Little-Known Credit Bureaus

How many times have you heard the phrase, the three credit reporting bureaus on this program and elsewhere? But did you know there are at least ten of them? That's right, ten, all monitoring your transactions.

It's true and odds are you've never heard of most of them, but they know all about you. Today, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West reveals all kinds of credit bureaus keeping tabs on you. Then it's your calls at 800-525-7000. 800-525-7000.

I'm Steve Moore. Little known credit bureaus. That's next right here on MoneyWise Live.

Hi, Rob. So right off the bat, I have to ask, why in the world do we need ten or more credit bureaus? Fair question and I think the answer is that most of them try to cater to different lender needs. The big three, as most people call them, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax are general in nature. They monitor how you handle transactions for credit cards and mortgages, perhaps an auto loan, that sort of thing.

The others are what we might call boutique bureaus with a highly specific client base and they look at other areas of your day-to-day transactions and of course, many of them use different formulas and scoring ranges to determine your credit worthiness. Okay, so I guess having three just wasn't complicated enough, right? So we have a long list here. I guess we'd better get to it.

What's first? Well, that would be Sagestream. It recently received some publicity when an individual in North Carolina with a FICO score around 800 was turned down for a car loan. FICO-wise, that's an extremely high score but that person's Sagestream score was in the 600s.

And what would be the issue there? Yeah, for one thing, Sagestream uses a different scoring range from 0 to 999 as opposed to FICO's 300 to 850. But also, in addition to monitoring credit card and auto loan transactions, Sagestream looks at your cell phone and internet service transactions. Perhaps you didn't even know those were monitored, did you? No, no, I did not. All right, well, that's good to know.

All right, what's next? Well, let's look at a couple of them. ChexSystems and Certigy ChexServices, as you might guess from their names, well, they monitor your checking account. The big three don't report overdrafts unless they go to a collection agency. So banks use ChexSystems and Certigy to see if you're an overdraft risk and whether they should let you open a checking account. Didn't know that either.

All right, what else? Well, Enovis is sometimes called the fourth credit bureau because it collects similar information to the big three. But Enovis also reports on things like rent payments, utility bills, and even magazine subscriptions, if anybody has those anymore. Clarity Services is another. It's owned by Experian but focuses on individuals and businesses looking for alternative financing, otherwise known as the subprime market. Things like payday loans, which, by the way, is a side note, are horrible and you should never apply for one, and other check cashing services as well. Another similar boutique bureau, Steve, is TeleTrack, which reports to subprime credit card issuers, rent to own businesses and furniture stores. Again, more places where you don't want to apply for credit.

Okay. And by the clock, I see we have time for at least one more. So what's our 10th credit bureau? And it's probably another one we've not heard of, right? Well, that would be Credco. And of all 10 credit bureaus we've named, it might be the one that has the most impact on your FICO score because it combines all of your transactions from the big three into one report.

So very little is missed. Credco looks at property ownership, loan obligations, legal filings, including liens and judgments, rental applications, collection accounts, even whether you're up to date on child support, interestingly. Wow. Okay. So now, are all these other entities owned by FICO or are they privately owned but they all report in some way to FICO? Do you know? Not owned by FICO, separate corporations and entities for sure. But interestingly, they all have information about me and you and yet we've never signed anywhere giving those people information or giving them permission to get this information. That's right. That's the world we live in.

Next, you're going to tell me the IRS knows all about me and then where will I be? All right. All right. So is there anything to really worry about? Maybe some of our listeners are as worried as I kind of am. Yeah.

No. Hopefully, we haven't caused them to worry. And if you're running a tight ship financially, don't worry about anything because this is just an accurate reflection of the way you manage money. So as long as you pay your bills on a time and keep your credit balances low, certainly below 30% of the limit or better yet, no balances at all, you don't have to worry about credit bureaus accurately reporting your information no matter what their name is. Buying a home is the largest, most nerve wracking purchase most of us ever make. It doesn't help that you're entering a maze of unfamiliar words and confusing options that can leave you intimidated, frustrated and afraid you've been taken advantage of. Navigating the mortgage maze by Dale Vermilion helps you clear up the confusion, unrack your nerves and make the best mortgage decisions possible with confidence. Navigating the mortgage maze available when you click the store button at money wise live.org. For 30 years, Soundmind Investing has been helping Christians reach their financial goals with step by step guidance for investors at every stage, from those just getting started to those getting ready for retirement. Through scriptural principles and practical suggestions, SMI offers financial wisdom for living well.

More information including a short video webinar on profit and peace of mind no matter what's happening in the market is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Do you remember that old ad from the 1970s for Clayton's? It's the drink you have when you're not having a drink.

Hi, I'm Bernie Dymott. Clayton's has become part of our language. A Clayton's drink looks as though it's alcoholic but really it isn't. A Clayton's anything is something that looks real but isn't. Question, is it possible to have a Clayton's person? You know, a person who's not really a person. A baby in its mother's womb, is that a Clayton's person?

Or maybe the street people we walk around on the footpath, they're almost always smelly. Are they Clayton's people? Or maybe those workers in the factories across Asia who make the toys our kids play with and the clothes we wear, all for a few cents an hour. Are they Clayton's people? Jesus said, I've come to bring good news to the poor and to set the captives free. I wonder when he looks around whether he sees any Clayton's people on this earth.

I wonder. If the heavy burden of debt is robbing you of freedom and peace of mind, Christian credit counsellors can help. We're a nationwide non-profit credit counselling organisation that has helped over 300,000 individuals in the last 27 years get out of credit card debt 80% faster while honouring that debt in full. To learn how Christian credit counsellors can help you, visit christiancreditcounsellors.org. That's christiancreditcounsellors.org, or call 800-557-1985. It's a real honour and a privilege to be with you today and for you to be with us here's our phone number if you have a question for Rob West on anything financial 800-525-7000.

Again 800-525-7000. We were chatting just a bit about little known credit bureaus. There are at least 10 of them which probably means there are at least 12 or 13 of them in total and if you're worried that some of these credit bureaus may not have accurate information, well what do you do in that case Rob? It's a good question and you can request your credit reports from these bureaus and challenge incorrect reporting.

Let me back up and explain. I would always be pulling regularly copies of your credit report. Best way to do that is a website annualcreditreport.com absolutely free of charge and you can pull those. I do that at least quarterly from each of the three bureaus.

Now if you were to spot something that is inaccurate from one of those bureau reports the Fair Credit Reporting Act is what gives you the authority to challenge that information directly with that bureau. You can do it online or over the phone. Online is going to be easiest and basically you would just say to them and indicate which line items on that report are inaccurate or you don't recognize. According to the act they have 30 days with which to either verify that it's true and provide documentation as such or delete it and they'll notify you in either case. I would be checking that information.

Credit reports do from time to time have inaccurate information and so by challenging it you'll have it removed and it will no longer be factored in to your credit score. That's something you just need to do as a part of your normal course of business. Great information and again we can talk about this or we can talk about anything that might be going on in your life from a financial perspective. If you'll give us a call first 800-525-7000. Rob let's go out to Iowa and Lori nice to have you with us today.

What's on your mind? Yes we have an HSA because we're self-employed farmers and it's only collecting 1.74% interest at our local bank and a doctor recently told me that he has an HSA but he doesn't have it at his local bank. He is investing that money in I'm not sure if it's in the stock market or what he's doing but I'm wondering is that an option for us and if so what do you guys suggest we put it in so that I can like take money out of it once a year when we pay ourselves back for medical expenses? Yeah well it's a great question Lori and you're right some HSA accounts let you invest in mutual funds ETFs or even individual stocks you can build your portfolio yourself or you could use one of the more autopilot type approaches sometimes called robo advisors where it's invested based on answers you provide and information about your particular situation goals objectives risk tolerance that type of thing and then it's invested for you. The nice thing is the gains are not taxable if they're used for qualified medical expenses.

I would just try to figure out how much you plan to use in any given period. Now one of the beauties of the HSA is if you're relatively healthy and you can max out your contributions then you can build up a balance that carries over from year to year and that ends up becoming a supplement to your retirement because you can invest it. Now money that's going to just wash through the HSA in a given year you probably don't want to invest because you may see that dip down plus many of them require minimum balance in some cases one to two thousand dollars but if you've built up potentially you know a couple of years or more worth of out-of-pocket health care expenses then I think it's a good thing to consider beginning to put that money to work for you and it may mean that you need Lori to transfer this HSA to another HSA custodian one that has a little bit more flexibility. You could do some research online I know HSA bank is one that's really committed to this space but a number of the discount brokerage houses have HSA options as well Charles Schwab and Fidelity and others and they would have all of the low-cost investment options you'd be looking for.

I'm not surprised that a local bank does not give you as many of those options so I'd probably first consider is it appropriate to invest some portion of it and if so how much and then secondly begin looking at the various custodians out there and find the one that's the best for you. Okay thank you very much. God bless Lori. Thank you very much we appreciate that eight hundred five two five seven thousand still have some open lines. Stone Mountain Georgia not too far from either of us today or on any day actually. Vasant, thank you sir for calling what's on your mind?

Hi how are you all? Thank you for taking my call actually I've been waiting for a long time. The reason I call I'm 65 years old and then I do get a social for about 1300 a month I do get out of that I do pay my mortgage and remaining I've been tied with five or six things like veterans and Boys Town and other things and remaining I manage my home since my wife passed away and I do have a large home with five acres but the question is that I'm getting unable to maintain this house and I got a mortgage around about eighty two thousand dollars yes leftover and then I do have a saving about hundred thousand in the bank I think and that's it so I'm a little confused about it and unable to manage the home right now I mean it's a gardening and other things and the traffic is becoming hectic in this place and so I want to get away from here maybe a year later I might put in the market and get some money out of this and that'd be my retirement money probably so should I pay the amount or not yeah you know I think the the thing here is first of all we need to look at how much you have in the way of free cash reserves because I wouldn't want you to spend that down too much so think that's the first question what do you have saved up in in liquid cash facade liquid cash is around about four thousand in the checking saving and checking is already five hundred or six hundred dollars and main amount is about ninety eight or ninety six thousand dollars and I keep hearing about SMI from your guys then I try to approach them they advise me as something else then I backed up and the banks were not giving much interest at all okay yeah so you said you have about ninety or a hundred thousand and where is that that's just in the bank or in a brokerage account it's in the savings actually saving ninety seven ninety five thousand I think probably yeah okay very good and in terms of the income that you have in your current expenses are you able to live on Social Security alone that's the greatest thing in me the way I'm doing it with that I've been paying a little tight for the Boys Town schools and some Indian school and some Christian school too as well as I've been paying for veterans for little little things remaining I do never go to restaurants or anything else I do cook my own food yeah okay very good yeah and now tell me a little bit more about the house you say you really plan to move because it's more home than you need or want yeah actually I don't need this big home in fact since you passed away we lived here for twenty five years actually then and it's five point five acres now the market is picking up but maybe for a year later I was thinking to go to Christian City here in Georgia right near Riverdale so there's a retirement it's very economic home and I can do some volunteer things to stay home active all right and how much equity do you think you'd be able to pull out of the house when you sell how much would you there were some people calling for three ninety nine or something else but right now that is low in fact and I should wait for a little while people are saying get about four fifty or something else all right and how much do you owe on the current first mortgage eighty two thousand eighty thousand yes all right you know I think at this point I would keep that cash there I think you need to decide how much you want to keep liquid you know somewhere probably around six months if you'd be more comfortable you could go as much as a year's worth of expenses given that you're in retirement in a liquid account or if not in cash or in the form of a savings account perhaps in you know some treasuries or some high quality bonds that could be generate just a bit more than the high yield interest but still very very conservative and then the rest I think could be invested I think you have an opportunity here because you're looking to sell the house I don't think I'd wait I mean we've been on the upswing of a really strong housing market especially in Georgia for the last decade and to wait and think that this might go up another fifty thousand in a short period of time when you've already decided it's too much home and you're ready to move on I don't think is the best option so I'd go ahead and engage a realtor begin to figure out who is the best person to come alongside you somebody who specializes in your area that could help you put this on the market get it sold and then you could buy something smaller more manageable for cash be completely out of debt which would further reduce your income needs and then you'd be sitting on that six months to twelve months worth of cash and CDs or high yield savings probably maybe some treasuries and then the rest put to work in the market you could build a stock and bond portfolio that has a goal of maybe four to six percent let it continue to grow and that's money that you could give away or if you had a major medical expense down the road you could use that as well so I think that's the plan I would plot out from here be sure to pray about it Vashon and then proceed accordingly and thank you very much for calling we wish you the best have a great day Vasant and don't forget here's our phone number 800-525-7000 give us a call now. Most couples can't talk about money yet most money books expect them to but how can you create a budget or pay down debt if you can't even talk about spending or saving with your mate if you get tense about money or just plain avoid money conversations all together thriving in love and money by Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn is for you and it's yours free when you donate $25 or more to money wise live.org thriving in love and money for a better relationship not just a better budget for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword here's Beth Moore with a quick word believe with my heart confess with my mouth it's got to be more than in my head it has got to make it down in my heart want you to jot this down for a minute is let's think through this whole thing about confessing with our mouth because what I want to say to you is it can take place in all sorts of different ways it can take place in a public kind of religious meeting it can take place at an invitation it can take place before a baptism but it also means something that takes place when we simply profess that to people when we are openly believers in Christ and we make that confession it's that it does come out of our mouths the imperative that it does come out of our mouths and that we have that opportunity to confess it I want you to jot down true inward conviction brings outward confession it just is going to happen every time there's no way to be biblically speaking from a New Testament point of view there is no way to be saved and never tell it and no one ever know it but what the New Testament says to us over and over again is that actually when something is that much a part of your belief system and actually the core of your entire believing being there's no way to do that there's just no way to do that we can keep it that much to ourselves something's wrong something's wrong you've been listening to Beth Moore with a quick word we have two ways to experience now that faith has come a study of Galatians the online experience is now available at Beth Moore.org the workbook edition will release in January 2021 either way Beth would love to have you in Bible study. Your family and your money are two very important subjects that's why in this month's Money Wise e-magazine we're giving your family tips and tools to grow closer to God closer together and closer to true financial freedom get a practical advice to strengthen financial communication in your marriage infuse more budget-friendly family activities into your week and a lot more your free Money Wise e-magazine subscription is waiting for you at MoneyWise.org slash sign up. Good to have you aboard today it's Money Wise Live finding God's wisdom for your finances let's continue on Akron Ohio hey Warren thank you for calling today sir what's on your mind? Well I've thank you for taking my call sure I've never invested in a stock market and family and friends are telling me that this is a good time to be in the stock market or get into the stock market so I had heard about like some apps like I think one of them is called Robinhood where they take the change from a purchase and round it up and that's what they invest for you I guess it's not very much but so when I tried to figure out if that was a good thing to do some people on the internet say yeah it's great it works fine I love it and other people are like this is stupid you should only invest if you know what you're doing and this one guy gave this whole list of books and stuff to read which is probably why I've never got in the stock market because sure but I just wanted to know you know is this a good entry point for like a novice or is this like a waste of time and money yeah it absolutely yeah and I would say any point is a good entry point Warren because the key to investing is not trying to pick the the time to enter or exit the key to investing is just being systematic so you want to get the right kind of account open and if it's money that is going to be long term in nature meaning you're thinking retirement you know 20 or 30 years down the road depending on your age and you just want to put money away that you can build up over time that's great then you'd open a retirement account starting with a 401k if your job has matching and if not then I'd look at an IRA or if you're self-employed there's some other options but the key is you want to get the right kind of account open and the reason we typically think in terms of retirement is you know when we're investing we want to make sure we have at least a 10-year time horizon so that we can weather the ups and the downs of the market so you don't have to know whether this is the top or the bottom is the market going to be higher six months from now than it is today nobody knows and if they try to tell you they do they're not being truthful but it doesn't matter where it's going to be in six months because we know that if we're looking 10 years out the market at least historically speaking has always done well it's been the very best place to build wealth over time so once you decide on the type of account then you have to choose the investments and if you're just getting started using one of these online robo solutions can be a great thing you know these are fairly new but they're very low cost and the key is they're very highly diversified so if you use something like betterment or the Schwab intelligent portfolios or something like that you'd open an account could be a retirement account or a taxable account but again make sure you have the right time horizon and then you'd begin systematically investing let's say you can carve out $250 a month or you know I don't know what you're thinking but a meaningful amount and based on the questions that you answer going into it when you set it up it would automatically using the algorithms you know behind it build a portfolio using something called an exchange traded fund which is essentially a basket of investments and it's going to mirror the broad moves of the market not one particular high flying stock but the broad market in various sectors international and domestic and small cap meaning smaller companies and large cap meaning the large capitalization companies in different sectors technology and financial and healthcare and the like and you'll have a nice cross-section of the market and by systematically investing you're going to do something called dollar cost averaging which means you're buying in it different entry points some are higher some are lower and when the markets down you're buying more shares with the same amount of money but then fast forward 10 or 20 or even 30 years and if you do this faithfully you'll have a significant amount of money that you could use to supplement your social security do some other giving maybe even use as an income source so I think that's the big idea now something like acorns for somebody who's just starting out and it's that's what you're talking about when you talked about the rounding up it's called acorns it's fine you're not going to build up a lot of money there but it's a nice way to kind of back into some force savings without really missing the money but really the way you want to do investing is in a meaningful way with a long-term strategy so let's do this you mentioned a book I've got one for you it's called the sound mind investing handbook if you stay on the line we'll send one to you as our gift just what you needed Warren something else to read buddy it's on the way thanks for your call today 800-525-7000 you're listening to MoneyWise Live. Investing is more than just returns it's an expression of who you are and what you value does the way you invest your money reflect your identity as a Christian at Eventide we design investments for performance and a better world so you can invest with a confidence to reach your financial goals while remaining true to your Christian values and commitments we call this investing that makes the world rejoice more is available at invest eventide.com that's invest eventide.com Christian healthcare ministries enables believers to meet their healthcare costs affordably biblically and compassionately it's not insurance but a voluntary cost-sharing ministry based on the biblical example of Christians sharing each other's needs and members aren't fined under the law for not having health insurance Christian healthcare ministries might be your health cost solution call 800-791-6225 or visit chministries.org hi my name is Martha a communications major at the moody bible institute the moody radio verse of the week is found in ezekiel 36 26 through 27 i will give you a new heart and a new spirit i will put within you and i will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules that's ezekiel 36 26 through 27 the moody radio verse of the week every child needs these four gifts from their dad relationship integrity teaching and experience i'm drew dick host of moody publishers reading for a change podcast brian loretz just released a new book the dad difference brian illustrates the importance of a father's role in their children's life by methodically walking you through the process of putting these four gifts into practice get your copy of the dad difference available now at moody publishers dot com that's moody publishers dot com many people are experiencing financial challenges such as credit card debt downsizing dead-end jobs and depleted savings in fact more than half of all divorces are the result of financial pressures at home but there's hope in your money counts biblical financial expert howard dayton shows that the bible is a veritable blueprint for managing your finances and you'll discover the profound impact it has on your relationship with god your money counts is available when you click the store button at money wise live dot org with srn news i'm john scott at the white house earlier today president trump presided over a couple of historic diplomatic agreements between israel and two gulf arab nations the landmark agreements will formalize israel's warming relations with the united arab emirates in mohrain forecasters say hurricane sally could dump flooding rains on a path from mississippi to the carolinas this week that's after the storm makes landfall on the gulf coast the national weather service says up to eight inches could fall later this week across parts of mississippi alabama georgia and the carolinas after sally comes ashore near the mississippi alabama state line u.s industrial production slowed to a modest four tenths percent increase in august far below the strong rebounds in recent months stocks finishing higher today they now gained two points the nasdaq up 133 and the smp 500 was up one this is srn news hey if you'd like to know more about who we are and what we do you'll find it when you visit our website money wise live dot org lots of great resources there that you can avail yourself uh yourselves of there is our bookstore ways to contact a certified kingdom advisor in fact speaking of that uh rob uh we had a caller just a few minutes ago who had to hang up and they wanted to know how to become a certified kingdom advisor i think that caller was tom could you uh could you maybe review some of those points yeah and i think tom was looking for one but i'll mention both uh if you want to become a certified kingdom advisor there are significant experience requirements 10 years of experience and or one of the what we call the big c designations you have to either be a cfp or a cpa a cfa one of those there's character requirements pastor and client references statement of faith code of ethics and a 50-hour university certificate course and a proctored exam learning all these biblical principles so we'd love to invite you to explore that at kingdomadvisors.com now if you're somebody who just wants to align your values with your professional financial advice whether that's financial planning investments insurance taxes you name it you can search for a certified kingdom advisor in your city there's 1500 of them around the country and up into canada you just go to money wise live dot org and click the button that says find a cka you can put in your zip code you'll get a list in your area and i would interview at least three all right great information thanks rob uh deerfield beach florida hello ann what's your question today for rob hi thanks for taking my call um i have an rmd question um i had heard that uh we don't have to take our rmds out this year uh is that true uh it is true actually ann and i appreciate so much uh the call yeah with the cares act uh rmds for 2020 have been suspended the irs now says that anyone who took an rmd from an ira or a 401k in 2020 can repay the withdrawn funds even if the withdrawal was in january the repayment will be treated as a tax-free rollover but isn't subject to the one rollover every 12-month rule but the bottom line is you're exactly right the cares act does suspend that for this year only now i'm curious though is that for all rmds even if it's not someone who's just starting with one yes it is yep anybody whether you've been taking them for a while or not because of the covid situation they were suspended for the year 2020 okay good um i do have another quick question if i may sure okay um as far as our investments um we had ours with a investment a financial advisor and um her company changed to another company and our account was switched to a different company um not with the same advisor at this point we don't have a financial advisor but um they're acting as though it it's a law that we have to have a financial advisor in order to keep our account with the um the company that's holding our iris okay yeah i mean it may be an internal policy for them to have somebody on record with that account but the bottom line is you have complete discretion over how this money is managed whether or not you use an advisor and you most certainly can handle any investment account yourself if you choose to do that you just may need to move it to another custodian so what you would want to do and is perhaps uh look at transferring this ira to another institution that better matches how you want it handled moving forward if there's an advisor with this particular company that you can develop a rapport with and you think is a good fit then that's fine but if not i'd begin interviewing other advisors perhaps there in the deerfield beach area that would be a good fit for you and once you select one you could just simply transfer that ira from the current custodian to the custodian of this new investment professional who could then take over or you'd always have the opportunity to transfer it to a custodian on what they call the retail side where you could actually manage it yourself if that was something you so choose so i would definitely look into that and as we mentioned to tom just a moment ago i'd encourage you to consider an investment professional who shares your values and can really give you biblical advice alongside the professional council that you need and you could find more than one right there in south florida certified kingdom advisors when you go to our website moneywiselive.org just click find a cka and god bless you and thank you so much for calling let's say hi to bonnie calling from wilmette illinois and bonnie uh you're on money wise live oh hi thanks yes yes my mother uh believes she's inherited her she's a beneficiary beneficiary of a timeshare from uh her boyfriend so she lived with her boyfriend he died and i talked with her today she said she signed something and they're still sending the maintenance bills to him and she gets them through the mail because she lives in his old house and i'm just trying to help her my mom is elderly and um that's why she's not quite sure what she's saying she can't find the information and so uh my question to you is do you know of a legitimate i guess they call it exiting an unwanted timeshare i guess it's not an easy process but one that's reputable yeah well it can be difficult i think the first thing bonnie is just to make sure she does in fact need to take this over because here's the thing now we don't know what she's signed but if she hasn't signed anything the good news is no one has to inherit an unwanted timeshare you know if the timeshare is the right to use type the heirs would direct the executor to inform the resort owner that the the owner of the timeshare has passed away and they would provide the steps to take back the timeshare now in your case it sounds like the resort is already aware of the owner's passing if it has a real estate deed or there's a specific bequest in the owner's will then your mother would file a written disclaimer of interest with the probate court handling the estate the resort can't force your mother to take over the timeshare but again you'd have to understand exactly what she's already agreed to and you wouldn't want to assign anything you'd probably want to have an estate attorney look into this for you and help you navigate this but i would uh you know prefer unless she wants it that she just not even accepted but in the event she's already taken it over legally then you know there are ways to get out of it but you're right it's not easy there are some companies out there there's not any that i have vetted enough to be able to recommend to you but what i will say is there are some user groups out there for instance tug2 the timeshare users group that's t u g and the number two dot com would be a great way to explore other people who would be willing to buy it you could approach the company see if they'd be willing to take it back you can also you know put it in a local newspaper in that area and try to sell it that way but the timeshare users group would be a great next step for you but i would also engage the estate attorney who handled the probate on this particular person's estate to see if in fact your mom does have legal right to this and is required to take it over but rob unless her mom is really excited about taking possession of this the best option probably to try to not take possession absolutely do all the paperwork yeah bonnie i hope that helps you and i hope you can help your mom further with this thank you very much great question today and if you're pondering whether to get into a timeshare yourself for the first time ponder that at length speak to a few people we get more than a few people who call us on a regular basis uh asking how to get out from out from under one you're listening to money wise live your host is rob west i'm steve moore back with more after this many people adopt an attitude toward marriage and finances that it'll all work out somehow but sadly it often doesn't financial woes can devastate a marriage but there is a better way god's way money and marriage god's way by howard dayton will help you discover god's approach to growing your finances strengthening your relationship with your mate and cultivating godly joy money and marriage god's way is available when you click the store button at moneywiselive.org hi i'm barry mcguire i'm here to help you understand how urgent and how fun it is to share your faith at every opportunity through the eyes of a layman all of us have people we don't want to be with their views are different their attitude is negative they're critical of you and they're the smartest person in the room and you're supposed to love them and lead them to jesus well actually it's not that hard when you make sport out of it everyone has a soft spot and the holy spirit will help you find it ignore the rhetoric and start asking questions and showing interest in them and you'll be amazed how fast you'll start understanding the hurt that's making them hurt it's actually fun and when they bash you even more just laugh to yourself and tell god hey i need some extra help he'll give it to you god will reward you when you're bashed for him and when you finally turn that person to a friend you'll know what a miracle looks like there is nothing more exciting than knowing god is using you to move people closer to him join us at ignite america.com hi i'm john yerksen tata and not long ago my husband ken took fresh baked cookies to people up and down our street it's his way of quote hurrying god's promise the promise talked about in second peter where it says we're looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth the home of righteousness and we can help hurry on that promise of an eternal home of righteousness by showcasing that righteousness to others what it looks like when we live god's way the same way we will live in the new heaven and the new earth so let's show people what a home of righteousness is like let's pave the way for our savior by showering others with thoughtfulness good deeds and bright living let's be good of christ to our neighbors and friends how about with a plate of cookies really well hey let's do whatever we can to hurry on god's promises today i'm johnny erickson tata god bless you and thanks for listening many people adopt an attitude toward marriage and finances that it'll all work out somehow but sadly it often doesn't financial woes can devastate a marriage but there is a better way god's way money and marriage god's way by howard dayton will help you discover god's approach to growing your finances strengthening your relationship with your mate and cultivating godly joy money and marriage god's way is available when you click the store button at moneywiselive.org from the book of luke luke 16 verse 12 and if you have not been faithful in that which is in others who will give you that which is your own let's go to our phone lines lakeland florida jose we appreciate your patience my friend what's your question uh yes i'm just trying to get more of a biblical uh principle on on tithing uh reason being is i i still tied i've been tithing um for the past two years but um i came across um a netflix um a netflix um show and it it kind of highlighted um churches that um that use uh basically the prosperity gospel and that's why i left my church and it kind of tarnished and left a bad um a bad impression on me on tithing and i'm kind of borderline on fence on the fence of giving up tithing and i really want to get a solid i've been praying about it and i just haven't got complete clarity on should i be tithing and is is it something that's good and pleasing to god yeah yeah well i i appreciate so much this question and i think uh first of all with regard to the prosperity gospel i would agree with you it is not biblical in the way most people talk about and explain the prosperity gospel in fact we just did a program on this recently i'd love for you to go to our website moneywiselive.org and just search for uh prosperity gospel and you can read or excuse me listen to the program that we did where we went into this in depth uh and talked about um you know how it's it's not uh in alignment with uh with scripture uh but i think that's completely different from and separate from this idea that we should as god's people be generous you remember the tithe preceded the law with abraham and malchizedek we see clear example of giving to the lord remember uh it's all his the cattle on a thousand hills it's all the lord so one of the big ideas as believers we need to recognize right out of the gate is that god owns it all and we're the steward or the manager of god's resources and we see that god himself is incredibly generous in fact we're created in his image and we're most like him i believe when we're giving because he's the ultimate giver he gave us his son who paid the penalty for our sin to reconcile us through his substitutionary death on the cross so that we can have a relationship and be restored into a right standing with the father so that's an incredible act of generosity so when we take the father's money to manage it we should be generous ourselves now what should that look like how should we be generous well we see clearly we should live with contentment we should live within god's provision and we should not consume all that we have remember proverb says there's precious oil in the house of the five wise the foolish man swallows it up and i think as we join god in giving that then calibrates our hearts to his heart so how should we give well we see plenty of examples of that we see the principle of the tithe clearly in the old testament referenced in the new testament by jesus himself where we give a tenth which is what the word means to the storehouse so i would say we start our giving with the local church that was clearly god's plan a and we see that kind of giving funding the work of the church in the early church in acts i think very plainly so we give not because we're checking a box not because we're old under the the law of moses uh not because we're being legalistic but because we give out of an expression of obedience and an act of worship and we give as god has prospered us and we start with the local church but then that's a beginning point not an ending point uh the author randy alcorn says our ties should be the training wheels of giving because then we start to give sacrificially beyond that in my experience is when we experience the joy of giving you're going to naturally want to reorder your finances so you can do even more now you need to be giving to a bible believing church where god has planted you that's teaching the scriptures of course um and and so we give um you know to the lord but we give um the tithe as the the way to fund the church now there are some people that say well we're not under the law anymore why are we still tithing and clearly i think we should see in in the new testament where jesus in a sense up the standard that we're to give proportionately we're to give sacrificially and systematically um so i think for each of us um jose we need to uh come before the lord and say lord what would you have me to do and establish an amount that we want to give but i would say that amount should be increasing over time as we grow in our maturity and walk with the lord but i've thrown a lot at you there and i'm not uh i'm not trying to tell you exactly what to do because i think at the end of the day it needs to be a conviction on your part but what i would absolutely say is that as we look at the council of scripture we should be generous we should be systematic in that we should give proportionate to how god has blessed us and i think the starting point for all of us should be our local church but you give me your thoughts what do you think no just by just by hearing that i'm already redirected and i definitely feel humbled because i i was i was i was stepping back like i said but that that that definitely has has humbled me and i appreciate that yeah well i'm i hope it has and not that you i hope it's humbled you but i hope it's helped you appreciate god's heart in this area here's what i'd like to do jose stay on the line i want to send you a copy of howard daton's book your money counts where he really unpacks god's heart and these principles related to his money and how we should manage it including the area of giving and hopefully that'll be a blessing to you as well so stay on the line we'll get your information we appreciate your call today yeah god bless jose thank you very much and remember we don't give to get we give because we already got we got god's mercy and god's grace and it's our way of saying thank you to him again thank you for your call today uh miami florida hello mark uh we have a little bit of time let's let's dig into this okay all right thank you for um answering my call so i'm making real quick i'm basically i'm living in a two-bedroom apartment i'm paying 13.50 and now i have like um i'm getting my fifth child i'm running out of space so my question is should i um i was thinking about getting a house should i get um just go ahead and try to get a house instead of paying a higher higher rent and getting a bigger place to rent or just buy a house well congratulations on that growing family bud that's great god is blessing you uh but i think it's always got to come back to the plan right we've got to look at the spending plan we've got to look at your finances and say what is the right move for you so you don't put yourself in a position where you have unnecessary pressure on you for obligations and mortgages and and things that you actually can't afford so yes we want to make sure there's enough room for those sweet kids but we want to do it in a way that's wise that doesn't create problems down the road and so here's here's the way we approach that number one you need a spending plan or a budget if you don't have a budget i'd encourage you to download the money wise app if you just go to your app store whichever you use google or apple you can download the money wise app absolutely free and begin to put in your budget because i want you to track everything you're spending what's coming in what's going out fixed expenses what i call discretionary expenses things you don't get a bill for even the non-recurring expenses things that come around once a quarter once a year i want you to get everything in there so you know where your money's going and then it's a matter of saying okay what can i afford well as a rule of thumb and that's all it is i would encourage you not to allocate more than 25 of your take-home pay to a mortgage payment that is principal interest taxes and insurance 25 and so that's going to give you a number that says okay i can afford this payment now you got to put that in line with everything else but if you keep it at 25 if there's not anything else that's just really out of line it should work and then once you feel like you've got a good handle on your budget you know what the mortgage payment is then you know how much you could take on the next step is to make sure you save enough down payment if you decide you're going to spend two hundred thousand dollars for round numbers i'd love for you to have twenty percent down that means you got to save up forty thousand dollars and that's a lot of money and that's going to take some time but that really should be your goal because that's going to keep you out of private mortgage insurance and it's going to make sure you never get upside down where the house declines in value and you can't sell it because you don't have enough equity so if you save twenty percent and you you know you don't spend more than twenty five percent of your take-home pay on the mortgage payment i think that's your goal and hopefully all that really works in such a way that you say okay i'm ready and then i'd find a realtor somebody who can help you look for the neighborhood that fits kind of how much you have to spend and then i'd proceed from there but it's all got to start with that budget mark hope that helps you we're glad you called today wish you the very best uh pier south dakota bruce a little bit of time left here let's jam it in okay we'll make it work all right i i'm 67 and i had a question about uh converting the traditional ira into a ross at 67 i've got a couple things i'm looking at here i've got from my federal employment i have a thrift uh funds in a federal thrift uh savings yes i have two traditional i have two traditional iras and so i know there's that you there's a pay for doing the the conversion if you will and i just wanted to know your thoughts on doing the cost effectiveness on on to minimize the tax consequences at 72 yeah well um you know i think the key is the roth really shines where you've got a long period of time uh to take and uh let this money grow on a tax-free basis because you pull it out tax-free as you know right and so obviously you're in a i would guess a lower tax bracket right now than your peak earning years and so that works to your benefit but i guess i'm really asking what are you gaining um and is there enough benefit of going ahead and realizing all that tax right now or over a couple of years um you know obviously that would help you avoid the rmd moving forward but i just don't think there's enough benefit at 72 to pay all this tax now i'd probably just stick with what you have and um and use probably a qualified charitable distribution to get some of that money out in the form of giving and saving taxes that way and bruce we're going to have to let it lie right there because we are out of time which is why you hear music coming up there in the background but we wish you the very best if that doesn't do it for you call back another time and we'll kick it around a bit more thank you very much and thank you for listening today money wise live is a partnership between moody radio and money wise media and you're a big part of that my thanks to amy dan clara and jim for their technical assistance and expertise have a great night join us again tomorrow