Where to File Your Extension Form 4868

Today is the day you are required to file your tax return Form 1040 with the Internal Revenue Service.  However, if you need more time, you can file an extension on Form 4868.  Her is the link to the Form on the IRS website:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf

I know this is last minute, but just in case you cannot get on the IRS.gov website I thought I would show you where to mail your extension for filing your tax returns to:

Where To File a Paper Form 4868

If you are mailing a check to make a tax payment with your Form 4868 then based on where you live, mail your Form 4868 and check to:

Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, SouthCarolina, Tennessee, Virginia –

                     mail to:  Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 1300 Louisville, KY 40293-1300

Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,

New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia

                         mail to: Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 37009 Hartford, CT 06176-0009

Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas

                           mail to: Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 1302 Charlotte, NC 28201-1302

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico,

Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

                             mail to: Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 7122 San Francisco, CA 94120-7122

If you are NOT making a payment with your Form 4868 Extension of Time to File Form 1040, then you can male the Form 4868 to:

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service Center

Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia

                 maile to:  Kansas City, MO 64999-0045

Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,

New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia

                  mail to:     Department of the Treasury

                                     Internal Revenue Service  Center

                                     Kansas City, MO 64999-0045

Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas

                  mail to:     Department of the Treasury

                                     Internal Revenue Service Center

                                     Austin, TX 73301-0045

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico,

Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

                 mail to:  Department of the Treasury

                                 Internal Revenue Service Center

                                Fresno  CA 93888-0045

Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana,

Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsi

                 mail to:    Department of the Treasury

                                   Internal Revenue Service Center

                                  Fresno, CA 93888-0045

This information is available on the IRS website at www.irs.gov but the site seems to be very slow today, so I thought you might need this.

Save Money by Celebrating in Season with Free Give Aways

Who knew that there was a National Grilled Cheese Day?  Well today, April 12^th, is apparently that day and even if it sounds a little Cheesy, It also sounds like a great way to enjoy the day with friends and family and save money on food and entertainment in the process.  Better than just a random holiday, this holiday involves great comfort food – the all time classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

One my favorite local café’s is celebrating National Grilled Cheese Day by giving away 1 free grilled cheese sandwich to each dine in patron on this great holiday.  Of course, no purchase is required, but I’m sure I’ll have to think about having some tomatoe soup or  some seet tea with that .  More importantly,  since they have the best coconut cream pie around, it seems only right to have dessert on a holiday.

Fun event and a great way to save money on food and entertainment.  When you are trying to trim your budget and even when you are not, taking advantage of local events is a great way to get out and enjoy the event and save money on lunch or dinner that you would be spending anyway.  You have to feed the family dinner anyway – why not celebrate it.

Enjoy your holiday!  Take pictures – and don’t for get to smile.  Say CHEESE 🙂

 Additional Resources on this topic:

Norma’s Cafe http://www.normascafe.com/news/events.php

Variations on a great sandwich: http://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/10-greatest-grilled-cheese-sandwiches-71411

Saving Money by Eliminating Duplicate Payments on Phone and Internet

I finally did it.  I cancelled my home phone and internet for a savings of about $94 per month.  People might ask why I kept it so long and some may still need to keep theirs.  This adjustment to save on expenses is not for every household.

There are many reasons people would keep their home phone and not be able to make this move.  Families with someone at home every day would certainly have to think twice about not having a home phone available for emergencies.  When kids are grown or they all have their own cell phones, then things might look different.

Many people also consider the fact that they will not have 911 services in an emergency to be critical for their situation and will keep a home phone for that reason as well.  This would require a thoughtful review of your household needs to determine the best option for you.

For a single person who has an empty house when they are not home and who have both phone and internet with them through a smart phone or other mobile gadgets, the expense of a home phone and internet become duplicate expenses and may be unnecessary.  For couples who have grown children, having both mobile and home phone and internet may also be a duplicate.  The catch for couples or couples with grown children becomes a question of how to handle the expense of data plans and text messaging for the family as a whole.  Data plans will be looked at in a future post next month.

The key to removing the duplicate expense for a household is in addressing the need for internet at home since email, movies, games, television and a host of other services may rely on internet.  Paying $65 a month for internet for the home becomes a duplicate expense if your mobile internet can be made available for your home devices with no increase in cost or a small increase relative to the cost of the home internet.

For example, a mobile Wi-Fi unit from T-Mobile allows for unlimited data usage and provides internet for up to 5 devices at a time.  That would cover 2 cell phones at home, and 2 computers and still have room for 1 e-reader, Wii device, or other gadget.

Two Cautions and Considerations:

1. Data Usage Levels

Mobile Wi-Fi units can be limited in the monthly data usage allowed or unlimited.  In the case of the T-Mobile unit, the data usage is unlimited so there are never any overage charges.  However, the speed of the data is reduced after reaching data usage of 2Gig or on a more expensive package 4Gig or more.  The lower speed will not likely affect your email or internet browsing, but may cause some slowness to streaming television or movies.

1. Internet Needs away from home

Mobile Wi-Fi units can replace home internet and be taken on the road.  This is a great benefit when removing the duplicate expense, but can be a problem if the Wi-Fi is shared between members of your household who need to take their own Wi-Fi internet with them away from the house.  A small data plan on the smart phone maybe sufficient to resolve this, but you will need to evaluate the usage of all of your internet devices as a whole.  In some cases, two mobile Wi-Fi units will still be cheaper than home internet and data plans on mobile phones and gadgets.

Savings:

$46 for removing the home phone and using only a cell phone

$48 for removing the home DSL internet and using T-Mobile Wi-Fi at home and away from home

How Lunch in a Brown Paper Bag Saves Lives … not just money

Resource:  An Invisible Thread    

I know you are thinking that this post is about saving money by taking your lunch to work or school.  Well, you can save money by taking your lunch but this is about something more important .  Stewardship includes not only carrying your own load to the extent possible, but then going the step further and making enough to give to others.

In Ephesians 4:28 the apostle Paul says ‘Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he have something to share with him who has need.’

When someone’s life is changed by faith in Jesus Christ, their behavior is changed.  If before you knew grace, you stole from others, then afterwards you are to steal no longer.  We are to do good work with own own hands, and have something to share with someone in need. This is not about tithing or donating to charities.  This is personal.  This is being able to share with those around you as you are able.

An Invisible Thread  by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski is a recently published book about the true story of Laura Schroff, an advertising executive in New York who meets a young boy Maurice who is hungry and pan-handling on the street.   The average response of just walking past people on the street is caught in motion when her heart is caught by the words  “…I’m hungry”.

From that point on Laura and Maurice develop a life long friendship of support and care that has continued for over 26 years.  You might think that this is a story of just how Laura helped Maurice and made a difference in his life and the man he becomes.  But stories are not one sided.  The real story is how we affect one another and this book is an excellent example of the love we can give as well as the love we can receive.   Both Laura and Maurice benefit and both Laura and Maurice have a great respect for one another.

When Maurice is given the choice of money to buy lunch or to have lunch made for him to pick up on his way to school, Maurice chooses a lunch made for him.  He asks that it be in a brown paper bag because when he sees kids at school with a lunch in a brown paper bag, he knows that someone cares about them.  He wants the world to know someone cares about him.

Stewardship is not just about living within your means and planning for emergencies.  Stewardship can bring balance and freedom and open the doors of opportunity to participate in the lives of the people around you and both be blessed and be a blessing.  You might stop at thinking that Laura is the one being a good steward and being able to feed a hungry boy.  But don’t stop there,  Maurice was also a steward of his resources. His time is all he had but he was using it to do the one thing he could do to help himself and his family and that was to ask for help.

An Invisible Thread  is currently on the New York Times best seller list and available everywhere.  You can order it from Amazon by clicking on the book title.

Once again we see that principles of stewardship are not rules to follow in order to maintain some standard of what culture considers a normal life and to be conformed to someone else’s view of how we are to live.  We are not conformed to the world’s ways, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds to follow Jesus not to be limited in life, but rather to live life abundantly in all things.

It’s not about the money.

How to File an Extension for Your Individual 1040 Tax Return

For those of you who have not yet realized that your annual 1040 tax return is due in the next few days, I thought I would just mention it so you don’t get duped.

If you are not ready to file your tax return, you can file Form 4868 to request what is called an Automatic Extension for Time to File. It’s ‘Automatic’ because you just file the form and you automatically get the extension. You then attach a copy of the Form 4868 with your completed tax return when you do file it.

The Automatic extension will give you 6 more months to file your return. The extension avoids the penalty for not filing on time only.

Warning: This does not give you 6 more months to pay your taxes!

The extension allows you to estimate as best you can at the moment the taxes you owe and pay what you think you owe. If you think your W-2 withholding or Estimated tax payments have covered your tax liability, your estimate would be zero owed and you may even expect a refund. You will not get a refund until you file the completed return and the return shows a refund.

If you fail to pay your tax owed, or estimate incorrectly, you could owe when you file your return. If so, you will also pay some penalties and interest for not paying your taxes by the deadline of April 15th. Again, the extension only keeps you from paying a penalty for not filing on time.

How to:

1. Go to the IRS website at www.IRS.gov

2. Search for Form 4868 (this link should take you there directly:  Form 4868)

3. Print form, fill out form, sign and date the form

4. MAKE A COPY of the extension for you to file with your return later.

5. MAKE ANOTHER COPY for your own file.

6. MAIL the form your tax due date – April 15th.

Information on the U.S. government website for the IRS Internal Revenue Service is free.

They may also link you to video instructions on YouTube.com provided by the IRS.

Additional Cautions:

* Don’t wait 6 months to be almost late again, try to file as quickly as possible. You might forget and be late again.

* Don’t wait to file because you owe money and think you can wait 6 months to pay. The longer you wait to pay, the more interest and possible penalties you may have to pay in addition to the taxes you owe.

* Don’t expect a refund until you actually file your tax return completely. You cannot estimate a refund. Sorry.

* The official site for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ends with .gov

http://www.IRS.gov

This site has a lot of great information and is very usable.

I hope this is helpful information. Leave a comment if you think I’ve left something out and help others as well.

1300 Reasons or More to Never get a Pay Day Loan

Pay Day loans are advertised constantly on television, radio, and every where else.  There are places to get cash loans all around us.  Cash loans seem very easy to get — and they are.  They are easy to get because it is a very lucrative business and the interest and penalties you will pay on this relatively small loan are out of control.

The U.S. Government passed laws that limit the interest rate that these companies can charge to active duty military personnel and their families.  But even the rates for military people are way too high.  If you are not active duty military, the interest and penalties are beyond any rate any legitimate business could charge you.

What is a Pay Day Loan?

Pay Day Loans or Pay Day Advance are simply short term loans considered a ‘cash advance’.  The qualification for this type of loan is recent previous employment and paycheck history.

Pay Day loans were designed for people to get their paycheck a day or two early because their rent or car payment or other bill was due.  The design of these loans were to be made for only a few days – the length of your pay period.  So if you get paid weekly, the loan would be due in 1 week.  If you get paid every two weeks or monthly, then the loan may have weekly payments but was intended to be paid off when you receive your paycheck.

How Pay Day Loans Work?

Since a pay day loan is only suppose to be a short term loan, the full amount is expected to be paid when you receive your paycheck along with any interest charged for the days you had the funds in advance.  For example:  If you expect to get paid on Friday, but you take out a payday loan on Tuesday, you will have the amount of the loan, interest, and financing fees to pay on Friday.

If you borrow the full amount of your paycheck, then you will not have enough money on Friday to pay your loan plus interest plus financing fees and will likely have to refinance the loan for another pay period making you in debt for more interest and refinancing fees on top of the original loan amount.

This may sound like any other loan but it is not.  The finance fees or the charge just for initiating the loan are high and the interest rates are completely unreasonable and we have seen them go as high as more than 1300%.    When you see an interest rate on the loan paper, the percentage is typically an annual interest rate.  Don’t be fooled thinking that since you will only have the funds for 1 week, that a high interest rate is acceptable.  Do the math and you will be shocked.

A pay day loan of $425 at 1300% interest will cost you $425 + $30 finance fee + $170 interest = $625.

That’s not a typo.  This is really 1300% and not 13%.  So a $100 loan at 1300% interest for 1 year would cost you $1300 + $100 loan amount or $1400.  Does that sound reasonable?  It is not only unreasonable, it use to be consider usary (unreasonable and excessive interest rates).    There use to be laws in place that did not allow businesses to charge more than a maximum amount of interest because it was considered to be extreme or abusive.  The interest rate that was considered usary before the law changes was 45%.  That’s 1265% lower than our example.  The example is not only real, it is not rare.  Rates of over 500% up to 1400% are being levied on unsuspecting people.  While the U.S. Government limits the interest rate that can be charged to active duty military, they do not limit the interest rate charged to non military people.  States have governed the maximum interest rates in the past, but with recent federal law changes to credit cards, you may have little or no protection for usary interest rates and you need to pay attention.

Reasons Not to Get a Pay Day Loan

1300 interest points is Unreasonable Interest

The mistake of a pay day loan will destroy your credit.  Bad credit can be corrected over time, but a pay day loan will keep  you in debt beyond your means and make your bad credit horrible credit.

Pay Day Loans are the worst kind of debt you can have.

What do you do then, if you think you need a Pay Day Loan?

The majority of payday loans are taken to pay food, housing and auto expenses or normal living expenses.  There are non-profit organizations and public services in place to help with these types of expenses.  In some cities, you can dial 211 to get information on services that may be available in your area.

Food: If you need the loan for food for you and your children, find other options such as a food pantry, family, neighbors, local churches or other public assistance.

Car Payments and car repairs: It is generally cheaper to pay the penalty for a late car payment than to take out a pay day loan.  Credit card rates and even some pawn shops have interest rates that are far lower than pay day loans.

House Payments and Rent:  Again, it is generally cheaper to pay the late fee and interest for your house payment or rent than to take out a pay day loan.

One thing worse than being evicted from your home or having a car repossessed is being evicted or having your car repossessed and still owing hundreds or thousands of dollars on the pay day loan you thought would save you.  A pay day loan will not save you, it will only make the sitauation much much worse.

If you have a pay day loan now, find every way you can to get it paid off and never go back for another one.  There is no redeeming value to a pay day loan.

If pay day loans are this bad, then title loans on your car are even worse.  Look for our next post on Title Loans.

What is a reasonable interest rate?

AmericaSaves.org suggests that the maximum interest rate you should use for any type of loan is 13%.  Again, that is not a typo – thirteen percent.  Many credit cards are above that rate of interest but not all.

Credit card rates can vary widely based on your credit history and can be as low as 3% to 39% or higher.  For good credit ratings, the interest rate is generally below 10%.  With bad credit, you may still get a card for 25% or lower.  This is not a recommendation for debt of any kind, but rather a caution to know that there is very little protection for you from high interest debt.

Emergency savings and credit cards with no annual fees are your best options to protect you from getting into a high interest debt for even a short period of time.  The value of paying cash and not having any debt is not just the value of interest you don’t pay, but the freedom you have to make better choices.  Protect yourself from debt traps.

3 Things Affecting Your Electric Bill and 2 Thing you can Do About IT

You may think that your electric bill is static and just continues on each month at the same rate.  Like other utility bills such as water, internet, and gas for your home, we have a habit of just paying the bill and not really looking at the bill.

WARNING WARNING WARNING!

Electric companies in some areas have changed the way they do business andmany people are paying a much higher price without knowing they have an option.  Your electric rate can vary widely in the rate being charged from month to month causing your bill to go up even when your usage goes down.  You may have an option to set a contract rate for a period of time such as 1 year to prevent this from happening to you.

Three things that affect your electric bill:

1.  The company your service comes from and the policies they have for rates, rate contracts, late fees and other charges.

2. The rate the company charges per kilowatt hour (kwh) on your monthly bill

3. How much electric you use – measured in kilowatt hours or (kwh)

The rate per kilowatt multiplied by the number of kilowatts seems obvious to calculate the amount you will owe.  But how do you know if you are paying a rate per kwh higher than all your neighbors? Why would you be paying more for your electric than your next door neighbor – even if you are using the same company?

Two things you can do to control and hopefully lower your electric bill:

1.  You can attempt to lower your usage

2. You can monitor the rate you are paying and negotiate a lower rate if where possible

How to compare your rate for your area:

Read your electric bill every month and find the two numbers on the bill that matter: the number of kilowat hours billed and the rate per kilowat hour charged.  Some bills may only show the number of kilowats and not the rate.  If that is the case for you, you may need to calculate your rate by dividing the electric service billed divided by the number of kilowat hours.  For example:

Electric bill reads:       Electric service for this period    $198.42

Number of kilowats                          2139 kW

Rate =          $179.42 / 2139 =  .10233  or about 10.2 cents per kilowat

Compare your billed rate to your company’s posted rates for new customers on their website.

In this area, the rate posted on my service provider’s website is the same as the rate I calculated for my bill.  Other companies post a range of rates based on options and contract periods that the user has chosen.  However,  I recently reviewed the electric bill of a friend.  The company my friend was using posted the same range of competitive rates for the area and I did not find the excessive monthly rate that she was paying anywhere on the site.  Of course the verbiage of the site indicated the monthly rates fluctuate, but the I would not have expected the rate to fluctuate over 60% higher than the top of the range of rates listed.  In fact, I would have expected the rate to be within the range of rates.

When you enter into a rate contract for a cell phone, the rate typically applies for 2 year contract term.  When that term expires, you have the option of renewing a contract that usually involves upgrading your phone.  However, if you don’t need to upgrade your phone, you likely continue on with the same company month to month on the same rate.  Electric companies however, operate differently.  You enter into a contract period for a few months or a year or more, but when the contract period ends, you automatically go to a month to month rate that can fluctuate wildly.  You don’t have any equipment to upgrade so the electric company has no incentive to tie you in to another long term contract.  They may alert you that your contract is expiring, but they do not tell you that your rate will increase.  Being aware of your contract term and making sure you know your rate options is critical to prevent overpaying for your electric service.

Negotiate a lower rate with your existing provider if your rate is at the top or above the range of rates posted on their website.  Make sure you ask questions to understand the options the company has for you.  Negotiating a rate for a specified term such as 1 year, may have a contract cancellation fee of $200 or more if you change your plan.  Electric companies have taken clues from the cell phone contracts so you need to be aware of the terms and any cancellation fees.  If you select a variable monthly rate, make sure you know how to verify your rate each month BEFORE your billing period begins and then call every month to verify the rate to make sure your variable monthly rate is not skyrocketing.

Call another electric service provider to find a lower rate if your existing provider is not able to give you a competitive rate.

Cautions:

Past Due balances:  You will not be able to change service providers if you have a past due balance on your account.  A transfer hold will be put on your account.  You must bring your account current and request that the hold be removed and then transfer.  This will also affect your ability to negotiate with your current company or any other company.

Past Due balance extensions and financing – Electric companies may offer an opportunity to finance a past due balance over a short term period of 2 to 4 months.  This is helpful if you are unable to pay the bill, but it can be costly.  You are most likely better off to keep your electric bill current and finance something else to avoid the monthly refinance fees and the high interest rates of this type of financing.

Rate comparison websites on the internet are not an accurate comparison.  I tried to find a rate comparison website to post as a resource for you here but found some very bad information on several sites.  In one example, the company charging almost double for a neighbor is listed as the 2nd lowest rate on a large rate comparison site even though the rate site was a non-profit. The sites also did not publish the rates of the 4 or 5 largest electric providers in thea area so the comparison was not sufficient. Rates on these sites can also be for commercial property and not residential so you are not comparing apples to apples.  Talk to your neighbors, co-workers, local church, or HOA and compare rates.

Beware of websites that claim to compare rates. Many of these websites are simply listings of electric companies with links of paid advertisements to companies and there has been no comparison on your behalf to help you choose.  One website in Texas is www.powertochoose.org and does list companies and rates for comparison.  While this site is more helpful than most, there is still some danger in using the site.  This site allows you to select a contract with several different companies, but it also has some requirements that may not be helpful to you.  Some requirements can include automatic draft from your checking account for payment,  ebills only, or longer rate terms and higher cancellation fees.  Automatic drafts from your checking account are not a good idea and can end up costing you not only fees from the electric company but also from your bank.  A better recommendation would be to gather information on the internet about rates to be informed, but then call the company and discuss the options by phone to make sure you are getting the rate and the terms that you expect.

Apartment living can cause high electric bills.  Apartment buildings are not known for their energy efficiency and apartments may provide electric bundled with the rent so you will not have any control of the rate.  Make sure to compare the electric rate in this situation before you sign the lease to rent the apartment.  If you are in an apartment now, you can begin to compare rent and electric rate bundles together in choosing your next apartment.

Other Resources:

Dallas Morning News reported that new digital electric meters were affecting some electric bills in error.   You can request a verification of the meter reading and the company may charge you a small fee but it should be very minimal ($1.90 in this area).

Check your electric bill and let us know if you found this
article helpful.  Please post additional information or good 
resources you have found for researching this in your area.

W-2’s are In the Mail

Employers have until – January 31st each year to issue tax forms W-2 to their employees. Most are mailed via US Postal Service the last week of January. So all of your W-2 forms should be received by you sometime this week. Some employers provide the printed form W-2 in person or include it with the January paycheck, but they are still required to have them ready and on their way to you by today.

If you do not receive your W-2 form, consider the following:

Contact your employer and ask when the Form W-2 was mailed and determine if you might still be waiting on the mail. Keep in mind that first class mail generally takes 2 to 4 days. If a reasonable amount of time has passed, you can ask them to re-send the Form W-2. You should verify that they have the correct mailing address for you if you request a duplicate.

You still are required to file your tax return Form 1040 by April 15th even when you do not receive your Form W-2. You may choose to file an automatic extension for your filing date on Form 4868 to allow you time to get your Form W-2. Another option would be to file Form 4852 – a Substitute Form W-2. This form is provided by the IRS to allow you to estimate your income and withholding taxes that would be reported on your Form W-2. This is just an estimate and you will want to be very accurate in using this method. The most likely accurate information to estimate with will be the year-to-date earnings and withholding reported on your last paycheck for the tax return year.

Forms and instructions are of course on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov along with useful information created by the IRS to help you on YouTube.com .

Resource Links to IRS forms:

Form 4852 : Substitute Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement
Form 4868 : Application for Extension of Time to File
Link to IRS topic on YouTube

Credit Card Surcharges now Legal, but are they Practical?

This week, a lawsuit was settled that now allows retailers to pass through the credit card fees they pay to you the consumer – with some exceptions and some confusion.  Ten states hold out on the new law change that allows retails to pass on the credit card surcharges for using a Visa or MasterCard.  If you live in one of these states, you could be saving up to 4% on your purchases.

Texas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Kansas, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and New York are the ten states that still make passing through the credit card fees to the consumer illegal.  But if you don’t live in one of these states, you still may benefit from the laws in these 10 states without shopping there.  Retailers are required to treat all of their stores the same in how they handle credit card fees.  So, if a retailer has a store in one of these 10 states that does not allow them to pass the fee on to you, then they cannot pass the fee on to you in any state.

One news station reported that some retailers, including Walmart and Target and others, had ‘decided’ not to pass along the fees.  In reality, large retailes will not be able to pass along the fees since they have stores in at least one of these states.  Another limitation for retailers is that they must treat all credit cards the same.  If they accept American Express, they cannot pass the charges on for any of the credit cards they accept.  Be aware that many small businesses do not accept American Express or may discontinue accepting American Express

How to avoid credit card surcharges:

* Shop in one of the 10 states that don’t allow the credit card surcharges

* Use a debit card:  Credit card surcharges can not be applied to debit cards even though they have a Visa or Master Card logo.

* Shop at a store that does not pass the surcharge on to you the customer.

How to know if your retailer is charging you credit card fees:

Retailers who choose to pass along the credit card fees are required to inform you by at least one of three ways.  They can display a sign at the entrance notifying you, place a sign or notification at the point of sale or cash register check out where you use the credit card, or print the information on the receipt.

Printing the information on the receipt is really notification after the fact and you will need to read your receipts.  The retailer is required to show the amount of the surcharge being passed on to you as a separate amount on the receipt and the amount can only up to the actual fee they pay up to 4%.  They cannot assume the full 4% if their rate is lower.

Cautions:

Fees can vary by type of credit card:  Cards that offer Rewards programs or have a Premier status may charge higher fees and so the higher fee can be passed on to you.  You will need to find out if the fees for your different credit cards vary and choose the best option for you.

Online retailers can charge the fees as well, unless some of the other limitations apply.  This can take away the advantage that online retailers can have with regard to sales tax in some states.

Small Business: Boost or Bust? Small businesses  may not have locations in other states and so may have the legal availability to pass along these fees to the customer.  Small businesses often pay higher fees than large retailers so they may see this as a way to recover costs without raising prices in a slow economy.  However, they will be caught between wanting to recover costs and still competing with the prices of larger retailers.   Once again, small business could be hurt by a law that was intended to help retailers.

Keeping track of who charges and who doesn’t?   While many or even most retailers may not pass on the fees to you, over time, more and more retailers may start to charge the fees.  You may need to begin to keep track and be able to continually evaluate if a lower price at one retailer will in fact be a higher price to you.   Watch for those signs, and always look at your receipts.

Reality Check:

This change in the law is confusing and awkward.  The software of retail stores will all have to be modified to charge and track the fees for reporting.   Store credit cards like Lowes or JcPenney or other retailers may not be able to pass through the charges if they cannot also pass through the charges on their store brand credit cards.   American Express cards may become more popular for consumers, but less popular for retailers.  Debit cards, especially reward debit cards may become more popular to give the best of both world’s in providing a reward as well as protecting from the additional fees.

Even though we may not see this surcharge take affect immediately, this change does make way for the charges to begin showing up and becoming normal.  This might feel a little bit like the frog being placed in the pot and the water just beginning to warm up to charging you and extra 4%.  Don’t let this sneak up on you.

Keep an eye out for additional charges and look out for each other.

Let us know if you see any of these charges on your receipts, or signs at retailers passing on these fees.

Mobile Phone Security – Internet Scan Codes

You have probably seen those new black boxes that look like a square black and white maze on magazine ads, soda cans and any number of other product packaging.     These funny little boxes are called QR Codes and they allow someone with a smartphone to scan the code with code reader application that uses the camera phone to automatically pull up web sites on their phone.  So for example, as you drink your soda, you notice one of these boxes on the can.  You can take your phone and use a code reader application to use the camera phone to scan the box and allow your phone will automatically pull up the website using your web browser on your phone (such as Safari on iPhones, or MS Bing, or other web browser.) I even saw one on the back of a pick-up truck.  I question the wisdom of encouraging someone driving behind you to take out their cell phone and get close enough to your tailgate to take a picture of your QR code, but that would be another blog posts.

These codes are wonderful to use since they take you directly to the site without having to read and type those long URL website addresses.  Even nonprofit organizations, churches and schools are using them. While the are a great invention for ease of use, unfortunately they are also ways for some unscrupulous people and companies to take you to websites you do not want to go to and to also gain access to information on your phone.  There are always those who use technology in sneaky ways to take what is not theirs to have.

Norton Internet Security is a group of products produced by Symantec, Inc. for many years and they are one of the best known companies in the field of personal security for your computers. So of course, when it comes to protecting you from sneaky code readers — Thankfully, There’s an app for that!

Norton now has a QR Reader application for your smartphone that is FREE and will protect you from QR codes that may take you to unwanted sites that Norton considers dangerous.  This new application will block unwanted sites from being assessed on your mobile phone.

How To:

On your smartphone:  Go to your App Store and search for ” Norton Snap QR Code Reader “

The application is FREE and should have the Norton logo and company name ‘Symantec’ listed in the application information.

Install the FREE application on your phone through the application store as you do all other applications for this device.

Use: When you see a QR Code, go to the installed application on your phone and follow the directions to scan the code.  If the code is acceptable, the browser will automatically open and you will go directly to the site.  If the code is suspicious, you will receive a warning indicating the severity of the concern with additional options for you to consider.

You are the driver on your mobile internet highway.  Drive Safe out there!

There are other companies with similar applications that may work just as well.  I use Norton Internet Security on all of my devices and they have served me well for many years.  I do not receive any promotional benefit for mentioning this product.  Please feel free to leave comments and information of other similar products you have used and found helpful on this subject.