kyle Winkfield - Media Wisebread 10.20.15

1. PRIORITIZE THESE 5 BILLS WHEN YOU’RE SHORT ON CASH Winkfi eld, Rosem an and Shipp in Rockville, Maryland, says it’s easy for your fi nances to spiral out of control when you m iss a m ortgage paym ent. are renting. Always m ake the paym ents that keep that roof over your head.” Of course, you don’t ever want to be in the position where you can’t pay all of your m onthly bills. Yes, paying your ca- ble bill late one m onth isn’t going to destroy your fi nances. But if you’re juggling paym ents every m onth, that’s a sign that there is a problem . It’s also a sign that you need to take a closer look at your budget to determ ine if you there are expenses you can elim inate. “Say you m iss your $2,000 m ortgage paym ent one m onth. Now you have to com e up with $4,000 the next m onth to catch up,” Winkfi eld said. “That’s not easy.” 2. Student and Auto Loans You should never m iss your student or auto loan paym ents either, Hardin said. That’s because these are fi xed pay- m ents that you know are com ing up each m onth. Missing fi xed paym ents is a big deal because lenders are m ore like- ly to believe that you didn’t send in your paym ent not be- cause you forgot about it, but because you couldn’t pay it. “Som etim es we get too wrapped up in our wants instead of our needs,” Winkfi eld said. “If things are tight — and we’ve all been there — then you m ight need to elim inate som e of the wants from your budget.” By: Dan Rafter - October 20, 2015 You know you should pay all of your bills on tim e. But what if you’re short on cash this m onth? Is it better to pay certain bills late? And if you are struggling to pay certain bills? Don’t hide. Hardin says that the best m ove you can m ake is to call the creditors behind the bills and explain to them that you are struggling. Many will work with you to fi nd at least a tem - porary solution. If you call, creditors are less likely to report you as late to the credit bureaus. Your car paym ent is an especially im portant bill, because your loan is secured by your actual car. This m eans that lenders have som ething to go after should you stop m aking your paym ents. Yes, actually. Som e bills are not reported to the three na- tional credit bureaus of TransUnion, Experian, and Equi- fax. Bills in this category include utility bills, cell phone paym ents, m edical paym ents, and cable bills. This doesn’t m ean that you should pay these bills late. But if you have to do som e em ergency fi nancial juggling this m onth? Pay your cable late, not your m ortgage or credit card paym ent. “Be vigilant about m aking your car paym ents,” said Scott Sadar, executive vice president of Som erset Wealth Strat- egies in Portland, Oregon. “If you are not, your car could be repossessed.” “If you don’t call, the lenders have no choice but to think that you aren’t paying just because you don’t want to pay,” Hardin said. “You should not be em barrassed to call your creditors. You’d be surprised at how easy creditors m ake these conversations. They don’t want to lose you as a custom er, so they usually are willing to work with you.” Again, these paym ents aren’t offi cially late until 30 days have passed. Here are fi ve bills you should always pay on tim e, each m onth. Not doing so could dam age your credit, leave you with huge fi nancial penalties, or even cause you to lose your hom e or car. 3. Credit Card Payments Missing your credit card paym ent could leave you with a double wham m y of pain. First, credit card com panies will report your m issed paym ents to the credit bureaus if you are 30 days late or m ore, causing your credit score to fall. 1. Your Mortgage Dave Hardin, president of Hardin Financial Group in Troy, Michigan, says that no late or m issing check will hurt your credit score m ore than a m issed m ortgage. A single late m ortgage paym ent can cause your credit score to fall by 100 points. Secondly, if you pay late by 60 days or m ore (in som e cas- es less), your credit card com pany can assess a penalty interest rate on your card. This can be fi nancially devastat- ing if you carry a balance on your credit cards each m onth. Sadar says that these rates can hit 22% or higher, which can cause existing balances to grow quickly, even if you don’t m ake any new paym ents with your card. “If you pay that late, that will have the single greatest effect on your credit score,” Hardin said. “Your m ortgage is the big one.” If you m iss too m any paym ents, your m ortgage lender will foreclose on your hom e, evicting you and taking ownership of your property. 4. Your Rent It wasn’t until last year that Experian and TransUnion be- gan collecting data for on-tim e rent paym ents. The third m ajor national credit bureau, Equifax, still doesn’t do this. But even if the credit bureaus weren’t tracking your rent paym ents, you’d still want to m ake this paym ent on tim e every m onth. Sim ply put, you don’t want to lose your hom e, and m issing too m any rent paym ents could lead to that. Kyle Winkfi eld, m anaging partner at O’Dell, Winkfi eld, Rosem an & Shipp, has m ore than 15 years of experience growing clients’ wealth through cutting edge fi nancial strategies. Kyle specifi cally focuses on reducing or elim inating future incom e tax liabilities and preservation of wealth while increasing lifestyle security. But don’t panic if you’re two days late on paying your m ort- gage. As Hardin says, your m ortgage lender won’t report your paym ent as offi cially late until it is at least 30 days past the deadline. This gives you som e leeway if you are strug- gling to scrape together enough cash to pay your m ortgage this m onth. It’s not easy for landlords to evict tenants, and it will take m ore than one or two late paym ents. But if you fall too far behind, your landlord will start the eviction process, possi- bly leaving you without a place to live. “That doesn’t m ean you should wait that long to pay your m ortgage,” Hardin said. “But late offi cially m eans 30 days late, not two days.” To contact Kyle, please call 877-821-OWRS (6977) or visit www.owrsfi rm .com . Paying your m ortgage bill late can also set you up for future fi nancial pain. Kyle Winkfi eld, m anaging partner of O’Dell, “You always want to protect the roof over your head,” Wink- fi eld said. “That holds true whether you own a hom e or you