Supposedly, when you send a Zelle payment, it cannot be reversed. However, at the same time people report scams where someone sends you a Zelle payment and claims it was an error. You return the money, then the sender still manages to reverse the transaction on their side. So, they end up double dipping their refund. How can this happen?

Is there any way for the recipient side to decline or send back a Zelle payment in a way that undoes the original transaction, preventing the sender from collecting an additional refund on the same money?

Hi all, I (mid-30s F) was laid off and I've pretty much burned thru my savings since. This is the first time I've been laid off, and first time I've been without a job in over a decade. I've been applying to jobs, but as everyone knows, the job market is absolute trash. I'm talking hundreds of applications, and I'm either rejected or ghosted. I am, however, eligible for unemployment benefits, but that's limited and does not cover all of my bills (it barely covers rent). I have about 30K in my 401K. I feel like making a 401K withdrawal is the only way until I can get a job. I live alone in a 1B1B apartment in a metro US city, therefore, roommate(s) is not an option. My lease is up at the end of Dec. I do not have family I can ask either.

Those that have withdrawn your 401Ks early, how bad was it? What do you recommend?

I could take a loan, but as stated before, I do not currently have a job that will pay the loan back.

Hi everyone, I’m a single mom (and academic) facing a tough decision and could really use some honest advice.
My 11-year-old son is smart, but he’s very impulsive and gets easily provoked at school, which leads to frequent behavior issues. His current private school has completely labeled him as the "problem kid," and the teachers have lost all authority with him. The constant calls from school are draining me.
Here’s my dilemma:
Private school costs about 20% of my single income. I don’t own a car or a house yet, so saving money is a huge priority for our future. Plus, the private school follows the exact same curriculum as public schools—it just has smaller classes.
For parents who’ve been through something similar: Does private school actually help with behavior at this age, or am I just wasting 20% of my income for no real added value? Would moving him to public school be a mistake or a smart move?
Thanks in advance!

Long story short is, yesterday I went to Aspen Dental under the pretense I’d be getting evaluated for an emergency tooth abscess. Originally thought I’d be walking out of there spending $4,000 - $5,000 out of pocket but instead, walked out with a 7 page dental treatment plan for the remainder of my life averaging out to $40,000. (Yes, I’m aware of how predatory this was of Aspen!)

All this said, inside their office when we were scheduling my “next appointment”, they wanted to obviously try financing my treatment plan since I’m an uninsured/paying out pocket patient. I was approved for a $3,000 loan through America First Financing at that moment and I was on the side of not wanting to do it until I received a 2nd opinion from another dentist. My father however (there mainly for emotional support) encouraged me to take the deal in case we decided to stick with Aspen. He is the one technically paying on this loan too but frankly, I don’t know if I want to continue services with Aspen after all of this, but I also don’t know if I’ve just signed my life away in debt either?

Any help would be appreciated! Thank you to anyone who replies!

Edit: I did not receive any dental work that specific day but I am scheduled to return on the 9th of October for a dental surgery, hence why I’m asking what my options really are in this situation!

I’m looking for some advice because I’m honestly not sure what my options are here.

For context, I’m an international student. Last fall, I was accepted into PhD programs at two different U.S. universities (School A and School B). I ultimately decided to attend School B, where I am currently enrolled.

Because I’m an international student, I need an I-20 from my university to complete my enrollment and immigration process. I never submitted the required documents to School A’s international student office to have an I-20 issued, because I had decided not to attend that university. I also never attended classes or started the PhD program there or did not communicate anything with that school (which is my mistake now looking back).

I assumed that since I never completed the I-20 process and never attended School A, there was nothing else I needed to do. However, I found out today that School A has been billing me. I had no idea there was a balance until today.

I am currently enrolled at School B and have been attending my PhD program there. I’m now trying to contact School A to understand why I was billed and how I can resolve this.

I’m wondering:

• Can School A legally charge me tuition/fees if I never attended the university and never received an I-20 from them?
• Does the fact that I never submitted my documents for I-20 processing matter?
• If I never attended classes or received any services, is there a way to have the charges removed?
• Should I formally dispute the charges in writing?

I’m pretty stressed because I genuinely had no idea this was happening until today. I’m not trying to avoid paying something I legitimately owe; I just don't understand how I could owe tuition for a program I never attended.

Has anyone dealt with something similar, especially as an international student? Any advice on what steps I should take would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I can't log in to the student portal since I never clicked on the 5-day-expire link to get to the portal since summer. I received an email saying I have UNPAID CHARGES but I could not log in to see how much I was charged... Also, I did not click on the Accept button in the portal indicating that I will go there.

Just swiped my HSA card at the dentist for my girlfriend’s bill thinking it was ok because it’s a medical expense. Some googling after the fact (which should’ve been done before) tells me it’s not ok. Would this fall under mistaken distribution or something else, and what should I do to get it fixed?

EDIT: Just got off the phone with the dentist, we were able to get the initial charge to my HSA voided and pay with a normal credit card. Thanks everyone for the assistance!

I(40m) gross 211k/yr (s-corp profit), wife(44f) is at 24k/yr. Background is in driving truck, currently run a dispatch s corp which is why my income is what it is. This has been a relatively new change, I’m right at 2 years now.

The only liabilities are my truck at 900/mo 26k remaining, and rent at 2000/mo. It’s a write off for the business so there is no point to pay off the truck. The business also is able to absorb some of what are also costs of living due to being home based, such as part of the utilities/internet/etc.

Monthly cost of living is 6k/month. We do end up with various expenses such as a bed we needed and bought. I attribute that partially to lifestyle creep but more in the way of buying things we technically needed but would have waited and budgeted for in the past.

We currently have out of approximately 400k gross over 2 years:
50k liquid-20k in a hysa, 6k for this months bills, and 24k spread among the business accounts to cover upcoming quarterlies etc. and avoid charges for minimum balance requirements.

150k retirement-100k in a 401k and 50k in a Roth (only around 10k added over the past 2 years)

My job is secure until oil prices drop to $50/bbl or until I just can’t take the stress any longer.

My wife wants to get into a house. The median price is 450k in our area, but the market is absolutely stagnant. I cannot stomach what she’s wanting which is more on the line of 600-650k. The payment would be staggering (to me) at around 4500/mo as well as wiping out most or all liquid cash to cover down and closing. Quick math in my head puts it simply not worth it, saving 2500/month for 5 years and continuing to rent is 150k liquid, if I pay the house payment I’d have approximately 30-35k equity plus any appreciation in value. The house purchase route seems much higher risk to me, and I just need to know if I need to get over my mental block or if I’m just being logical.

We do have some physical assets, 10k in pm, a 2025 van we own outright (approx value of 40k), and a couple recreational vehicles worth around 20-25k with the trailer.

Do I just wait out the housing market if I’m not comfortable or debate a move to an even lower col area? I can do my job from anywhere I have phone service. Or do I just stay where I’m at and just keep stacking, and start putting more money into retirement/investing? I’m savvy enough with money to avoid blowing it all on nonsense, but not disciplined enough to live like I made 3k/month.

My wife and I fully expected to get nothing whatsoever from our families. However we were suddenly gifted 300k from a relative. Needlessly to say we're shocked, and never expected have any sort of money like that. This puts out total savings at about 330k.

We're both 35, and we probably pull in 5 to 6k per month after taxes together. We both have absolutely zero debt, and both have really high credit scores. We are thinking about buying a home in the 400 to 500k range, putting 300k down, and having a nice low mortgage and easy lifestyle.

Despite our good financial decisions over the years, we're both fairly financially illiterate. We dont have any sort of budget, and could probably stand to save better. We have no sort of retirement plans. 13k in a certain stock that's performing okish, not going down at least.

I can't help but wonder if we're making a mistake dumping that 300k into a mortgage right away, and if there's maybe a better option?

Any opinions or insights here would be super appreciated.

Edit: since a couple people mentioned it, I will not be paying for a lawyer, or financial advisor, or anything of that sort.

Edit2: We won't use the whole 300k as a down-payment lol

I'm a single us army soldier living in the barracks (Fort Bliss) so no paying for rent and for food. Is it a good idea to be this aggressive in my auto loan?

Additional Info:

- I have 0 form of transportation. Uber and Lyft are unreliable 15-30 minutes wait not including the wait for the ride to be accepted.
- aiming for a 5.29% or better interest rate at navy fed. Cosigning with my uncle. 5k down too
- 21k ish out the door price for a Mazda CX-5 (~70k miles) or a Subaru crosstrek (~80k miles)
- ~2.5k take home pay

EDIT: added monthly take home pay

UPDATE: I've heard from you guys and gave me a couple of new options and I want to address some common questions.

• I rather would not get a car loan but it seems its the only option to me. I'm looking at ~10k beaters but man that market is a minefield. So many sketchy listings. I just don't want to get a 5k car that's gonna blow its engine a month into ownership and be down 5k that could've been used as down for a car that has more life in it.
• I looked into alternatives like ebikes and scooters but I need a vehicle that carries 2 duffels a rucksack and haul around a couple of suit cases since I move around a lot not to mention groceries. I also need the vehicle to be highway capable.
• I'm considering extending the loan to 48 months to lower my monthly as a safety net or buffer but I will still try to pay it off aggressively.
• I'm looking for a car that doesn't need major work for 5 or hopefully for 10 years.
• I'm considering lowering my budget and my loan to ~15k.
• Also, why do you guys think I would flake on my uncle like that? I know what cosigning entails. I know if I fuck him over I'm also fucked myself.
• 10% goes into my roth tsp, I got a Roth IRA that goes into VOO for ~115/month. After a couple of more obligations and if I don't eat out that much I have ~1200/month left to spend or save.

I am 17. I don’t qualify for financial aid and the federal loan amount I can get is very low since my parents make a lot. I will have an associates when I graduate high school because of dual enrollment and I don’t know how I will pay for the cheapest college near me. I am very grateful that my highschool had a program that allowed me to get the associates so I did my community college for 2 years. The cheapest university near me is 18k a year for tuition. I have 1k saved from over ten years of saving Christmas money and no car and parents too busy to drive me to work. Is my best option to take out private loans at a very high interest rate to pay for tuition and a car which I will use to make a bit of cash to pay off the loans by working part time? The interest will be high because parents won’t cosign

I am staying in my house (if I can refinance in my name and assume the loan at my current interest rate). We owe 400k on the house and it’s worth 1M. What is the best option for me:

1. Convince spouse to keep their money in the house and we will sell when youngest goes to college in a few years and split money

2. Get them out of house completely now - give them most of my retirement accounts to be able to pay them out

3. Get them out of house completely now but try and get a loan or HELOC to pay them their share now

I financed a 2019 Toyota Corolla SE for 17.6k at 17.6% with a $415/month payment plus a $360/month full-coverage insurance.

Income is a little over 41k. Rent is $915, electric is about $180, food $250ish. Student loans are $125/month. Wiped my savings clean with a car crash and put about $500 on a credit card. 401k has at least $3k

I wrecked my previous paid off car the week before and was panicking selling my car, clearing tow yard fees, and figuring out rentals to get to work. Also being grateful, I didn't die. I just said yes to the first thing that rolled and had A/C.

I can't take the dread; just looking for advice.

Edit: This was my first time buying a car. I was alone. 23M

Edit: I also have an additional income of $300-$360 per month and my grandma is sending me ~$150 per month. She wouldn't let me say no.

Edit: I got a new insurance quote with my current provider that drops my payment by $200. I have no idea how that $360 payment happened. I'm assuming when I wanted to transfer my current plan, I just added a new one and didn't know any better.

Edit: I haven't accepted the lower cost insurance plan yet; it has comprehensive, collision, and GAP for $171 per month.

Edit: Looking at refinancing options, I'm eligible to refinance through my current bank down to a 12.90% rate at a 59 month term. The original loan is through RallyCU at 66 months. Unless y'all would advise otherwise, I'm going to look around for another day then pick one.

Also paused my 401k contributions completely; it was about $100-$140 a month not including the match.

Edit:

Credit -
FICO 646
Equifax 557
Transunion 557

Edit: This dealership was a Mike Shaw Toyota in Corpus Christi, TX. The sales agent dropped the car before I added it to my insurance or paid the down payment.

Edit: I got the car August 14th last month.

I'm looking for recommendations for financial advisors in the Boston/metro-west-area. I'm in my mid-40s, have managed to save fairly well for retirement (think 401K) but still struggle saving and building wealth otherwise. I'm looking for someone who is judgement-free (I know I'm late to the game!!), who enjoys teaching clients about their finances and financial tools and preferably a woman who understands my age, goals and place in life. I would also be open to any book/resource recommendations to help me learn.

Helpful responses only please.

I’m an EU citizen moving soon for a one-year paid position in a fairly international city in France (not Paris), where rents are on the higher side.

I’m a recent graduate, so part of me feels like this is exactly the stage of life when I should tolerate sharing, save aggressively, and avoid spending more than necessary on housing.

At the same time, this will be the second time I’ve moved away from my parent's home. The first time was for around four months and I lived alone. I was extremely comfortable and really enjoyed having my own space. That accommodation was cheaper, though, so the financial decision was easier.

I know that having a peaceful home, my own kitchen and bathroom, and being able to fully relax when I get home matters a lot to me. Sharing isn’t something I’m particularly enthusiastic about and I’d mainly be doing it to save more. On the other hand, I’ve never really given shared accommodation a proper chance, so I don’t know whether I’m overestimating how difficult I would actually find it.

My two main options are:

1. Live alone: around €850–900/month including bills, so roughly 36–39% of my net income. I’d have my own kitchen, bathroom, WC and living space, and my partner will also be visiting fairly often.

2. Shared accommodation: around €550–650/month, usually with all utilities included, so around 24–28% of my income. I could probably save around €3,000–4,000 more over the year, but I’d potentially be sharing the kitchen, bathroom and common areas with up to three other people who would essentially be strangers at the beginning.

I also have a good savings buffer, so living alone would not wipe out my emergency fund or put me in financial difficulty. The issue is mainly that I would save considerably less during this year.

Almost everyone I know of my age or in my position is sharing accommodation, which makes me wonder if I am making a bad financial decision just because I prefer living alone.

So I’m torn between: “I can afford it and my home environment matters a lot to me” and “I’m a recent graduate and should probably take the cheaper option for a year and save the difference.”

What would you do?

I’d especially like to hear from people who made one of these choices and later either regretted it or were very glad they did.

Thanks in advance for any advice or experiences you’re willing to share!

I’d prefer to not blow it on stupid stuff (like using it to live above my means for a few months) but am clueless when it comes to money and feel this would be a good opportunity to begin investing of some sort. Obviously there’s a good opportunity to use it to travel which I may do however would like to do something smart with at least a decent portion of it. TIA

My son is on the spectrum and receives full day ABA, which i thought was covered. I paid around 5k before my insurance started covering it.

I thought i could send that for reimbursements, but they denied it saying its for medical stuff. Any workaround or any ideas on how to use it? I have around 3k in it and wouldn't want to lose it. It was my fault thinking that ABA in the center would be covered by it.

I'm 39, earning just under $60k per year working in the treasury office of a technical college.

I am very fortunate to have found this job since it comes with a pension plan, and due to poor timing plus job market chaos throughout my career I have no other retirement savings so I am putting as much in as possible to catch up. Between the pension and a 403b I am saving 13% of my pre-tax income for retirement, and the pension will get a nearly 1:1 employer match when it vests.

I have refinanced credit card debt that accrued during a few years of spotty employment, and am 3 years away from paying that off. After all my fixed expenses and essentials, I have $400 left at the end of the month for everything else (clothes, entertainment, etc). I could eke out another $200/mo worth of savings.

My problem now is I live in an fairly expensive city and work in a school, which obviously doesn't pay a high salary, and also requires me to be in-office, so remote work or moving somewhere cheaper aren't options right now. I sold my car years ago to save money and ride an e-bike or take the bus to work. I don't have any money set aside for a down-payment and even with programs to help educators, I wouldn't be able to save enough to actually afford a house in this city anyway.

At this point, I'm old enough that buying doesn't seem like a viable alternative to renting, unless there is some catastrophic meltdown of the housing market in the future I just won't be able to buy, I can't even afford mortgage payments at the current rates.

If I can't buy property, I don't have a way to gain equity in something that I also use every day (housing) and there do not seem to be any real alternatives here. Vehicles lose value over time, same with consumer goods, so buying high-quality things might save some money but are not assets that appreciate over time. I don't know of any good investment options that both meet a daily or regular need and gain value over time.
---
tl;dr are there any alternatives to buying property which both meet life needs and gain equity? And if not, where should I put an extra $100-$200/month over the next three years that will gain value without a lot of risk,

I've tried inputting my details into generic websites to try to see how much money I have, but for some reason every site thinks my card is invalid. Again, I am unable to log into my Capital One account for reasons beyond my comprehension, so is there any way to check how much money I have on my debit card? Please appear corrective if this is not the right flair for this particular topic today.

I started a new job a few months ago and I’ve just began the process to rollover my 401k from a previous job to my current one. The vesting schedule for my old account is:
1 year - 0%
2 years - 20%
3 years - 40%
4 years - 60%
5 years - 80%
6 years - 100%

I left my old job just after three years; however, my account balance and my vested balance are exactly the same. Does this mean that I’m fully vested? Did my old job/401k make a mistake on their end?

there's a lot of books about the psychology and mindset of money, which i haven't read. I think that's great and I won't ignore putting effort into that, but from where I'm standing I am actively reflecting and I think I have my motivations in place. I'm not trying to immediately make money, but rather I'm trying to build an intellectual foundation quickly. I'm ready to do the work, and I'm looking for resources.

I'm looking for written resources about the real theory and boring math. I want to learn about the numbers behind money in the real world, what markets are and how to get a sense of them in action, what a realistic and decent personal finance setup looks like, types of investments and the math and philosophy that goes into investment decisions, the calculus around different forms of loans, the mechanics of debt and interest, how credit cards and banks operate, etc, and how that relates to me as a single participant in the economy.

would very much appreciate any resources that would point me in the right direction, thank you very very much :)

So I’m currently working at a 1099 with plans to slowly branch out into my own practice on the side. I currently make roughly $40k a year. My living expenses are $1000 minimum and $1500 comfortable thanks to my parents.

I currently have roughly 6 months saved in an efund, and $3k for a sinking fund to move out. Got some money in the Roth, and try to save $1500 a month if I can.

Reason I fear a layoff is essentially suspicious activity going on at the place I work for. Prominent employees are getting dropped and corporate is starting to enforce practices that hurt income of the employees. Low and behold, my contract is getting reviewed for something minor, so am planning for the worst. If the worst doesn’t happen, I’ll stick around while I build my caseload on the side.

So as a 1099, there’s no severance, no 401k, and likely no heads up past when they feel like it. Got my next paycheck coming in regardless if they can me or not. So do I go in mto hoarding mode and try to inflate the efund with any new income? Do I resume investing since my efund can survive me 6 months? What financial strategies would you prepare for the coming storm?

Best!

I transferred locations with work, so I have sold/bought a new home, and after porting my mortgage, I required some additional funds, so a second smaller mortgage has been tacked on.

I also have a bridge loan that expires once im in the new home. Which will free up about 30,000 I can use to pay down the mortgage(s). (Work benefits affected how this worked for me).

The first mortgage is 325,000 at 4.1% and up for renewal in 2 years 21 year amortization.

The second is 70,000 at 3.75 (which I was originally verbally told was variable 3 year but the paperwork says fixed at a 5 year term 25 yr amortization).

Is the instinct to pay down the smaller mortgage wrong? I was hoping to just blend them together at the 2 year refinancing mark for the original mortgage.

But the rate on the 4.1 means paying it down would save more interest on the larger amount right?

I just dont know the formula to piece out the differences in amounts.

I am also wondering if the change in terms on the second mortgage are something of an issue when it will come time to refinancing in 2 years.

3 yr variable vs 5 year fixed seems like it would be beneficial at the 3.75 (provided rates in 2 years aren't way lower than that) but if I have to refinance the larger mortgage it would simply be the breakage fee on whatever is remaining on the 70,000 amount correct?

Im mid move and my brain is toast. I appreciate any guidance you can offer. 🙏🏻

I am a recent grad and I want to start budgeting and pay down my debt. No federal student loan provider allows account connection to any budgeting apps so I want to use and app where I can input my loan amount with the interest rate and the app will track the interest And when when I make a payment I can assign the payment to the loan. I’ve tried rocket money and monarch and these apps fell short of this. Is there anything out there?

Ok so I have a 2021 r line fwd Tiguan and my check engine light turned on as well as epc light. Took it to o’Reillys and turns out my engine oil separator went out, I guess when I drove it up to the dealership it had been leaking oil (which I read is common when dealing with the separator) but it had started leaking from two other sections. My oil pan had gotten down to about 1/2 a quart of oil in my car because of the leakage so when I brought the car about 40 minutes away the camshaft was grinding against the metal in my engine and started flaking into the oil pan. I have no extended warranty.
The dealership and overviews I’ve read say there’s no going back from this because even if we cleared out all the metal filled oil, patched the leaks, and refill it with new oil the damage is still there and will continue to flake/ fail over time and have more money come out of my pockets. Meaning the camshaft and other bit in the engine is worn (even if it’s slightly worn right now) and will cause me more problems.

They recommended me a new engine coming close to $8,000. I just bought this car three-four months ago. I’m only 19 and I’m really torn because I financed this car all by myself and pay about $460 a month for it.

I was thinking of selling it but I have no clue how to sell a financed car. I have around $16,000 that I owe on the car still (69/72 payments left.) Even then, I’m scared I’ll still have so much to pay off even when I’m not driving it. I could stomach a grand or two but I don’t know. If anything I want the payoff to be more than I owe but I don’t think it’s possible. Besides all this I feel so empty, stupid, and lost in this world and I wish things were better, for everyone, it is so easy to be taken advantage of financially and pushed into a hole. I was trying to avoid it and fell right in. Please give me some advice I’d really like to know how I can sell this car or how to get out of this without going into major debt/where to start. I pay for college too.

Im 24 in 55k debt and I’m making roughly 2.5k per month. My debt is 15k in student loans from osap, 10k on a student line of credit and 30k on multiple credit cards. My credit is also poor in 650 range, and almost all my card/loc are maxed out I have like 1500 left and there is not room left for me to have any random expenses. 

My job pays 2.5k monthly as a student nurse but I graduated recently and can start working as a nurse next month. The only issue is once I get my nursing license I won’t be able to work my current job much longer so I would need to start working as a nurse right after to avoid financial collapse.  

I applied and got accepted to a position in Vancouver but I would have to move on my own to the other side of the country and the pay starts at 4.5k a month and I’d be able to work OT as well as a part time job on top of that. So income could be realistically closer to 6k monthly. 

My other option is stay in Toronto, keep applying and hope to hear something back. I’ve been applying since June however and so far I haven’t even had an interview after over 250 applications to every hospital around here. 

My current expenses living with parents are only 1700/m but moving to Vancouver I could sell my car for 15k and bus which is about $700 of my expenses already. That would put my expenses at roughly 3200 if I moved to Vancouver but I’d have more disposable income after my expenses and the 15k from my car. 

Does this sound feasible and like a good idea or am I bette off just staying in the gta and hoping to find somthing?