Taxes and Mental Health

Taxes & Mental Health: The Emotional Side of Personal Finance

When it comes to mental health, we often think that family, work, or other personal relationships cause the main problems. But another conversation we should be having is how economic standing and finances can also put a toll on mental health. In fact, more than half of Americans have admitted that financial issues regularly stress them out, even surpassing job-related tension. That said, lack of money isn’t just a physical burden, but an emotional one too.

Looming Deadlines

If you’re handling all if your personal finances—including taxes, rent, and other utility costs—you can already imagine the amount of work you need to do whenever you’re preparing to pay for expenses. For the average person, there are a lot of deadlines to stay on top of, like credit cards cut-offs every month to taxes every quarter. It’s important to keep track because … Read More

Private Mortgage Insurance

How long will I have to pay for private mortgage insurance?

It depends. There are generally two ways that private mortgage insurance (PMI) can be removed from your mortgage loan. The first is if you request PMI cancellation directly from your lender. The second is through termination by your lender.

You can request PMI cancellation directly from your lender once you have reached the date when the principal balance of your mortgage is scheduled to fall to 80% of the original value of your home. You can find this date on the PMI disclosure form that was given to you when you first obtained your mortgage. The cancellation request can be made earlier if you have made additional mortgage payments that have reduced your principal balance to 80% at an earlier date. Your lender may also require you to meet certain other criteria in order to cancel your PMI, such as Read More