Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Liz Weston

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: How to bounce back from a credit card mistake. Also in the news: Why you should pack a travel guidebook even in 2021, 4 traits that helped small businesses survive the pandemic, and how charitable donations can earn you an added tax deduction this year.

How to Bounce Back From a Credit Card Mistake
Errors happen to even the most seasoned credit card users. They can be costly, but they’re not irreversible.

Why You Should Pack a Travel Guidebook, Even in 2021
The pages of an actual guidebook often offer a level of quality and convenience that the internet can’t.

4 Traits That Have Helped Small Businesses Survive the Pandemic
Expanded delivery and online services, among other features, have been attractive to consumers during the pandemic.

How Charitable Donations Can Earn You an Added Tax Deduction This Year
Hold on to those donation receipts.

Don’t let Social Security steer you wrong

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Few retirement decisions are as critical, or as easy to get wrong, as when and how to take your Social Security benefits. The rules can be so convoluted that many people rely on what they’re told by Social Security employees, but that could prove to be an expensive mistake.

In my latest for the Associated Press, how to protect your Social Security and learn the facts.

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: 5 options for your money before student loan payments resume. Also in the news: Why the freelancing boom may change how you buy life insurance, 4 signs we’re in a housing market primed for regret, and how to invest in real estate with your IRA.

5 Options for Your Money Before Student Loan Payments Resume
February will be here before you know it.

The Freelancing Boom May Change How You Buy Life Insurance
How life insurance planning differs for freelancers.

4 Signs We’re in a Housing Market Primed for Regret
Looking out for buyer’s remorse.

How to Invest in Real Estate With Your IRA
You can buy it, but you can’t live in it.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: Charged an overdraft fee? Ask for a refund. Also in the news: A new episode of the Smart Money podcast on DIY investing, beating your summer revenge shopping debt, and what every homeowner should know about trampolines.

Charged an Overdraft Fee? Ask for a Refund
It never hurts to ask.

Smart Money Podcast: DIY Investing and Lightning Round Questions
What it is, how to do it and any potential risks.

Beat Your Summer ‘Revenge Shopping’ Debt
Paying for your return to society.

What Every Homeowner Should Know About Trampolines
If you’re not covered, it may be hard to bounce back from a big liability claim.

Q&A: Credit reports vs. credit scores

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Dear Liz: I recently downloaded both my wife’s and my own credit reports. I noticed that, for a number of reasons, her report has much less information than mine. The probability is that I will die before her, so my question is whether you can suggest any ways to be sure she has a good credit rating after I’m gone. Do the credit reporting agencies give any weight to a spouse’s score?

Answer: They do not, unless the spouse is alive and a co-applicant.

The amount of information in a credit report doesn’t dictate someone’s scores, however. People can have good scores with only a few credit accounts, or bad scores with lots of accounts. Your wife should find out what some of her scores are to decide next steps. Her bank or credit card issuer may supply her with scores, or she could get free scores from one of the many sites that offer those. (FICO is the formula most often used by lenders, but VantageScore can give her a good idea how lenders view her, as well.)

If her scores are less than excellent (generally 740 and up), she could look for ways to improve them such as making all credit payments on time, using only a small fraction of her available credit and perhaps adding an account or two. Credit builder loans from credit unions can be a good way to build or rebuild credit.

Q&A: Financial aid and 529 plans

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Dear Liz: As a grandparent who has established 529 accounts for each of my grandchildren, I was particularly interested in your advice to the writer who asked you how to use money that’s left in the 529 account to pay off a loan debt. Although it seems that “the horse had already left the barn,” why didn’t the niece use all the funds in the 529 account before accruing student loan debt? Am I missing something?

Answer: It’s possible the withdrawals could have reduced the niece’s financial aid, so she opted to take out loans instead.

In the past, the federal financial aid formula heavily penalized withdrawals from 529 college savings accounts held by people other than the beneficiary’s parents. The accounts themselves weren’t counted by the formula, but any withdrawals were treated as untaxed income to the student. The standard advice was to wait until the last financial aid form had been filed to begin taking withdrawals.

That’s going to change, although not as soon as originally expected.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 required the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form to be simplified, removing several questions including one about whether the student got money from people other than parents.

The new FAFSA form was supposed to be released next year, but the Department of Education announced in June that the proposed changes would be delayed but implemented in time for the 2024-25 award year. Until the form has been updated, you’d be smart to hold off on tapping the 529s if your grandchildren will need financial aid.