The best thing you can do for your credit is to keep it open, put a small recurring charge on it like Netflix, and set it to auto pay the balance in full every month. You’ll never pay interest and demonstrate responsible credit use.

Just check it monthly to ensure everything is working as intended. Good finances can be largely automated but should never be forgotten or ignored lest you discover a surprise too late

Most people have an escrow account with their mortgage. That escrow account adds to the monthly mortgage payment but then provides funds to pay property taxes & homeowners insurance. The cost of taxes and insurance might vary from year to year, so an annual analysis of the escrow account is done, snd may result in an overage or a shortage. This is typically regulated by state law. When people experience a change in their mortgage payment, it’s usually* because they had an escrow shortfall

*I say usually because it’s also possible to have an ARM mortgage and the interest rate changes based on the terms when the mortgage started

When you put down less than 20%, you pay Private Mortgage Insurance monthly, either for the life of the loan or until you hit an 80/20 ratio on the house value.

Many people try hard to avoid PMI. It is “wasted” money in some sense, but it’s not always a bad choice. PMI cost is impacted heavily by credit score. Mine is $49/month and falls off after like 19 months. It was a very small price to pay to buy sooner & keep more money invested.

Sometimes, PMI could add several hundred dollars a month for years, that changes the calculation.

These questions are generally just math and it’s just a matter of entering numbers to decide what’s financially best at a given time for a specific person & location

Yeah, I use the much older, not supported anymore YNAB 4 for free. There are a few similar free options, or a spreadsheet. It’s essentially just an electronic version of zero based envelope budgeting

It is helpful for getting out of debt and that’s where a lot of marketing potential lies, so they do focus their efforts there. But we havent had non-mortgage debt in over 10 years, I find it an invaluable tool for allocating our money. It helps me ensure my vacations never threaten our ability to pay property taxes. And makes the trade offs clear when we decide to move money from one category to another. It told me o could afford a monthly Lego budget 😂

Why wasn’t it covered? What reason did they provide?

This. When a friend wrecked my car, my insurance paid because I insured the car. It wasnt relevant to my insurance company that my sober friend was driving my drunk ass home

This is what my budget is for, I use r/YNAB though a spreadsheet would also work. Then I make spending decisions based on the category amounts, not my bank balance

It lets me protect money from myself for all kinds of future needs without actually hiding it in accounts or buckets

I have no idea if the rates are higher, mine are all set to autopay the statement balance.

One of the simple cash back cards like Citi or Fidelity may meet some of your needs. I pay an annual fee for my AmEx because it’s worth it to us for the perks

I love my American Express

But fwiw, the interest rates are completely irrelevant to me. Rewards are completely negated by carrying any balance & paying interest