Dear Tax Talk, I attempted to purchase a business property and placed $15,000 cash down to the owner. However, it was a mixed-use property and no local banks would finance. My old bank in the city would ...

Health Insurance Obamacares Health Insurance Exchanges The Obamacare health insurance exchanges have arrived, allowing consumers to enroll for coverage that begins Jan. 1. Available in each state and the ...

Dear Dr. Don, What is an ATM "deposit hold adjustment"? I deposited a $1,500 check from another bank at my bank's ATM a day ago and it has not made it into my account. The bank says it has a ...

Bankrate.com 2013 Halloween Horrors Contest Official Rules No Purchase Necessary to Enter or Win Open Only to Legal United States Residents Void in Rhode Island, Puerto Rico and Where Prohibited by Law ...

Retirement Why Some Employers Seek Out Older Workers The number of older employees is proliferating in the workplace. In 2000, about 1 in 8 American workers was older than age 55, according to the U.S. ...

Retirement Why Some Retirees Keep Working When Denny Jensen retired at age 64 from his job as a senior vice president of product development at Visa International in 2004, he expected a long and satisfying ...

Dear Bankruptcy Adviser, I am in the foreclosure process to the point that a sale date has been set. We then filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and it canceled the sale. My question is: Does the bank have to start ...

Banks across the country are boosting their fees. New York and Baltimore have some of the lowest fees. See which city has the highest.

Dear Insurance Adviser, I own a townhome, and the condominium association has a master condo insurance policy through a certain insurance company. Does it make sense for me to have my own home insurance ...

By Kelsey Mays , Cars.com Photo from Cars.com Buy a new car, and you'll likely shell out $800 or more for the destination charge. Automakers call it all sorts of things: Honda says it's for "destination ...

Checking Checking Account Fees Bankrate surveyed banks in 25 U.S. cities to find the average fees associated with checking accounts in its annual Checking Account Survey, which was conducted in July and ...

Dear Driving for Dollars, My husband and I are shopping for a new car. Previously, we've always bought our cars, but this time we are thinking of leasing a car for two reasons. First, our family may be ...

Dear Dr. Don, I am interested in borrowing about $20,000 against our current home, which is valued at about $300,000. We do not owe anything on the house. For the loan, I only really need about half of ...

Five years after the Great Recession, Jennifer Butz still makes out a weekly budget. She writes down how much she gets paid, subtracts her bills and leaves $50 for gas and groceries. She takes her lunch ...

The highest credit score that has ever crossed John Stearns' desk was 834. It belonged to his accountant who was refinancing his house with Stearns, a mortgage banker with American Fidelity Mortgage Services ...

Dear Retirement Adviser, I am 42 years old with children ages 3 and 4, and I have an eye toward retirement someday. My friend recently began monthly payments for a prepaid college tuition plan. I am debating ...

Interest Rate Roundup Mortgages CDs Auto Loans Home Equity Credit Cards Find the best home equity rates in your area. Home Equity 5.09% (line of credit) 6.06% (loan) Rates on loans backed by home barely ...

Retirement Frugal Retirees: Go Ahead, Spend Your Money 6 5 4 3 2 1 5 (free!) tips for tightwad retirees It's an enviable problem, but a problem all the same: Many people who manage to save enough for retirement ...

Dear Debt Adviser, I've nearly finished paying off my $70,000 home. The problem is: I don't want to live here anymore. It's a 40-minute drive to work and to see my family in the next town. It's tempting ...

Interest Rate Roundup Mortgages CDs Auto Loans Home Equity Credit Cards Find the best auto rates in your area. Auto Loans 4.01% (60-month, new car) 4.47% (36-month, used car) Auto loan rates coasted this ...

Interest Rate Roundup Mortgages CDs Auto Loans Home Equity Credit Cards Find the best credit card offers available. Credit Cards 13.02% (all fixed) 15.31% (all variable) Credit card rates remained unchanged ...

Mortgage rates took another dip this week thanks to the Federal Reserve's decision to stay the course on the stimulus bond-purchasing program. 30 year fixed rate mortgage 3 month trend The benchmark 30-year ...

Investing Small-Cap Funds Versus Large-Cap Funds When choosing U.S. stock mutual funds, one big decision for investors is whether to go for large-capitalization or small-capitalization funds. "Capitalization" ...

Interest Rate Roundup Mortgages CDs Auto Loans Home Equity Credit Cards Find the best mortgage rates in your area. Mortgages 4.47% (30-year fixed) 0.33 (average points) Mortgage rates tumbled this week ...

Interest Rate Roundup Mortgages CDs Auto Loans Home Equity Credit Cards Compare CD rates nationally and in your area. CDs 0.23% (1-year CD yields) 0.79% (5-year CD yields) Rates on certificates of deposit ...

Dear Tax Talk, I have a Roth individual retirement account that has been open for three years (I'm age 26). I would like to withdraw my contributions (around $5,000) for the purchase of my first home. ...

Dear Credit Card Adviser, I recently realized I only have one credit report -- with Equifax. My only source of credit is a Visa credit card through my credit union that I've had for seven years. When I ...

If you're in the market for a car, you may be weighing your options between buying and leasing a new or used car. Depending on your circumstances, you may also want to consider assuming someone else's ...

In an age when most of our money is little more than electrons in our banks' computers, it may feel like bitcoins and other virtual currencies aren't that different from the dollars you directly deposit ...

Dear Dr. Don, A divorce decree required my former husband to refinance the mortgage on our home and take my name off the note. But in the process, he failed to keep current on the mortgage, apparently ...

Taxes Tax Forms Schedule C Vs. C-EZ Even if your self-employment income isn't very much, you still have to report it to the Internal Revenue Service. But depending upon your earnings and expenses, you ...

Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, we ranked more than 900 public two-year institutions to determine the best and brightest schools.

Diamonds, the gems that have symbolized love and marriage for decades, are beginning to attract wealthy investors as a commodity investment with potentially high returns. Negligible yield on fixed-income ...

Dear Tax Talk, Can I deduct dental expenses I paid for someone else? -- Don Dear Don, Dental expenses are deductible along with your medical expenses on Schedule A Form 1040. You can deduct dental expenses ...

During the housing boom, the reverse mortgage was touted as a way for retirees to turn their home equity into cash. In essence, homeowners with a reverse mortgage take a loan against the equity in their ...

Dear Bankruptcy Adviser, My husband and I own a small incorporated company. We are in debt on some business credit cards and to a few vendors. Unfortunately, we are not able to continue the business. How ...

Dear Retirement Adviser, My wife and I plan on retiring in 18 months. Our combined incomes are about $140,000 annually. I invest 15 percent of my salary into my 401(k) plan, and we both max out our Roth ...

Bankrate's monthly survey of six questions measures how secure Americans feel about their personal finances compared to 12 months ago. From Sept. 5-8, 2013, telephone interviews (on landlines and cellphones) ...

Health care reform -- now almost universally called Obamacare -- kicks into high gear in October, when millions of consumers begin shopping for health insurance on new state and federal exchanges. But ...

Financial Security Index Charts Financial Security Index Takes Negative Turn Americans aren't feeling as keen about their household finances, judging from a dip in Bankrate's Financial Security Index into ...

Answered by Rick Popely , Cars.com Most manufacturers offer discounts to current employees and retirees, and though the programs vary, they often reduce transaction prices to near or below dealer invoice. ...

Investing Rising Interest Rates And Bonds You've been warned -- for years -- about the impact of rising interest rates on bonds and what that might do to your portfolio. The impact is already being felt, ...

Financial Security Index Charts Survey Americans Upbeat About Home Prices Once bitten, twice ... bullish? Five years after a housing market crisis nearly sent the nation into a second Great Depression, ...

Dear Insurance Adviser, I am in the process of filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Virginia. Through an unsecured credit card, I received a one-year accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy, ...

Location is everything in real estate , but these days location doesn't just mean a good neighborhood. If you buy a home that's near public transportation, a new study says that purchase is more valuable ...

Dear Dr. Don, I just read a Bankrate story about building a ladder of certificates of deposit, which sounds like great advice. This involves having a portfolio of CDs with varying maturities. I was wondering ...

Dear Driving for Dollars, I've read several articles on Bankrate.com that talk about saving money by doing your own car maintenance -- things like changing your own oil and filters or basic repairs. I'm ...

Mortgage rates edged down this week as fears that the Federal Reserve would cut back on its $85 billion-a-month stimulus program subsided. 30 year fixed rate mortgage 3 month trend The benchmark 30-year ...