Depositing a Business Check Into a Personal Bank Account

By MoneyBlueBook

Although I work a regular full time job, I also run a few fledgling side ventures on the side. As I mentioned about a month ago, I am currently attempting to establish a trade name and open a business bank account in the business' name to better keep track of venture earnings and assets.

However, I'm currently unable to establish a business bank account because the state agency hasn't processed and sent me my approved trade name certificate yet. I did not file for expedited service (*snapping fingers in a darnnit motion* ) so it's taking much longer than expected. Banks will not usually allow an individual to establish a business bank account that doesn't contain the applicant's name in the account title without a valid trade name or fictitious business certificate. So for now, I'm stuck without the services of a proper business bank account. However, meanwhile my side businesses have continued to generate income and now I have several business checks made out to my fictitious business name that I am unable to deposit immediately. It has been weeks and the business checks continue to sit on my desk gathering dust and looking quite lonely.

Ideally, business funds should not be co-mingled with personal funds since the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will require the tax filer to account for his/her business income and expenses on a separate form, although both business and personal income will ultimately be treated as the tax filer's ordinary income. However, my checks have been sitting around un-deposited for some

By MoneyBlueBook

I had dinner with a good friend of mine not too long ago and the subject of jobs, aging parents, and financial planning came up. My friend knew that I had this personal finance blog and decided to share with me some personal information to get my advice. After listening to him talk about his income and how he stashed all of his accumulated money in his checking account, I realized that he had no clue about the basics of financial planning and the need to put his money and investments to work for him.

I ended up explaining in great detail to him about the power of compound interest and why it was so important that he immediately jump start his financial future today and not delay any longer. To give my newbie friend the spark he needed to start his way towards fiscal growth and responsibility, I provided the following basic tips:

1) Pay Off High Interest Credit Card Debt As Soon As Possible - Fortunately for my friend, although he used credit cards regularly, he had no outstanding balance that he was paying high interest or fees on. His FICO credit score was also thankfully a pristine 750. For a great number of people though, credit card debt is a serious problem since credit cards almost always have higher interest rates (10-30% APR) than any other type of debt.

In my opinion, credit card balances must be tackled before anything else, including worrying about retirement concerns. One can't possibly plan for the future if

By MoneyBlueBook

This is my first entry about my student loans. For starters, I think I am very lucky compared to some people. As of today, I only have about $30,000 in student loans left from my college and graduate school days. Aside from the prestige or other benefits of attending more expensive private schools, I feel fortunate to have stuck with more affordable state schools for my undergraduate and graduate education. As a result, I'm not living a life of student loan servitude like many of the people I am reading about in the news, and personally am in no particular rush or hurry to quickly pay off my student loans.

Student Loan Debt Is A Massive Burden To Many

Student loans never go away and can't even be discharged through bankruptcy. The student loan creditors will essentially come after you until you eventually pay it off, a sobering reality that many students don't fully comprehend or realize until they've graduated. I truly sympathize with their burden and know how much of a shackle it can be. I have friends who graduated from law school and medical school carrying tremendous six figure student loans. Even with their advanced degree education, in today's market, there is no easy guarantee that they will have a breezy way of paying it off.

But I Am Taking My Time Paying Off My Loans Thanks To Low Interest Consolidation

I am fortunate to have consolidated my student loans at the lowest rate seen in the last decade or so. I

By MoneyBlueBook

Well yesterday, NetBank greeted its online customers with a jaw dropping notice on its websiteannouncing that the federal government had shut it down because the bank had finally collapsed due to the weight of significant losses from loan defaults. With that, NetBank became the latest victim to keel over due to the subprime mess, with too many subprime credit borrowers defaulting on their mortgage loans.

When I read the news my heart stopped its beat for a second as I realized that I owned a NetBank account. I had written a previous entry about how I had opened a NetBank checking and savings account with a few small initial deposits to take advantage of the bank's reward promotion. But then I remembered a few more facts. First, I had already fulfilled the terms of the promotion and had already transferred my funds out of my NetBank account, thus leaving the account with zero funds. Secondly, even if NetBank went out of business, all of its deposits were federally insured up to $100,000 for each customer. Either way, I had nothing to worry about. Whew! :)

Even When Banks Like NetBank Go Out of Business Your Money Is Protected and Safe

Unless you have more than $100,000 combined deposited, your funds are safe even if the deposit bank shuts down. U.S. Banks like NetBank are federally insured by the U.S. Government run Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which currently guarantees checking, saving, and certificate of deposit accounts in member banks up to $100,000

By MoneyBlueBook

When you give out permission for others to make an inquiry on your credit report, did you know that the inquiry itself may have a negative impact on your credit score? Not all inquiries are created equal. An inquiry occurs when someone examines your credit history and credit score. While a hard inquiry will hurt your credit score, a soft inquiry will not.

Soft Credit Inquiry v. Hard Credit Inquiry

A soft pull describes an inquiry that does not affect your credit score. Soft pulls, or soft credit checks, frequently occur and oftentimes you may not even be aware of it happening. Each soft pull is noted on your credit history file but they are only for you to see and are not available for lenders to view. Examples of soft credit pulls include:

A hard pull, or hard credit inquiry, is very different anddoes negatively affect your credit score. When you give permission for a lender to check your credit history for the purpose of extending credit to you, the lender will make what is known as a hard credit check. A hard credit check is almost always voluntary and is noted on your credit history file by all

By MoneyBlueBook

As part of its NetBank Affinity Program, NetBank offers many variations of cash and point rewards for new customers. NetBank has partnered up with various companies such as TripRewards and U.S. Airways to offer new NetBank customers reward points in their preferred affiliated program. While I personally signed up through the TripRewards Affinity Promotion at NetBank (I was not aware of the cash promotion at the time), I recommend signing up for the cash reward Affinity Promotion at NetBank instead. Cash is almost always best!

Choose and Be Qualified for Promotional Money

To qualify for the "Up to $235 Offer", you'll need to sign up through this link and complete the following within 90 days. All required minimum balances for the promotion must be maintained above the minimum for at least 30 days to qualify.

Pursuant to the promotion, you can receive:

• $75 for opening a NetBank checking account
• $75 for opening a NetBank money market account,and
• $85 for opening a 1 year Certificate of Deposit (CD) with at least $1,000.

Read The Terms Carefully

However, do be aware that there have been complaints about NetBank's fee schedule, including

• Online Bill Payment Inactivity - $5 per month after 3 successive months of inactivity on accounts with average monthly balances of less than $3,000.
• Early Closure - $25 for checking or money market account closed within 6 months
• Dormant Checking Account - $5 month beginning 12 months after most recent activity, and
• Account closure - $7.50

If you are in it for just the sign up promotion as I was,