Personal finance

Can You Pay Federal Taxes with Credit Cards?

Posted by Sun on April 8, 2009 (6) Comment

The answer is Yes.
The question isn’t really whether you can use plastics to pay taxes or not, but rather whether paying taxes with credit cards is worth it or not.
How Much Does It Cost to Pay Taxes by Credit Cards?
The IRS has two authorized partners which provide the convenience service of letting taxpayers pay taxes [...]

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File Tax Extension Electronically for Free

Posted by Sun on April 7, 2009 (3) Comment

As always, I am still working on our 2008 tax returns even as the deadline to file 2008 income taxes, which is April 15th, 2009, is just a week away. Despite the delay, we already have all the files and documents we need, therefore, we won’t seek an extension to our filings. In our case, [...]

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Is USPS Tracking Useless?

Posted by Sun on April 7, 2009 (12) Comment

Back in March, I ordered an Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar from U.S. Mint. After some lengthy delays (the product was on back order), the coin was finally shipped out on April 2 and a USPS tracking number was provided. As I usually do with all the packages sending to me, I went to USPS [...]

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Rate of Our Adjustable Rate Mortgage Will be Adjusted Next Month

Posted by Sun on April 7, 2009 (4) Comment

When we bought our house nearly five years ago, we chose a 5-year ARM (from Countrywide BTW) over a fixed rate because we didn’t plan to stay in this 3-bedroom townhouse for 5 years. So it made more sense to get an ARM, which was about 1% less than fixed 30-year mortgage, to save some [...]

Categories : Personal finance, Real estate Tags:

Closed a Bunch of Credit Cards

Posted by Sun on April 6, 2009 (7) Comment

After having been mostly in the credit card accumulation mode for years, it seems that the time to cut down my “holdings” has finally come. The main reason that I probably will never use some of the cards again because they don’t offer any reward that’s better than those cards I am actively using now. [...]

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Win $10,000 with UPromise Tuition Tales Video Contest

Posted by Sun on April 4, 2009 (3) Comment

Can you use $10,000 for college expenses? If you are creative and good at making videos, then here’s a chance for your to earn $10,000.
UPromise is running a Tuition Tales Video Contest which will reward 3 winners with three grand prizes of $10,000 each. The videos will be judged on creativity, quality, and a demonstrated [...]

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Last Minute Tax Deals

Posted by Sun on April 3, 2009 (3) Comment

The deadline to file your tax, April 15th, is less two weeks away. It’s time to get the work done.
I got my TurboTax software and all the files/documents I needed and started our taxes in early February, but haven’t touched them in more than a month after I found out that, like the past couple [...]

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Guest Post at Quicken Blog on Budgeting

Posted by Sun on April 2, 2009 (2) Comment

This isn’t a topic I talked a lot here. In fact, I probably have never written about it, but last week I did write a guest post for Quicken Blog on budgeting. The post, though a short one, covers what one needs to consider before setting up a buget and how to actually create one. [...]

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My Old Credit Cards

Posted by Sun on April 2, 2009 (4) Comment

Whenever you receive a replacement credit card, the issuer always asks you to destroy the old card, like cut it in half, so the old card can no longer be used. Do you always follow what you are told to do?

I don’t know about you, but I never destroyed a single card and never thrown [...]

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UPromise Card Improves Rewards Program and Offer $25 Bonus

Posted by Sun on April 1, 2009 (10) Comment

Early last week, I received my brand new UPromise Credit Card from Bank of America. The look, however, isn’t the only change that was made after UPromise switched the card’s association from Citibank to BofA. The rewards program itself also got an upgrade.
I have been a UPromise credit card member since 2002, using it to [...]

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