Money and Finance

[memememe76]

I'm Canadian, so know nothing about real estate law in Florida/US. But there *may* be a taxation issue with the stepfather transferring the property to the kids. It's no longer his principal residence, so there may be capital gains tax. And even if the stepdad is asking for nothing, it may be a deemed disposition at fair market value. See an accountant. If the kids are just gonna be selling the place, the stepdad might as well sell at FMV and then give the cash to the kids.

And if the property is to be transferred, the current mortgage has to be paid out unless the kids want to assume it. And if none of the kids live in Florida and the one who wants to live there has never even paid taxes before, I doubt the bank will want them to assume it (and the bank has the right to refuse). And the chances of him finding a bank that will give him a mortgage will be tough.

My advise? Before transferring the property, draw up an agreement amongst the 6 kids to figure out what will be done with the property once it's in their names. Figure out how decisions will be made (majority rules? Unanimous decisions? What if one of the kids is unable to vote?).

[Deleted]

I am not certain, but I think any beneficiary of the estate/person with ownership interest in the house can file for partition and ask for a sale of the property. If I was filing that suit I would also ask the court to issue an immediate order forbidding any party to the suit from occupying the property during the pendency of the action without prior court approval -- i.e.-- crazy brother could not move in without approval from the court and when he asked for permission to do that your boyfriend could ask that the court order the brother pay the mortgage.

[Deleted]

Another stupid question: why does the checking account give both an available balance $200 over and a current balance (which represents the actual money in the account)? Every checking account I've had has that function.

[topher]

The are waiting for a deposit to clear.

[Deleted]

That can't be it, because it gives that available balance constantly, even when there are no deposits waiting to clear.

[topher]

Do you have a minimum balance?

[Deleted]

Aside from zero? No.

If I have $200 in the account, for example, then it will give me $200 in current balance and then $400 in "available balance." The available balance is what confuses me because that is not money that I can use or have access to. My thought is: does that mean that it will protect me up to that amount if I get overdrawn without bouncing my checks?

[bossyboots]

That sounds like an available overdraft to me, poorfrances. Does your bank offer automatic OD protection on your type of account, perhaps? Or maybe you've been a client long enough that they provide this service?

[garnet927]

I could use some advice. I have a high balance of my Mastercard (over the limit). About three or so months ago they were calling due to the high balance--I agreed to pay them $300 a month (I can't afford to pay more than that.) (I'm not sure if it's considered an open or closed account at this point.) The problem is due to the high interest rate, I'm barely lowering the overall amount due.
I also can't get another credit card to transfer the balance to, which is what I've read in sone personal finance books.. Any suggestions on how to get a lower interest rate on this card, or any other ideas?

[bossyboots]

You can try applying to your bank or Credit Union for a debt consolidation loan. I hope I'm not out of line here but you said you can't get another credit card, so I'm guessing your credit rating isn't great -- a cosigner is sometimes a viable option for lenders in this situation.

As another option, you can seek credit counselling. That doesn't mean you have to declare bankruptcy or anything, but they can help you set up a repayment schedule with your creditor(s). I don't know what it costs (if anything -- they're usuall Not for Profits, at least they are in Canada). I'm not sure how that appears on your credit report, though....I know a bankruptcy can affect your credit but I'm not sure how/if working with a credit counsellor would.

You can also try to negotiate with the credit department of the credit card company -- it doesn't hurt to ask if they'd consider lowering your rate. They want to get their interest but they also want to get paid back, I imagine, so if they make it too hard for you to pay them back they could be sacrificing the full balance for the sake of a few percentage points. The worst they can say is no....

Credit card debt really sucks (after I graduated from University, I was lucky that my dad agreed to cosign a consolidation loan to pay mine off).