I did it. I finally went paperless. I’ve been using personal finance software for several years, and paying my bills online for just as long. But paper statements from my financial institutions and credit card companies were afterthoughts. In fact, I usually thought of them only when cursing the clutter they caused and the storage space they demanded. It was not convenience or the desire to simplify that finally led me to the switch. It was security.
You and your money are more at risk if you receive paper statements than if you go 100% electronic. Here's what you need to know to go paperless.
Identity theft experts have been telling us for years that sending sensitive financial documents through the mail is a bad idea. Paper account statements and credit card bills often give mail thieves all the information they need to take over your finances.
You could lessen the danger by buying a locking mailbox and depositing outgoing mail at the post office. But you can really limit the risk by going paperless.
People who bank entirely online, using Online Banking, BillPayer and paperless statements, more commonly referred to at Hawthorne, as eStatements, reduce their chances of becoming identity theft victims by about 20%, according to researcher James Van Dyke.
If you’re tempted to follow my lead - here’s what you need to do:
Increase security on your computer. Anyone cruising the Internet should have a good firewall and software to combat pop-ups, spyware and viruses. If your financial life is on your computer, then you need to be particularly diligent about making sure you have protections in place and update the security programs regularly.
Monitor your accounts. Most online security experts recommend checking your accounts at least weekly, and I monitor mine twice a week. One easy way to stay on top of your accounts is by downloading your transactions into a personal finance software like Quicken. This financial program makes the process painless and fast, allowing you to see exactly what’s going on in your accounts.
Don’t get hooked by phishing scams. The biggest risk to your financial records may be your own gullibility. Surveys by Gartner research found 5% of the adults they surveyed had revealed personal financial information, such as account numbers and passwords, in response to e-mails “alerting” them of a problem or an update to one of their financial accounts. To find out more about how to recognize and avoid these scams, click here.
At Hawthorne we always encourage our members to take the necessary security precautions by enrolling in eStatements. You can also save time and money by taking advantage of our other online banking products. At Hawthorne Credit Union you can view your accounts online with Online Banking and pay your bills online with BillPayer .
By offering these free services as part of our first-class Online Package, we allow you to quickly and easily pay all your bills and manage your finances online. No more stamps, envelopes, check writing, or lost mail!
Stop by our Naperville branch on Saturday, May 19 from 10 a.m. to noon and bring two bankers boxes full of old documents for free shredding (bring cancelled checks, old bank statements, credit card offers, old tax documents, etc.) and attend our Free Identity Theft seminar. We're also giving away a free document shredder, so stop in and enter.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Nickle and Dimed
I was at the ticket counter at the train station. I asked for a round trip ticket to Chicago. She offered to sell me a weekend pass that would get me where I needed to go and home when I wanted to return.
"You'll save 15 cents," she said.
"Whatever," I said. "It doesn't make much difference."
"The difference is 15 cents," she said.
She's right. Fifteen cents - a nickle and a dime. It made me wonder how often I casually disregard a small sum of money. Seems like the more I have the greater the amount that I tend to disregard, and the more money I spend. Really, what does 15 cents get you nowadays anyway? (Now I sound like my Grandmother.)
But the point is, small amounts really do add up. I'm not going to sweat over 15 cents. But how many times have I spent $15 more than I should? The grocery store is the hardest time for me - I see a food item and I just buy it without checking the price. If it looks good and it's healthy (no chemicals, transfats or high fructose corn syrup) AND if it's low in calories, too, I buy it. Maybe I can justify the price because I'm a bit particular about food. But I am also a sucker for convenience foods. I could easily save $15 a week by cooking more at home.
If I saved $15 each week, I'd have $780 more in savings at the end of the year. At retirement, that $780 could grow to nearly $4,000 (that's in 25 years at an average rate of 6.50% without contributing any more money!) If I put away $15 every week for the next 25 years ($60 per month for 25 years at an average rate of 6.50) I'd have nearly $45,000.
Direct deposit or automatic transfer is the easiest way to do this - you don't even have to think about it then. We can arrange to automatically move whatever amount of money you want, into a separate savings account.
$45,000 - That's no small change!
"You'll save 15 cents," she said.
"Whatever," I said. "It doesn't make much difference."
"The difference is 15 cents," she said.
She's right. Fifteen cents - a nickle and a dime. It made me wonder how often I casually disregard a small sum of money. Seems like the more I have the greater the amount that I tend to disregard, and the more money I spend. Really, what does 15 cents get you nowadays anyway? (Now I sound like my Grandmother.)
But the point is, small amounts really do add up. I'm not going to sweat over 15 cents. But how many times have I spent $15 more than I should? The grocery store is the hardest time for me - I see a food item and I just buy it without checking the price. If it looks good and it's healthy (no chemicals, transfats or high fructose corn syrup) AND if it's low in calories, too, I buy it. Maybe I can justify the price because I'm a bit particular about food. But I am also a sucker for convenience foods. I could easily save $15 a week by cooking more at home.
If I saved $15 each week, I'd have $780 more in savings at the end of the year. At retirement, that $780 could grow to nearly $4,000 (that's in 25 years at an average rate of 6.50% without contributing any more money!) If I put away $15 every week for the next 25 years ($60 per month for 25 years at an average rate of 6.50) I'd have nearly $45,000.
Direct deposit or automatic transfer is the easiest way to do this - you don't even have to think about it then. We can arrange to automatically move whatever amount of money you want, into a separate savings account.
$45,000 - That's no small change!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Protect Yourself by Joining us for "Shred-It Day"!
Hawthorne Credit Union will sponsor its 1st annual “Shred-It to Prevent Identity Theft Day” on Saturday May 19th from 10 am to noon, to help raise awareness about the dangers of not properly disposing unwanted personal documents and information. A FREE Identity Theft Seminar will also be offered.
Shred-it day will allow you to bring your personal documents to the credit union to be shredded. Anything that contains drivers license numbers, social security numbers, or any account numbers, really needs to be shredded to protect your identity. The smaller shredders can be very time consuming, so this is our way of saying thank you to the community. You can bring up to two bankers boxes of documents here and have them shredded in a fraction of the time.
We have all heard stories about how incredibly unsafe it is to rip up those credit card offers you get in the mail. I found a particularly interesting story while searching the web and thought it was worth sharing with you. A man, we will call him Rob, took a credit card application that he received in the mail, ripped it up, taped it back together, filled it out using a different address (his father's), using his cell phone as a phone number, and submitted it. A few weeks later his Dad received the credit card.
Is that messed up or what? Can’t you just picture a worker at the bank opening the envelope and entering the data into the system without giving any thought about why the application was torn up and re-taped? Please learn a lesson from this!
If you rip up your credit card offers and throw them away (or even worse, don't rip them up at all), a thief can fish them out of the garbage, tape it back together, fill it out with his/her address and phone number and receive that card at his/her address, and then go shopping.
My advice: SHRED ALL CREDIT APPLICATIONS YOU RECEIVE IN THE MAIL
Some of the ways that ID thieves can get personal information include:
* Rummaging through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice called "dumpster diving." * Stealing a wallet or purse * Stealing personal information found in the home. * Seventy-two percent of the information involved in identity theft is stolen offline by accessing paper documents.
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, with nineteen people becoming a victim every minute. Nearly ten million people fall prey to identity theft each year, costing them over six-thousand dollars on average. Don’t let yourself fall victim to this growing crime. Protect yourself by joining us at Hawthorne on May 19th for Shred-it Day!
If the response is good, you can count on future Shred It Days at Hawthorne!
Shred-it day will allow you to bring your personal documents to the credit union to be shredded. Anything that contains drivers license numbers, social security numbers, or any account numbers, really needs to be shredded to protect your identity. The smaller shredders can be very time consuming, so this is our way of saying thank you to the community. You can bring up to two bankers boxes of documents here and have them shredded in a fraction of the time.
We have all heard stories about how incredibly unsafe it is to rip up those credit card offers you get in the mail. I found a particularly interesting story while searching the web and thought it was worth sharing with you. A man, we will call him Rob, took a credit card application that he received in the mail, ripped it up, taped it back together, filled it out using a different address (his father's), using his cell phone as a phone number, and submitted it. A few weeks later his Dad received the credit card.
Is that messed up or what? Can’t you just picture a worker at the bank opening the envelope and entering the data into the system without giving any thought about why the application was torn up and re-taped? Please learn a lesson from this!
If you rip up your credit card offers and throw them away (or even worse, don't rip them up at all), a thief can fish them out of the garbage, tape it back together, fill it out with his/her address and phone number and receive that card at his/her address, and then go shopping.
My advice: SHRED ALL CREDIT APPLICATIONS YOU RECEIVE IN THE MAIL
Some of the ways that ID thieves can get personal information include:
* Rummaging through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice called "dumpster diving." * Stealing a wallet or purse * Stealing personal information found in the home. * Seventy-two percent of the information involved in identity theft is stolen offline by accessing paper documents.
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, with nineteen people becoming a victim every minute. Nearly ten million people fall prey to identity theft each year, costing them over six-thousand dollars on average. Don’t let yourself fall victim to this growing crime. Protect yourself by joining us at Hawthorne on May 19th for Shred-it Day!
If the response is good, you can count on future Shred It Days at Hawthorne!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Hawthorne’s Rebranding for Success
You may have noticed that we recently tackled a major rebranding effort to bring a fresh new look to the credit union. That is, we changed our marketing materials and the message we convey.
You may be asking yourself, what is branding? Experts say that branding is the process through which a cohesive, enduring impression of a business, product or service is formed in the minds of your members. All of these interactions leave impressions and accumulate to form a memory and a collective perception of a company. A brand is the unique sum of these impressions. A strong brand becomes a trusted friend, and brand loyalty arises based on a personal connection.
Our goal at Hawthorne is to build a personal connection with you by giving you the information you need to make informed decisions about your family’s financial well being. We’d like to be your connection to the essential financial service that you need today and in the future. We are dedicated to providing members and their families with quality financial products and services delivered in a professional and timely manner.
Our new brand identity helps emphasize our member-owned and “People Helping People” philosophy, a signature of credit unions. The new marketing materials emphasize trust because our ultimate goal is to strive to be our members’ trusted financial advisor. We hope we can win your trust enough that you’ll think of us first when you need financial services.
As a credit union, and a financial cooperative, we think instilling trust is part of our mission. Credit unions are typically more trustworthy because we are not-for-profit and owned by our members. All of our profit is invested back into the credit union in the form of better rates and lower fees. We offer the same financial products as other financial institutions, but we do it as a service, not as a source of income. That's why you'll notice that our fees are significantly lower than the fees that a bank will charge you.
My husband and I used to have an account at a bank and they charged us every time my husband made his company expense report deposit into our account. They also charged us every time we spoke to a teller as well as charging surcharge fees for every ATM machine that we used other than the one at the bank. By moving our account to a credit union we were able to save $30 - $40 a month in fees. This extra month is now used for our enjoyment, i.e. dinner or a movie, instead of paying fees to access our own money, at a bank.
That’s the kind of value we hope to give all our members – and more. Extra money to enjoy life. You work hard for your money, and we’d like to see you keep more of it.
You may be asking yourself, what is branding? Experts say that branding is the process through which a cohesive, enduring impression of a business, product or service is formed in the minds of your members. All of these interactions leave impressions and accumulate to form a memory and a collective perception of a company. A brand is the unique sum of these impressions. A strong brand becomes a trusted friend, and brand loyalty arises based on a personal connection.
Our goal at Hawthorne is to build a personal connection with you by giving you the information you need to make informed decisions about your family’s financial well being. We’d like to be your connection to the essential financial service that you need today and in the future. We are dedicated to providing members and their families with quality financial products and services delivered in a professional and timely manner.
Our new brand identity helps emphasize our member-owned and “People Helping People” philosophy, a signature of credit unions. The new marketing materials emphasize trust because our ultimate goal is to strive to be our members’ trusted financial advisor. We hope we can win your trust enough that you’ll think of us first when you need financial services.
As a credit union, and a financial cooperative, we think instilling trust is part of our mission. Credit unions are typically more trustworthy because we are not-for-profit and owned by our members. All of our profit is invested back into the credit union in the form of better rates and lower fees. We offer the same financial products as other financial institutions, but we do it as a service, not as a source of income. That's why you'll notice that our fees are significantly lower than the fees that a bank will charge you.
My husband and I used to have an account at a bank and they charged us every time my husband made his company expense report deposit into our account. They also charged us every time we spoke to a teller as well as charging surcharge fees for every ATM machine that we used other than the one at the bank. By moving our account to a credit union we were able to save $30 - $40 a month in fees. This extra month is now used for our enjoyment, i.e. dinner or a movie, instead of paying fees to access our own money, at a bank.
That’s the kind of value we hope to give all our members – and more. Extra money to enjoy life. You work hard for your money, and we’d like to see you keep more of it.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Teach your kids how to manage money during Youth Week!
Join us this year as we celebrate National Credit Union Youth Week from April 22-28 . Our theme for 2007 is "Stash Your Cash @ the Credit Union."
Teaching your children about money does not have to be a chore and you can get started early with some fun activities that will instill financial values in your child’s life. Our primary job as a parents is to prepare our children for how the world really works and in the real world, as most of us know, “you don't always get what you want”. Our kids will be easier to deal with as adults if they experience this fact of life during their childhood.
I usually try not to let guilt get in the way of parenting. My job as a parent is not to make myself feel good by giving my son everything that he wants. My job is to prepare him to succeed in school and when he gets out into the world.
A few things that we have tried are below.
Long-Term Savings Account. We set up an account at the credit union for his first car. Zach knows this money is there and that he has to put half of his allowance every week in to this account. This can also be an account for something else like college or another big item.
We also have a family 401K. We match a quarter to the dollar for Zach’s long-term savings.
We have also tried this approach for short term goal, but watch out, this one can get you in trouble. Last year in January Zach asked for Xbox 360 and we told him that if he could save half of the money that we would pay the other half. Before we knew it, he had saved almost $200. After looking at the price of Xbox and the price of the games $50-$60, we talked to him about this not being the smartest way to spend his money. After he thought it over he decided that it would not make sense to get Xbox yet. Had he not come to this conclusion we would have had a hard time not following through on purchasing Xbox, since Zach had reached is savings goal. What a relief that was!
Helping your children understand the value of money goes a long way in establishing a lifelong pattern of good money management. There are many lessons for our children to learn, and what and how we teach them about money can affect them throughout their lives.
Teaching your children about money does not have to be a chore and you can get started early with some fun activities that will instill financial values in your child’s life. Our primary job as a parents is to prepare our children for how the world really works and in the real world, as most of us know, “you don't always get what you want”. Our kids will be easier to deal with as adults if they experience this fact of life during their childhood.
I usually try not to let guilt get in the way of parenting. My job as a parent is not to make myself feel good by giving my son everything that he wants. My job is to prepare him to succeed in school and when he gets out into the world.
A few things that we have tried are below.
Long-Term Savings Account. We set up an account at the credit union for his first car. Zach knows this money is there and that he has to put half of his allowance every week in to this account. This can also be an account for something else like college or another big item.
We also have a family 401K. We match a quarter to the dollar for Zach’s long-term savings.
We have also tried this approach for short term goal, but watch out, this one can get you in trouble. Last year in January Zach asked for Xbox 360 and we told him that if he could save half of the money that we would pay the other half. Before we knew it, he had saved almost $200. After looking at the price of Xbox and the price of the games $50-$60, we talked to him about this not being the smartest way to spend his money. After he thought it over he decided that it would not make sense to get Xbox yet. Had he not come to this conclusion we would have had a hard time not following through on purchasing Xbox, since Zach had reached is savings goal. What a relief that was!
Helping your children understand the value of money goes a long way in establishing a lifelong pattern of good money management. There are many lessons for our children to learn, and what and how we teach them about money can affect them throughout their lives.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Pet Finance
A couple months ago we bought a dog, Buddy, our family's first one. He's a totally cute Bichon and we love him lots. But there are a lot of costs associated with dog ownership - unexpected costs that I really didn't consider before we brought him home.
First there was the cost of the pooch himself - not having done a lot of research prior (I guess it was a bit of an emotional decision - those puppy dog eyes blinded us) He was on sale, but with his crate, toys, food, stain remover, shampoo, leash, collar, chew bones, etc....Let me just say I nearly fainted when I saw the bill... Yikes.
Fortunately, he was current on his shots (we thought). Apparently there were a couple more he needed (including rabies). We found this out when we took him in to be neutered. We did find a vet who offers neuter and spaying services at a discount, as a community service in cooperation with the DuPage County Animal Control division. Still, the final bill was around $200 for anesthesia, antibiotics, and pain meds.
Then there's grooming! Fortunately, this is pretty affordable. Buddy is a small dog, so $15 every six weeks or so is all we need. Puppy training class was $75 at the Fox Valley Kennel Club (but Buddy was too distracted in the big group setting so we stopped going - that was a waste of money. The book we found at Borders taught us loads more...)
Being health food nuts as we are, regular run-of-the-mill puppy chow won't do for our pup. Besides, we've learned the Bichon breed is susceptible to food allergies if he eats too many additives. So we pop for the $15 bag of natural doggie food.
That's it, for now! I think that's enough. Of course every time we go into the pet store for the all natural dog food, we rarely come out without a new chew toy or something else for Buddy.
I haven't added up the total here...I just can't bring myself to do it. Thank goodness we don't need a college savings account for him....Still he has added so much joy and fun to our home. We smile a lot more now. You can't put a price on that.
Watch a video of Buddy!
First there was the cost of the pooch himself - not having done a lot of research prior (I guess it was a bit of an emotional decision - those puppy dog eyes blinded us) He was on sale, but with his crate, toys, food, stain remover, shampoo, leash, collar, chew bones, etc....Let me just say I nearly fainted when I saw the bill... Yikes.
Fortunately, he was current on his shots (we thought). Apparently there were a couple more he needed (including rabies). We found this out when we took him in to be neutered. We did find a vet who offers neuter and spaying services at a discount, as a community service in cooperation with the DuPage County Animal Control division. Still, the final bill was around $200 for anesthesia, antibiotics, and pain meds.
Then there's grooming! Fortunately, this is pretty affordable. Buddy is a small dog, so $15 every six weeks or so is all we need. Puppy training class was $75 at the Fox Valley Kennel Club (but Buddy was too distracted in the big group setting so we stopped going - that was a waste of money. The book we found at Borders taught us loads more...)
Being health food nuts as we are, regular run-of-the-mill puppy chow won't do for our pup. Besides, we've learned the Bichon breed is susceptible to food allergies if he eats too many additives. So we pop for the $15 bag of natural doggie food.
That's it, for now! I think that's enough. Of course every time we go into the pet store for the all natural dog food, we rarely come out without a new chew toy or something else for Buddy.
I haven't added up the total here...I just can't bring myself to do it. Thank goodness we don't need a college savings account for him....Still he has added so much joy and fun to our home. We smile a lot more now. You can't put a price on that.
Watch a video of Buddy!
Friday, April 6, 2007
Tree huggers & penny pinchers unite!
Whether you're a bona fide "tree hugger" like me or not, you probably like saving money (who doesn't?!) Well, penny pinchers and tree huggers have much more in common than we realize. That's because it turns out that many of the things that tree huggers promote to save the earth also save money.
The May issue of Body + Soul Magazine (my favorite read) included an article entitled, "Do Just One Thing". The author contends that if everyone does "just one thing" to save the planet, the impact would be enormous.
Maybe you already do many more than just one thing - kudos if you do. I searched this article for one more thing I could do. This year I'm going to start composting in my back yard - a new adventure! It'll save me money because I won't need to buy city lawn bags anymore.
The article listed 101 things you can do to save the planet, and many of them save money too! Here are five of the 101 things you can do to save the earth and pinch pennies too:
1) Turn off the lights - There's a myth that says that turning the light on and off uses more electricity than just leaving them on. Well, that myth was dispelled on one of my favorite shows, Discovery Channel's MythBusters. It really does save electricity to turn off lights when you leave the room, even if you're coming right back. Body + Soul Mag says two-thirds of all the electricity used in the residential sector of the US powers lights and appliances, which adds up to 1.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
2) Don't idle the car engine - Do you leave the car running when stopped by a train, picking up the kids at school, waiting outside the grocery store, etc? We all do it. But we could save gas and reduce the amount of CO2 we release into the atmosphere by turning off the car while we wait. David Laurie, a producer with Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, says 10% of the fuel we use is wasted on idling the car.
3) Pass on the paper towels - Once you use 'em, you throw 'em away. That's it! This tip has a bit of a cost at first, but will reduce your costs overall. Try reusable microfiber towels, which grip the dirt and dust even when wet. Then, just toss them in the washer and reuse them. (They're available at Target and Office Depot.)
4) Start gardening - Maybe this will save you money, maybe it won't. But even if it doesn't save you money, it's a really fun hobby and a great way to burn stress off and enjoy the outdoors. Body + Soul says "from the production of petroleum based fertilizers to the cross-country distribution of seasonal fruits and vegetables, the modern food system accounts for 10% of US energy consumption." There are 30 million acres of lawn in our country that isn't being used. A 6x6 square foot is all you need to plant some veggies. From my experience, tomatoes are the easiest and yield the greatest amount of harvest. Plus, you'll never want another grocery store tomato after you taste one that has been grown in your backyard!
5) Forgo the bottled water - Apparently, we've all had the wool pulled over our eyes. All bottled water is not as pristine as we think, in fact much of it is just plain old tap water - Aquafina is one brand mentioned in the article. They say that Aquafina comes from 16 different municipal water supplies including Detroit (ewe!) and Fresno. Last year, my husband installed a water filter on our kitchen sink, so now I usually just tote my own water in a travel bottle.
Find these and 96 other tips in Body + Soul Magazine's May issue.
The May issue of Body + Soul Magazine (my favorite read) included an article entitled, "Do Just One Thing". The author contends that if everyone does "just one thing" to save the planet, the impact would be enormous.
Maybe you already do many more than just one thing - kudos if you do. I searched this article for one more thing I could do. This year I'm going to start composting in my back yard - a new adventure! It'll save me money because I won't need to buy city lawn bags anymore.
The article listed 101 things you can do to save the planet, and many of them save money too! Here are five of the 101 things you can do to save the earth and pinch pennies too:
1) Turn off the lights - There's a myth that says that turning the light on and off uses more electricity than just leaving them on. Well, that myth was dispelled on one of my favorite shows, Discovery Channel's MythBusters. It really does save electricity to turn off lights when you leave the room, even if you're coming right back. Body + Soul Mag says two-thirds of all the electricity used in the residential sector of the US powers lights and appliances, which adds up to 1.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
2) Don't idle the car engine - Do you leave the car running when stopped by a train, picking up the kids at school, waiting outside the grocery store, etc? We all do it. But we could save gas and reduce the amount of CO2 we release into the atmosphere by turning off the car while we wait. David Laurie, a producer with Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, says 10% of the fuel we use is wasted on idling the car.
3) Pass on the paper towels - Once you use 'em, you throw 'em away. That's it! This tip has a bit of a cost at first, but will reduce your costs overall. Try reusable microfiber towels, which grip the dirt and dust even when wet. Then, just toss them in the washer and reuse them. (They're available at Target and Office Depot.)
4) Start gardening - Maybe this will save you money, maybe it won't. But even if it doesn't save you money, it's a really fun hobby and a great way to burn stress off and enjoy the outdoors. Body + Soul says "from the production of petroleum based fertilizers to the cross-country distribution of seasonal fruits and vegetables, the modern food system accounts for 10% of US energy consumption." There are 30 million acres of lawn in our country that isn't being used. A 6x6 square foot is all you need to plant some veggies. From my experience, tomatoes are the easiest and yield the greatest amount of harvest. Plus, you'll never want another grocery store tomato after you taste one that has been grown in your backyard!
5) Forgo the bottled water - Apparently, we've all had the wool pulled over our eyes. All bottled water is not as pristine as we think, in fact much of it is just plain old tap water - Aquafina is one brand mentioned in the article. They say that Aquafina comes from 16 different municipal water supplies including Detroit (ewe!) and Fresno. Last year, my husband installed a water filter on our kitchen sink, so now I usually just tote my own water in a travel bottle.
Find these and 96 other tips in Body + Soul Magazine's May issue.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Splitting your tax refund, a chance to save!
This year, you can split your tax refund to go into several different accounts. If you use direct deposit of your refund (and why wouldn't you?) you can split your refund up to three ways including checking, savings and retirement accounts. It's perfect, now you don't even have to be tempted to spend your refund, it can go directly into your retirement account. Cool.
Use IRS Form 8888 on irs.gov to designate to which accounts--and in what amounts--you want your refund disbursed. Visit splitrefunds.net for more information. The IRS has these suggestions for us:
1) File early to avoid delays. If you want part of your refund to go toward an individual retirement account (IRA) and your return arrives after April 17, the direct deposit will work, but the contribution will be for 2007 instead of for 2006.
2) Don't exceed the IRA limit. The 2006 IRA contribution limit is $4,000. If you exceed that, you could get penalized.
3) Use correct account or routing numbers. If the number you enter on the tax form is wrong and doesn't pass the IRS' validation check, the IRS will mail a check for the entire refund instead of splitting it. If the number you enter is wrong and turns out to be another person's account number, the direct deposit will go into that person's account. (Yikes! Don't let that happen to you! Hawthorne's routing number is: 271979193. Check and double check your account numbers and routing numbers!)
Good luck and happy saving!
Sandy
Use IRS Form 8888 on irs.gov to designate to which accounts--and in what amounts--you want your refund disbursed. Visit splitrefunds.net for more information. The IRS has these suggestions for us:
1) File early to avoid delays. If you want part of your refund to go toward an individual retirement account (IRA) and your return arrives after April 17, the direct deposit will work, but the contribution will be for 2007 instead of for 2006.
2) Don't exceed the IRA limit. The 2006 IRA contribution limit is $4,000. If you exceed that, you could get penalized.
3) Use correct account or routing numbers. If the number you enter on the tax form is wrong and doesn't pass the IRS' validation check, the IRS will mail a check for the entire refund instead of splitting it. If the number you enter is wrong and turns out to be another person's account number, the direct deposit will go into that person's account. (Yikes! Don't let that happen to you! Hawthorne's routing number is: 271979193. Check and double check your account numbers and routing numbers!)
Good luck and happy saving!
Sandy
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