Most banks offer "goodwill credit adjustments," but PNC refuses.

We missed one payment in decades after we got hit with identity theft and had to get a new account number and ONE autopay fell in the gap and did not get paid.

PNC caused a huge hit to FICO. We sent PNC the law enforcement letter confirming that the bank account change was essential, but they refused. So we stopped new income to the PNC account, and they called us to get our business back, and escalated the case. But even at the highest level, PNC claimed the law requires them to damage our credit rating, even if the missed payment was the result of recovering from identity theft.

However, that is not true. After a quick check online, and lots of banks that allow "goodwill" credit adjustments as policy. Credit companies like Experian will even tell you how to write a letter asking for one. PNC refused, even after their excuse that the law requires them to not not make exceptions to was debunked.

It is not the law, it is PNC's choice. PNC's FICO policy is anti-consumer and their resolution team is deceptive.

So PNC lost our business.

Think twice before choosing PNC bank.

My spouse's former boss never officially fired any employess. He just told them to return their company vehicles and stopped scheduling them essentially letting the company quietly go down to a skeleton crew of just him and his best friend. This happened around May. In June, he stopped paying employees health insurance. In August I noticed our dental and vision, however, we're still being paid. It's now the end of October and it is still being paid. My husband worked for him for almost 13 years and to be quietly let go (along with a few others) was a shock and disappointing. What do we do? Will we get into trouble for letting him continue to pay it? He was never officially fired, neither was the other guys because the boss is a coward. He just told them to return the vehicles and stopped responding to any texts or calls. He ghosted his employees. No warning either. What do we do?

Hi personal finance gurus!

I recently settled my divorce and am freaking out that I made the wrong choices in terms of what I gave up (I am the higher income earner and live in a community property state). I negotiated the divorce on my own for a myriad of reasons (though we worked with a mediator who kept us within legal bounds, and both of us ran the final settlement past a lawyer for review), but ultimately leaned toward giving him more cash upfront to preserve my 401K. Ultimately, I gave up 57% of my brokerage account, $5,000 of my 401K, and $8,000 of my half of our future home equity when we sell our house next spring. Ultimately, he got about $13,000 over the true 50/50 split of assets due to my long-term income earning potential over his.

At the end of the day, I'm left with the below. I'd be interested to hear from this community based on the stats below if a) I've royally screwed myself, and b) if I have, is there any secret sauce to pulling myself back out of this, or is it just a "buckle up and heal" situation? (Side note: divorce sucks, even when you were the one who asked for it. What a financial nightmare!)

The stats of what's left (and general shape of my budget today, post-divorce):

Age: 37F; would like to be able to leave corporate life at 50 and transition to passive income if I can find a way

Assets:
- Checking account: $11K
- Stock investments in my company (1:4 matching program): $26K
- Brokerage account: $76K
- 401K: $280K
- 50/50 equity in family home: Estimated ~$135K (we'll sell next spring... this is a projection)

General shape of my budget: I make good money but right now I'm paying spousal support (ends 12/31/2027), child support (ends in 13 years haha), and 65% of my son's private school tuition (which will end February 2027 when he transitions to public school). I put 6% into my 401K each month (maxing out my employer match of 3%) and 3% into my company's employee stock matching program.

All of those expenses, plus my rent/utilities/car insurance leaves me with about $2,500 left over every month. I'm not really adding any money to my checking account each month as a result (very hard to stay at $2,500 in a VHCOL city with all of the obligations of groceries/gas/kid/life) but expect that will improve as tuition drops off in February 2027 and spousal support drops off after December 2027. Beginning in 2028, my only monthly obligation will be $500/month in child support, so I hope to begin transitioning to maxing out my 401K and putting whatever else I can toward either a 529 for my son or just feeding my brokerage account.

Everything looked rosier when I was married and it feels like starting over now. I've never watched every dollar I spend so closely. I'd love to hear from you folks if I left myself in a really shitty cash-on-hand situation or if the instinct to protect my 401K was appropriate (be honest!). Thank you so much!

26 year old Registered Nurse.

I live in Florida with parents but desparately want to move to Charlotte NC. I need my own place, tired of living in a small town, and the hospital I work at is a flaming shithole from the pits of hell.

I have $30,000 saved. The job I was offered would pay me $5100 per month after taxes and deductions (health insurance). This is for 37 hours a week.

Am I in a position to move safely? Do I need to save more money? Am I being overly anxious?

I have a HYSA with Ally that I currently have 3.25% APY with. I keep between 11k-14k in the account typically and plan to continue to grow it slowly, though won’t necessarily have monthly deposit. Based on family supports and my drop prospects, baring something highly unusual and unexpected, I can’t imagine my balance will drop below 10k. It looks like there are some reputable options that have between 3.75 and 4% apy right now- when is it worth switching? I opened Ally almost 10 years ago and it was one of the highest rates at the time and I honestly haven’t paid much attention to rates since then so I’m not sure how much variation between options to expect long term and when it reaches a point that I should transfer to a higher apy account.

I was considering Openbank by Santander Or CIT bank. Thoughts on these in comparison to Ally and if it’s worth the switching?

I’m a 24 year old final year healthcare student and I would say my finances were pretty in shape up until this year. I had around £35k saved / invested £5k of which was set aside as my emergency fund. However, I had a really bad year mentally and had to quit my job to work on my mental health. I also spend around £5k of my savings travelling to get myself out of a depressive/anxious slump.

To make matters worse, I was only expecting to be unemployed for around two months but it’s currently almost 5 months hence why I’ve completely blown through my emergency funds. I am currently interviewing for part time jobs but I feel really shitty about my finances. I still have around £25k saved/invested but I feel so silly that I allowed myself to make such financially reckless decisions as an adult. Does anyone have any advice so that I don’t end up in that awful situation again?

FYI: I live at home so my expenses are minimal.

I know I know. I’ve made some really poor financial decisions and I’m trying to turn it around. I quit my job in February 2026, knowing I had a 401k loan balance of about 12k. I never heard anything, I can’t find any info on their site except one statement says the loan balance, and the other there is just nothing. Will I just be screwed come tax time? I’m scared to ask, I’m sure it’s beyond paying back now

I am 66 years old. I desperately want to retire as soon as I can due to declining health; however, it looks like it’s not going to happen anytime soon. I only have $135,000 in a retirement account at this time. I owe $32,000 on my home. Riding out the mortgage, the home will be paid for in 2030. Does it make any sense to take money from the retirement account and go ahead and pay off the house?

I have an HSA (Health Savings Account) with about $6,000 in it. I never use it. Last year I decided to contribute the maximum amount for the tax savings. When I log in, I see it will just let me "reimburse myself" and transfer money. Is that taxed or does anyone check to see what it's for?

The truth is, I do spend about $6,000 per year on medical expenses that my insurance doesn't cover (I have a rare chronic condition). Should I use that money for my medical expenses or just save it?

I'm just confused as to what is best practice.

EDIT: Thank you all for the wonderful and kind advice. I got my answer, but I am leaving this thread here in case it helps people!

my father-in-law is 83 and not very fluent in finance at all. I help him manage his money and try to keep an eye on his credit cards and keep scams out of them and stuff like that. He has about $30,000 from a property sale. He would like to park it somewhere and I'd like to find him something that will at least keep up with inflation. He doesn't have the really long time horizon to go into the market, so I'm thinking CDs or something. He only has a credit union account, so whatever I do, I'll have to help him open up a new account. Open to suggestions, and thanks in advance for any help. I want to help him, but I don't want to mess him up either. He sort of barely gets by on a small pension and Social Security.

Hi everyone, I just turned 25 and I live in the Bay Area, CA. I moved to the States three years ago on my own with clothes on my back and I got a humanitarian status (I survived a lot of abuse and almost died). I never had any help from my family. I’m here on my own.

I’m proud to say I make from $8000–13000 a month. I put myself through school. I got a car I really wanted but I have a car loan. My rent is $1800 a month. My credit is fairly new as I’m not from here so it takes a while to build. It’s around 660.

I have about $15000 in cash, $7000 in checking account, $5000 in a high-yield savings account. I have around $2000 debt in credit cards.

I really want to learn how to invest but I have no idea where to start nor I have anyone to teach me. I also don’t know what to do with my money. I don’t really have any particular goals, I can’t even believe I got this far. I always feel like I’m not doing enough.

Any advice is welcome! Thank you.

Hello! started a new iob about a little over a month ago (vay for getting out of retail!) and on December 1st I will be eligible to pick an insurance plan. I iust turned 26 a few weeks ago and got the boot from my parent's health insurance. Needless to say, I have been trying to gain a lot more knowledge and understanding of insurance types, programs, etc. since I will be going at this on my own now. I am a healthy 26 yo female with no major health issues with the exception of the flu or a stomach bug here and there. I do have to see my primary care phvsician about 2-3 times a vear in order to get mv menta health prescription refilled and then do my annual wellness visit. My medication is on the cheap side, even without insurance. As vou can see in the comments, I attached a picture of the plan info, the PPC plan will cost about $124/paycheck in premium (l'm on a bi-weekly pay cycle). The HSA plan premium is about $73, paycheck. Though with the HSA, I know you should contribute at LEAST about $70/paycheck additionally into the HSA itself which means I am really contributing closer to $143/ paycheck to HSA. My company does not do any contributior matching. I know there's benefits of HSA as far as long term, but I don't want to make a financial mistake here and now. I will also be getting dental and vision with them. No choices to be made there, but I realize HSA can be used there too. With all of that information, what would you suggest is the best and most cost-efficient choice for my health insurance plan?

If you have a checking account with chase and you link an external account (say Bank of America checking account) to chase and make numerous ach transfers to bank of america over past few months.....THEN chase for whatever internal reason decides to close your chase checking account, would this get my bank of america account closed as well?

I ask because they were linked and I guess bank of america might notice idk?

Any experience with such a closure and any ripple effects?

Thanks

I am a woman in my early twenties and I am currently looking for an apartment. I make 3000 a month after taxes in Portland, OR and after all the costs this apartment would be about 1400 (this includes parking which is very expensive in the city). It has really nice amenities, but is small. I have 14,000 in my emergency fund and have been investing. No student debt or car payments.

If you have ever spent too much on rent, did you regret it? How did you lower costs in other parts of your life?

My gas would be less expensive since I would be commuting less and i wouldn't need a gym membership. I am having trouble looking at the number and making it okay in my head so I can just live somewhere enjoyable. Would appreciate any advice!

This was my first experience working with an advisor from a private firm that was recommended to me by someone I knew. I’m high earning on w2 and originally had some stocks/index ETFs that I wasn’t sure what to do with. I was also interested in tax loss harvesting (since then I learned recently there are lower cost alternatives). My life has been crazy over the past 2 years and I hadn’t been paying close attention to the portfolio. Today some serious red flags popped out at me:

* overall the 438k brokerage portfolio they manage is up by 141k over the past 2 years…including 135k worth of my monthly 5k cash deposits. I feel utterly devastated.
* 1.5% fee. I didn’t realize that was well beyond the market average until I did more research today
* They bought 6-7k worth of SpaceX IPO.
* When I began to doubt things, I transferred out my remaining cash to another bank and stopped my automatic deposits to the managed brokerage. Seemingly in response they moved 185k worth of my assets into an alternative investment that’s high dividend but illiquid for 2 years.

The contract says I can give them 30 days notice in writing, but I don’t know what to do about the illiquidity issue regarding the alternative investments, and I don’t want them to try and do something with my current assets after knowing I’m terminating the contract. I have a meeting set up with the advisor for a week from now but I have half a mind to initiate an in-kind TOA to my self managed brokerage immediately. Any advice?

Guys out there I am a student and sometimes I have a money which I usually not require for a time so is there any way where I can put money to grow and I can withdraw it whenever I want and how much I want and can I withdraw it whole amount(india specific)

And yes there might be no any such options so please don't mock me.

I am a 16 year old canadian student receiving 10k in inheritance, shredding 3k off the top to sit on for a matress and fun, and i would love advice for growing, saving, or just any sort of advice or opinions from someone whose been in a similair situation.

I was thinking throwing it into my RBC high interest (bull fucking shit) savings account, and getting a part time job and topping it off with my entire or half paycheque.

Advice? Opinion? Arguments? Matress shopping advice? Lmao

I've just learned that I have an inguinal hernia that's going to need surgery, which averages about $12,000 in my area. This comes at the same time that I'm being presented with insurance for the first time in a long time (small business problems).

I haven't had to decipher anything like this in over a decade and just want to make sure I'm not screwing myself over before jumping on anything. Thank you for any advice in advance!

My plan is to spend the next year on the PPO to knock out my surgery and then speedrun everything else w/ the OOP and deductible having been met before the year is up. Once through the year, I'll end up on the HSA plan.

• PPO ($270/mo): $3,000 deductible and $6,000 individual out-of-pocket maximum. Most common in-network services have set copays before the deductible, such as $25 primary-care visits, $75 specialist visits, and $50 urgent care.
• HSA plan ($162/mo): $3,500 deductible and $6,450 individual out-of-pocket maximum. Most non-preventive care costs the plan’s negotiated rate until the deductible is met, then I pay 20%. No employer contribution.
• Both: In-network preventive care is covered at 100%. The HSA plan allows HSA contributions; prescription costs count toward its deductible, while they don’t count toward the PPO deductible.

There's also an $80/mo option for Select HSA 5500: $5,500 individual / $11,000 family deductible; $8,300 / $16,600 out-of-pocket maximum; 30% coinsurance after the deductible. There is a $1000 a year contribution to this one, but it just doesn't appear to be anywhere near worth it for this year. Potentially next year, when surgery isn't in the plans.

How does this sound to those more experienced? My main concern and thought process isn't the yearly cost, but rather the upfront costs. I don't mind losing a few hundred in the year if I'm not having to worry about day to day costs potentially being heavy hitters. Going to see a specialist and get imaging on a plan that requires me to hit my deductible first sounds miserable.

A coworker this week had a pre-op appointment for a surgery of his around the same budget and it ran him roughly $1000 out the door with the HSA plan. Installments were optional for him but credit on health feels insane and he paid outright. In my world, a surprise $1000 preop bill is much worse than losing $270 a month pre-tax that I don't even notice disappear for a year. Is this irresponsible, or does my plan to jump on the PPO for a year make sense?

Thanks again!

Hello. I'm in my mid 30s and have an okay job that allows me to contribute about 13-15% to my 401k. Unfortunately, I can't contribute more than that at the moment. In addition to that, I also contribute monthly to a robot advisor account. I'm not very savvy in the financial world but a few years ago I thought it could be a good option for someone like me who wants to take a more passive role in investing. Plus I figured if I'm in a pinch, I can always use that money with no penalty vs. taking money from my 401k. Neither options are things I'm considering on doing. I just want to forget about it and let it grow. Now, I question if instead of the robot advisor, I should use the additional amount I'm investing and putting it in my 401k instead. Any suggestions? I'm really torn on what to do. Thank you for your input.

I am 32 and living paycheck to paycheck. It's incredibly embarrassing and stressful. So I HAVE to get my crap together.

I currently have a debit checking account with a local bank that has branches in the surrounding states. I pay $32 anytime I have to overdraft, but as long as I have a direct deposit going into the account, I don't pay any monthly fees.

My fiancé (25) has a debit checking account, too, at a different bank in his home state. He has it set, so he can't overdraft, nor does he have monthly fees (that I'm aware of, it was the account his parents made for him when he started working at like 17).

We want to have a joint savings account of some sort that we put both our checks into and pull a small equal amount out for general personal spending. Like going to see a movie or buy the next book in one of our favorite series. But neither one of us is financially literate or has a clue really where to start since we have our sites set on clearing up debt to start a family.

We've done some personal budgeting like tracking our bills and figured out what we need to pay off or save for certain things, but with our current set up and the both of us having ADHD it makes staying on track a little difficult, so we want to set ourselves up for success with this shift to a savings account. We're open to switching who we each have our checking accounts with, too.

But, would it be better to do a credit union? Growing up, my mom had a teacher's credit union she was a part of and still is even tho she doesn't teach anymore. She's always talking about how it's better than just a regular bank account. She's terrible at explaining things, tho so idk why or if it wouldn't even be any better than our savings account plan.

Thank you for reading, and thanks in advance for any advice you can give. I did peruse the wiki, but I didn't really feel like I got my answer to whether a savings account would be better for pooling our money for better ease to pay off bills and debts while gaining a little interest here and there (or however that works) or if a credit union can offer a better path to our goals of bettering both our credit scores, getting a home, and starting a family.

I've been doing software for 35+ years and now at a point where it's difficult to find work, mainly because of my age (confirmed by several recruiters). I turn 59 1/2 by Apr of 2027, single male in Tx, owe $390K on a VA home loan at 3.2%, no debt (other than home), and have $700K in a few IRA's.

I've been thinking I'd like to payoff the home before the 2028 elections. Half in 27 and the other half in 28 in an attempt to a lower tax bracket. Once the home is paid, I'm good with only needing $1-$1.5k p/ month to live on.

The reason, besides not being able to get work, is that 51% of my current mortgage payments are going to interest which seems like it's draining my money faster than anything. In about 9 months, I'll have to pull from my IRA's to start making payments. Plus, I'll just sleep a little better at night.

Anyone have advice?

I currently work in robotics in a HCOL area though I live with my spouse and we have relatively low rent, I'm salaried at around $120k a year, plus some stock grants that fluctuate in value a fair amount. I'm very strongly considering leaving this job and career and going back to school to become a PA or an RN, leaning more towards the former after talking to folks in the profession. I've been funneling about 15% of my paycheck into maxing out an IRA, and sending the remainder into my 401k with a small employer match. The employer match is up to $5,000 a year (with some max percentage per paycheck, can't exactly recall). If I do return to school I would continue working until April, when a stock incentive plan would vest and pay out something like $20-40k. Here's the current contribution numbers:

401k - $849.06/mo

Employer match - $465.50/mo

IRA - 538.46/mo

TL:DR - Should I reduce my retirement contributions to only hit that employer match and maybe kill the IRA contributions, and save heavily until I leave, or should I leave things where they're at and accept bigger loans in the future?

I do not have enough saved to completely pay for school, which will cost around $120k for the entire program, plus or minus depending on the school, but I do have at this point ~$66k saved in a HYSA and a robo-broker account. I generally considered a part of that my emergency fund. Retirement funds at this point are a little over $100k and that's obviously not going to get touched. I am not counting the unvested stock into my savings numbers.

The timeline over the next few years would look something like this: Stay at this role until April, reducing costs and saving along the way. After I leave the job, I would likely go into an accelerated EMT program, get that cert, and start working as an ER tech at a hospital or as an EMT to gain clinical hours for applying to school, ideally the former because I've been told that the hours are looked at more favorably. I would work that job while taking some prereq courses at the local community college. The pay would probably end up somewhere around $50k a year going off of the low end of local pay ranges for that work. Probably not saving too meaningfully but more importantly not paying out. In Spring of 28 I would apply to school and just keep working until that starts, but then once it starts I would not work during the 2.5 years or so of school.

Thanks for sticking with it to this point of the long version. With that general timeline in mind, should I shoestring my retirement contributions as they currently stand, cut the IRA to $0, lower the 401k to the employer match, and dump the ~$922.02/mo that I'd free up into savings for ~$5,500 more to pad things, or am I better off leaving contributions where they are and taking out bigger loans?

I can tell there's a math problem in there, and I'm going to go do a quick spreadsheet to figure out if the growth of that $5500 invested is worth more or if the interest on a loan is more. Is there anything else I should consider here? Any thoughts that folks have about this situation are appreciated! Also, I'm 31 if that's useful info.

Without divulging every little detail about our financial system. Here are some of the pertinent details:
Income:175k
Savings rate w/ employer match, plus 2 Roth IRA’s: ~33k a year ~18%
Retirement accounts: ~142k
Brokerage Account: ~65k
Emergency Fund/Savings/ Checking:
32k/25k/10k

Going to have a kid within the next 6 months. Planning for this major life change, to include going to single income with a SAHM. Income listed above is just mine as that’s what we’re planning to have starting in the spring. A huge priority is to send our kid(s) to Catholic school K-12. Trying to make a solid gameplan for how to accomplish this. I’ve used some AI tools to provide a plan for me on how to make it all happen and model it out. Need a human critique.

It has suggested to liquid some brokerage funds to seed 529’s. One 529 for k-12, and another 529 for college all for one kid. So there’s no major drag on long term growth needed for college. The model it ran was based on 5k per year k-8, and 8k per year 9-12, at a 3% increase every year. These numbers came from current costs - state educational assistance predicted to receive. Don’t believe I’ll be able to cash flow k-12 tuition expenses

It suggested a 10k seed for k-12 and 16k seed for college, this plus 330/mo k-12 and 135/mo college at 8% return will provide enough for k-12 and roughly 150k for college . Who know what college will cost in 20 years but that’s a solid amount to cover (it predicted that covers half or more in 20 years). Inside the k-12 529 we came to the system of funding a growth fund, and once kindergarten hits moving funds once a year or twice a year to a fixed income fund to cover the next bill, so maxing growth while having near term expenses in fixed income. ~6-6.5% return for k-12. All growth fund for college 8%.

Long winded but is this a good system? Changes? Thoughts?

Also is this a fine use for brokerage funds? I really don’t have cemented plans with the funds, probably a combination of next car, next house, next kids education seeds, home upgrades etc

Hi all,

I worked at my previous company for 5 years, and walked away with my traditional 401k around 50k.

I started my new job two months ago (salary 155k), and they offer both a traditional 401k and a 401k Roth

I am in my early 30's, and have a couple of questions:

1. Should I transfer my old employers traditional 401(k) to my new employers Roth 401(k)?
2. Should I transfer my old employers traditional 401(k) to my new employers traditional 401(k)?
3. Should I keep my old employers traditional 401(k), and my new employers traditional 401(k) separate?
4. Is it sound to open up both a traditional 401(k) and a Roth 401(k)

Hello! I gave birth a few months ago and my husband and I would like to set up a few accounts for our daughter. We are planning on opening a 529 account that we will contribute to over the next 18 years. Our daughter has received cash gifts from family members that we would like to invest for her. Both my husband and I feel a little strange about putting her "gift" money in an account for education as we feel like that is something that we should be providing for her. My husband and I were also able to afford our house primarily because of an investment account that I had set up for me when I was younger. We would love to be able to save any money gifted to her in a place that will grow. Any recommendations for types of accounts we should open for her?