Can Teachers afford to buy a house? To become a teacher, the cost of a four-year degree in education at USF is $102,560. For FSU it is $90,500. For UCF the cost from start to finish is $89,016. To get an FHA mortgage, FHA allows 45% of your income to be encapsulated by one's debt- [...]
So You Have a Note and No Car... If you have found yourself in a car accident and the car is totaled, you may not see the immediate importance of paying on the existing car note since the auto insurance is going to pay it off. You need to make sure that you [...]
If you have Medicare or Medicaid, you may not be responsible for remainder bills for hospital stays. Further, if you visit a hospital that is in your network, but receive services from an out-of-network physician, the overage that the out-of-network physician charges you may be limited to the cost that would be assessed by an [...]
Breaking A Lease To Buy A Home To clarify, there is NO Florida law that allows you to break a lease to buy a home as a first time home buyer without penalty. There are options you can create in a lease as you are signing it called "liquidated" damages or "preset" damages, but this [...]
The Psychology of the Shopping Cart You would not believe the number of studies done regarding shopping behavior and shopping carts. Cart abandonment, drive patterns, the creating of "dead zones" in the aisle, and yes, the quantity of purchasing. There are two takeaways from these studies we would like to share: 1) Using a larger [...]
Late Pays on Closed Accounts Be advised that you cannot be late on an account that is closed. However, a non-payment on a closed account can be entered if there is a balance due on a closed account. If the account is charged-off, then there can never be a late or missed payment reported- however [...]
A Dil-egg-ma. Have you ever noticed the more eggs you buy, the more expensive each egg becomes? It seems to defy the "laws of bulk shopping". No matter what store you go into, the 12 count of eggs is less expensive PER EGG than the 18 count. Why do you [...]
Understanding the Poverty Level There are certain events in life that cost based on a sliding scale. Three of the largest items are student loan repayments, medical bills, and down payment assistance when buying a home. Most of these payments are based on what percentage you are of the poverty level. For instance, at Tampa [...]
The Glass Half Full When looking to fix your credit, often times you have to make a decision on what accounts you need to focus. You will get much more lift in your score addressing the POSITIVE things on your report than the negative. This means making sure that the balances on your cards are [...]
Penalty & Penalty Free Reasons to Pull Out Of A 401k The decision to pull out of 401k can keep you up at night, weighing the pros and cons with the decision. There are penalties as well as tax consequences you may incur that diminish the benefit. Here are some situations you may find relevant. [...]