclosure: BTW, I'm a customer of this bank, not an employee.  I do have a blog if you wish to read my experience with ACU.
The answer to this question can be found in the related question  Is there any online personal finance software without online banking?
I'm not directly affiliated with the company (I work for one of the add-on partners) but I can wholeheartedly recommend Xero for both personal and business finances. Their basis is to make accounting simple and clean, without sacrificing any of the power behind having the figures there in the first place.
gnasher729's answer is fundamentally correct and deserves the checkmark, but I'd like to give an economic explanation for how this economically functions. The key point from gnasher729's answer's that the interest rate is 49.9% for one company. While this may be much higher than the equilibrium rate, the true market interest rate, it is not completely unreasonable because of the risk. For credit to be continually produced, default risk must be compensated because this is a cost to the lender.  Most are not in business to lose money, so making loans to borrowers that default 40% of the time would make this interest rate reasonable. For UK citizens, this would not be such a problem because the lender can usually pursue the borrower for the balance, but if the borrower can disavow the loan and leave the legal reach of the UK creditors, the collection rate is 0%. The guarantee by the foreign persons not present in the UK is incidental and probably more of a regulatory requirement since the inability to collect from them is just as unlikely. One should always look for the lowest price with at least minimum quality when shopping for anything, but you are right to be apprehensive legally.  Read every line and be sure that you yourself understand every clause before signing. If alternative cheaper financing is available, it is probably superior.
I'm not certain if you can get a debit card with it, but if you have a PNC in your area, they have a special kind of account designed around teaching financial literacy to children: https://www1.pnc.com/sisforsavings/tour.html . I'm not sure if you can get a debit card for the child or not, but the custodian gets one I believe, and the child gets a special online login to manage the money, so if you don't mind the name issue, it might be worth looking into. If you don't have PNC, maybe one of the banks in your area have a similar program?
Have you considered social lending (for example: Lending Club)?
"This is most likely protecting Square's relationship with Visa/Mastercard/AMEX/etc. Credit card companies typically charge their customers a much higher interest rate with no grace period on cash advances (withdrawals made from an ATM using a credit card). If you use Square to generate something that looks like a ""merchandise transaction"" but instead just hand over a wad of banknotes, you're forcing the credit card company to apply their cheaper ""purchases"" interest rate on the transaction, plus award any applicable cashback offers†, etc. Square would absolutely profit off of this, but since it would result in less revenue for the partner credit card companies, that would quickly sour the relationship and could even result in them terminating their agreements with Square altogether. † This is the kind of activity they are trying to prevent:  1. Bill yourself $5,000 for ""merchandise"", but instead give yourself cash.  2. Earn 1.5% cashback ($75).  3. Use $4,925 of the cash and a $75 statement credit to pay your credit card statement.  4. Pocket the difference.  5. Repeat. Note, the fees involved probably negate any potential gain shown in this example, but I'm sure with enough creative thinking someone would figure out a way to game the system if it wasn't expressly forbidden in the terms of service"
Appreciate the good back and forth. I only did equity for a brief while before I moved to emerging market debt. I can go across capital structure but we don't spend much time on retail outside of China. I think EBITDA or an adjusted NI makes a lot more sense than FCF for Amazon, and nowadays, FCF is ALL that I use for valuation in EM debt world.
Of course its possible. Under what terms and with what fees depends on your bank/country regulations, but generally speaking - loaning is the major source of income for banks, especially short-term account overdrafts (which is essentially a loan, usually at a high rate). In the US you can (now, since the new regulations kicked in) instruct the bank not to pay checks/decline debit card purchases if you don't have sufficient funds on the account. Otherwise you can instruct them to pay (at their discretion) to avoid bouncing checks, and accept NSF fees (usually pretty high). Some banks provide overdraft lines of credit (then you won't have NSF fees, and will just pay interest when tapping into that line), others provide option to automatically withdraw the missing amount from a linked account (checking or credit card).
"A ""leveraged/trade program""? What exactly is that? So let me get this straight. You put just 10% of the total amount of what you're trading into an account with Citi (Citi's going to give you 10-1 leverage on your money...why?), and then in 90 days they'll give you your money back and a loan for ten times the amount? Either the heat has gotten to me or this is the craziest thing I've read today. You didn't specify what it is you'd be ""trading"", and if your ""acquaintance"" didn't share that with you either then it sounds beyond suspect -- it sounds like total fraud. I couldn't imagine a scenario whereby Citi would be involved in a scheme like this, whatever ""it"" is. I suspect that your ""friend"" has you opening an account at Citi because it makes the whole scam sound more legitimate by tying to a big bank name. It might be worth your time to actually call Citi (I looked up their number for you. It's 1-800-685-0935) and ask them about this particular idea. When they get done snickering, they'll tell you the same thing everyone else is -- RUN from this. You're very right to suspect that you can't leverage money without encumbering it. What would be the point for someone to essentially give you credit on a 10-to-1 basis and then not encumber the collateral? If you don't know anything about trading and how leverage works then it would be highly inadvisable for you to jump into something that you don't understand. Your ""acquaintance"" may have been sucked into investing their own money, and now they think they're doing you a ""favor"" by telling you about this ""incredible opportunity"". It's how most scams work. They get the suckers to sign up friends and relatives, because they're playing on the trust between those people. Stick to what you know or what someone can give you a clear and reasonable explanation of.
Yeah, I got one of those and didn't look at the fine print.  They gave me a 250 dollar credit limit with so many initial fees just for signing up that the card already had $180 on it when it came.
"Quicken. I am in the same situation. I've tried mint.com and switched back to Quicken because i want to know how much money i'll have in my accounts in 2 weeks, 4 weeks, etc.  I have to admit though, quicken is getting worse and worse every year. Can't really say i ""recommend"" it."
I am using ING for my emergency savings, but sometime last year I discovered SmartyPig. As of 4/24/2010 they offer 2.1%, which is even better than the 1 year CDs at most banks. I've switched two small accounts to SmartyPig and plan to switch my emergency savings. Their accounts are geared around monthly contributions, but you don't have to use that feature.
Such loans are of course possible. They exist because the lender gains something other than interest from them: What would happen to the economy if these were common? These are common, common as anything. In fact where it's not banks lending the money, these are the default. So, nothing would happen to the economy, this is one of the ways the economy works all over the world. If you're more interested in a loan from a bank or other financial institution, made to you for whatever purpose you want - here's $10,000, have fun, give it back ten years from now - ask yourself what the bank would get from that? Perhaps they could do it as a perk when you do something else with them like get a mortgage or keep $1000 in your chequing account all the time. But in the absence of any other relationship, what would be their reason for taking on the overhead and paperwork of approving you for a loan and keeping track of whether you're paying it back or not, for no return, whether financial or intangible? No return? It doesn't happen.
A few days ago they launched Fannie Mae Guaranteed Multifamily Structures (link) but who knows?  It's a penny stock now. Google Finance is pretty good at marking news right on the chart for a particular stock.  That's how I tracked that piece of news down.  Can't say that it precipitated a lot of people buying the stock, but Google Finance isn't a bad place to start looking.
I use and recommend the proactive approach, and it sounds from your question like this is the approach that you are looking for. I've used several different budgeting software packages, and my personal recommendation is for YNAB, the software that we currently use. I don't want this post to sound too much like a commercial, but I believe it will do everything you are looking for. One of the great things about the proactive approach, in my opinion, is how credit card accounts are handled. Since your spending category balances only include real money actually sitting in an account (not projected income for the month), when you spend money out of a category with your credit card, the software deducts the money from the spending category immediately, as it is already spent. The credit card balance goes negative. When the credit card bill comes and you pay it, this is handled in the software as an account transfer from your checking account to your credit card account. The money in the checking account is already set aside for the purpose of paying your credit card bill. Dedicated budgeting software generally has a reconcile feature that makes verifying your bank statements very easy. You just enter the date of your bank statement and the balance, and then the software shows you a list of the transactions that fall in those dates. You can check each one against the transactions on the statement, editing the ones that aren't right and adding any that are missing from the software. After everything checks out, the software marks the transactions as verified, so you can easily see what has cleared and what hasn't. Let me give you an example to clarify, in response to your comment. This example is specific to YNAB, but other software using the same approach would work in a similar way. Let's say that you have a checking account and a credit card account. Your checking account, named CHECKING, has $2,000 in it currently. Your credit card currently has nothing charged on it, because you've just paid your bill and haven't used it yet this billing period. YNAB reports the balance of your credit card account (we'll call this account CREDITCARD), as $0. Every dollar in CHECKING is assigned to a category.
Yup. What I wanted to know was where they are pulling it up from. Have casually used Google finance for personal investments, but they suck at corp actions. Not sure if they provide free APIs, but that would probably suck too! :D
Mint.com does a pretty good job at this, for a free service, but it's mostly for personal finance. It looks at all of your transactions and tries to categorize them, and also allows you to create your own categories and filters. For example, when I started using it, it imported the last three months of my transactions and detected all of my 'coffee house' transactions. This is how I learned that I was spending about $90 a month going to Starbucks, rather than the $30 I had estimated.  I know it's not a 'system' like an accounting outfit might use, but most accounting offices I've worked with have had their own home-brewed system.
Yes, I'd say you do. This is similar to reporting a brokerage account. Also, don't forget the requirements for form 8938.
"&gt; When you make a mistake, the sooner you admit it, the better.  OK.  Then explain this statement:  ""You still pay taxes on ""tax deferred"" retirement plans - In fact, I would dare say that in most cases, people end up paying more in taxes, because they pay it as regular income rather than LTCG.""  What is the account that you're referring to where you'd pay only LTCG?"
"If you enter the transactions as you execute them (and categorize them then), Quicken will attempt to Match downloaded transactions with ones already in the register.  ""Memorized transactions"" with known parties can also help. My credit card downloads actually come with a rough categorization provided by the vendor; that may or may not be accurate enough to save you some work."
Indeed you are correct sir. But my response would be: does the customer/regulator not also have a model? And can a financial company exist without these two stakeholders explicit endorsement? Models always have assumptions: the key is figuring out what they are and why they should or shouldn't be made. I would argue that any investor sophisticated enough to be stooging around with leveraged ETFs, CDS index tranches, or illiquid long dated interest rate swaps better have a damn good reason to buy 'em...and if their model breaks is that the fault of the bank or the customer?
No. You will need to call your credit card issuer and ask for a credit limit increase.  If you plan to pay off your card then I see no problem in this. You could also ask the seller if they will put $1000 on your card, and $500 in cash.  (Ask for a cash discount too.) Found some anecdotes! http://ask.metafilter.com/143018/Can-I-prepay-my-credit-card-and-use-it-like-a-debit-card-to-help-me-spend-more-responsibly#2047093 http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Can-I-prepay-to-increase-limit/m-p/670376#M214222
The suggestion may be very delayed, have you personally gone to the Experian Office with all the documentation (in xerox copy and in original)? If not, please do so, there is always a difference between dealing with govt/semi-govt institutions over electronic channels and in person.
Unfortunately not. Even if the credit card balance is positive (i.e. customer has overpaid the credit card account), you cannot withdraw cash (for free) - as any cash withdrawal is subject to 12.9% interest - even if repaid in full at the end of the month! The clarity credit card is one of the best cards for overseas spending, as its load free (no fees for purchases abroad) and it gives near perfect exchange rates. If your balance is positive, you start at £0, then fund that credit card account from your bank account £500. You can then spend on your credit card, and when your next bill is due at the end of the month - they will use that extra £500 sitting in your account first, and ask for the remainder from you. i.e.  scenario1:  scenario 2: It is better in my opinion, to set up a direct debit to always clear out the full amount on your credit card. That way, you have cash in your bank account for emergencies (getting £500 back from a credit card will take a few days to process as opposed to having the ability to withdraw cash from the cashpoint 24/7). And once the direct debit is paid automatically at the end of the month, there are no fees - voila your credit card is almost like a debit card, spend on it when you like, it gets paid automatically, no hassle, no worries. This approach does take a careful mindset though, as you need to know your credit limits and also you need to ensure your bank account has enough to pay off the direct debit at the end of the month. Otherwise those darn fees will get you (and hurt your credit rating). For cash spending, you will want to either take cash with you (check online here for best rates & get the money well in advance to avoid fees). Also in some countries the exchange rate is better there, than in the UK, google will help you here. If you dont like the idea of carrying large sums of cash with you can use a prepaid card like CaxtonFX, which is one of the better ones out there. The other well known ones are FairFX and Travelex Cash Passport.
You'll see a hard inquiry for both, but not necessarily on all three agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax). I have both the Amazon Chase and Amazon Store Card. Amazon Chase, is obviously through Chase bank. Amazon Store Card is through GE Money.
mint.com does a decent job categorizing your spending for you, it will do exactly what you asked your advisor I would also put some %% into saving from your every paycheck before you deposit the rest to checking(spending) and make a rule, you can't touch the saving account. Just like you are have enough courage not to use credit cards.
Not sure you are going to find anything like this in Excel - with the automatic lookup in specific. Microsoft has a template available; but it looks to be a pretty busy page. Why not look at other software?  If you have a PC, Quicken and Microsoft Money are of course the big guns.  You don't mention why you switched away from MS Money... There are many other packages as well.  The one that I use (but have no other financial interest in) is Moneydance as it was the best on Mac at the time I was looking.  It also runs on Windows and Linux.
A fucking credit union.   Even if they use an all paper system and have no website, no phone app, and can only be contacted by fax or telephone, use a credit union.   Even if the only place you can get your money is a 45 minute drive to the next town, use a credit union.   Its not about finances, its about reclaiming basic human dignity in the world of American Finance.
There are sites in India that offer this, http://www.intuit.in/ is one such site. Apart from this some banks like ICICI offer this to limited extent.