Green card holders and other non-citizens: what to do when you receive a jury summons - Law Offices of Atty Michael Gurfinkel - Immigration Law, Non Immigrant Visas, Family Based Petitions, Immigratio

Green card holders and other non-citizens: what to do when you receive a jury summons - Law Offices of Atty Michael Gurfinkel - Immigration Law, Non Immigrant Visas, Family Based Petitions, Immigratio

County Courthouses (or the County Office of Jury Commissioner) typically select potential jurors from voter registration lists or DMV records.  Since you have not registered to vote (and cannot vote since you are not a US Citizen, and this includes green card holders), it is likely that your name was selected from DMV records.  Therefore, as long as a person has driver's license, his name will be listed on DMV records, and his name could come up for jury selection.

In order to be eligible to serve as a juror, a person must be at least 18 years of age or older, and a US citizen.  Non-citizens (including green card holders, non-immigrants, and TNTs) would therefore not be eligible to serve as a juror.

Typically, the jury summons has a number of questions about a person's eligibility to serve as a juror.  One of the questions is, "Are you a US citizen?"  Obviously, you would have to answer that question as "No."  Once the Jury Commissioner's office sees that response, they typically would not pursue the matter further.

Some of the questionnaires also ask that if the person is not a US citizen, that the person provide his "alien number."  If the person is a non-immigrant or is in illegal status, that person may not have an alien number.  So, you should probably write "not applicable" or "none."

Read full article from Green card holders and other non-citizens: what to do when you receive a jury summons - Law Offices of Atty Michael Gurfinkel - Immigration Law, Non Immigrant Visas, Family Based Petitions, Immigratio

Topic No. 307 Backup Withholding | Internal Revenue Service

Topic No. 307 Backup Withholding | Internal Revenue Service

You may be subject to backup withholding and the payer must withhold at a flat 24% rate when:

• You don't give the payer your TIN in the required manner.
• The IRS notifies the payer that the TIN you gave is incorrect.
• The IRS notifies the payer to start withholding on interest or dividends because you have underreported interest or dividends on your income tax return. The IRS will do this only after it has mailed you four notices over at least a 120-day period.
• You fail to certify that you're not subject to backup withholding for underreporting of interest and dividends.

Read full article from Topic No. 307 Backup Withholding | Internal Revenue Service

Capital Loss Carryovers Can Cut Your Tax Bill for Years

Capital Loss Carryovers Can Cut Your Tax Bill for Years

That means that if you bought a stock last November or December that has lost a lot of money, you should strongly consider selling it now rather than later, before your losses get treated as long-term. Coal stocks are a prime example, with Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR), Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU), and CONSOL Energy (NYSE: CNX) all having posted losses of 25% to 75% since late 2011 due to weak coal demand stemming from low natural gas prices and slowing economic growth in coal-hungry markets like China. Solar stocks have been under similar pressure, with First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) and SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) among the many companies in the industry that have seen major share declines due to big losses and a glut of products.

Read full article from Capital Loss Carryovers Can Cut Your Tax Bill for Years

我对HSA颇有研究，来解释一下。

我对HSA颇有研究，来解释一下。

第一，HSA肯定是不交所得税。但是SS和medicare的税，要根据plan的设置。有些plan
要交，有些plan不要交。如果HSA是Section 125 "cafeteria" plan,就不要交SS和
medicare。你可以直接问HR，HR知道这个什么意思。一般来说，公司有match的plan，
大多是Section 125 "cafeteria" plan。
第二，取钱不要交SS和medicare的税。因为IRS对HSA当初交没交过SS税，没有记录，所
以一律不交。根据取钱的用途，不交所得税，或者交所得税。根据年龄，可能还要罚税。
第三，HSA和FSA完全不同的是。HSA不需要当年花掉，而且是自己管理，自己给自己报

Read full article from 我对HSA颇有研究，来解释一下。

Credit Score

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-good-credit-utilization-ratio-960548

Your credit utilization - which is the amount of your credit card balance compared to the credit limit - plays a major role in your credit score. Making up 30% of your credit score, credit utilization the second biggest factor that influences your credit score, next to payment history.

Having a good credit utilization is important if you want to build and maintain a good credit score. As your credit utilization increases, your credit score can go down.

A high credit utilization indicates that you're likely spending a lot of your monthly income on debt payments which puts you at a higher risk of defaulting on your payments.

A high credit utilization could lead to your credit card and loan applications being denied. If you are approved, you may have to pay higher interest rates or make a larger down payment than if you had a good credit utilization.

Generally, a good credit utilization ratio less than 30%. That means you're using less than 30% of the total credit available to you. To achieve 30% credit utilization, you should keep your balances below 30% of the credit limit. Anything above 30% can cause your credit score to drop.

First, you can reduce your credit card balances. Pay as much as you can toward your credit card to reduce your credit utilization quickly. Keep in mind that your credit card issuer may not report your balance until the end of your billing cycle, so leave your balance low until then to ensure is shows up on your credit report.

Another way to lower your credit utilization is to have your credit card issuer increase your credit limit, which may not be easy, depending on your income, credit history, and time since your last credit limit increase.

http://blog.credit.com/2013/04/how-will-opening-a-new-account-affect-my-credit-65528/

First, opening a new account will likely produce a credit inquiry on your credit reports. This new inquiry may have no effect at all, or may make your scores go down slightly, depending on the type of inquiry and the number of inquiries already present on your report. Applying for credit excessively (like applying for many credit cards at once during the holiday shopping season) can almost always be expected to have a negative impact on your credit scores, as more inquiries tend to indicate higher credit risk.

Also, adding an additional credit line to your credit history can help your scores by lowering your overall revolving credit utilization (total balances/total limits ratio), an important factor in your credit scores. This can occur when the newly added account increases your total credit availability (credit limits), more than it increases your total credit card balances — and thereby reduces this overall ratio. Conversely, if a new credit card carries a high balance, such as when transferring an existing balance to it, this can actually increase your overall revolving credit utilization — and lower your credit scores.

On the other hand, installment credit (mortgage, student, auto) utilization doesn’t have nearly the impact — good or bad — that revolving credit utilization has on scores, since this type of utilization is not nearly as significant a risk indicator. And as a result, there’s no need to worry about the impact of a new installment loan balance on credit scores in the same way you should be concerned about new credit card balances.

https://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/new-credit.aspx

Recent Credit History

See a record of Opened Accounts and Hard Inquiries on your credit report over the last 2 years. A consumer that opens a number of credit accounts in a narrow timeframe may be interpreted as experiencing cash flow problems, particularly if utilization of his or her previously existing available credit is very high. In addition, a large number of credit inquiries in a short timeframe may also lower a score. However, multiple inquires for a mortgage or auto loan will be counted as only one inquiry each, enabling consumers to shop for favorable rates without fear of lowering their score. 

Current Balances

Current Balances are your outstanding balances due to creditors. Similar to the utilization issue, credit balances current and past provide insight into issues of financial liquidity and prudent borrowing. Historically maintaining high balances on key credit accounts will likely have a negative impact on a score. 

Depth of Credit

Depth of Credit is the length of time you've had credit. Having a strong, long history of prudent credit use is ideal under any credit scoring model. But as important as it is to have long-term credit relationships, a diverse mix of credit accounts is also beneficial. 

Utilization

Utilization is the percentage of available credit that you've used. Having access to credit is one consideration, and how much of that has been tapped into is another. An individual who has "maxed out" his or her credit cards and/or other lines-of-credit may not be able to obtain any additional credit or credit at the best possible terms. The lack of liquidity may deem these consumers high-risk in the eyes of lenders. 

Available Credit

Available Credit is the unused funds you have readily available. Maintaining low balances on credit cards and open lines-of-credit will be a positive factor in generating a score. The typical benchmark is to keep these balances at or below 30% of the total available credit.

Correcting inaccuracies

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers are protected if there is inaccurate information on their credit reports. If you find inaccurate information on your credit reports, you can contact the associated creditor or lender directly. You can also dispute the inaccuracy with the credit reporting companies.

Negative Records

Late payments create a negative record. Generally, negative records will stay on your report for up to 7 years (up to 10 years for certain bankruptcy information). Positive records can remain on your credit report longer.

retirement

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/applying2.html
https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/retirechart.html

Here's how it works if your full retirement age is 67.

• If you start your retirement benefits at age 62, your monthly benefit amount is reduced by about 30 percent. The reduction for starting benefits at age
• 63 is about 25 percent;
• 64 is about 20 percent;
• 65 is about 13.3 percent; and
• 66 is about 6.7 percent.

The earliest you can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits will remain age 62. 

Credit Card

https://www.travelwithless.net/single-post/2016/06/03/%E6%9A%91%E5%81%87%E5%9B%9E%E5%9B%BD%E5%93%AA%E5%AE%B6%E7%BE%8E%E5%9B%BD%E4%BF%A1%E7%94%A8%E5%8D%A1%E5%BC%BA%EF%BC%9F

2. Dynamical Currency Conversion

中文翻译是动态货币转换，简称DCC。DCC是一种服务，仅Visa/MasterCard提供，American Express和Discover并没有。这个服务简单来说，就是将消费的当地货币实时转成美金进行扣除。乍一听好像是个很不错的服务，但其实是Visa/MasterCard的赚钱手段，因为这个实时转换汇率通常会比银行的要高不少，一般在3-4%。

 

如何判断被DCC了？刷卡之后的收据上会有这么两个信息：1) 美金结算的价格；2) 类似I declare that I have been offered a choice of payment currencies and my choice is final. I understand that the currency conversion is not provided by VISA这样的话。

 

如何避免被DCC？理论上来说，商家刷卡的时候是应该问你要按什么货币结算的。这个时候一定要说按当地货币（也就是人民币）结算！如果没有被问的话，八成就是直接被DCC了。

 

如果被DCC了怎么办？请记得拒绝签字，要求收银员取消交易，重新刷卡。有的收银员可能业务不熟练，你可以帮帮她。具体的trick就是在输入完消费金额，按确认键之后要立刻再按cancel键，这样就会弹出选择框，是问要人民币还是美金结算了。退一万步说，如果真的当场被DCC了也没有办法取消重刷什么的，保留收据，回来找银行客服撕逼...（以后会分享撕逼的一些技巧..）

3. 出国旅行的时候不要忘记通知银行，设置一个travel notice。异常的消费（比如不熟悉的地区）很容易引发fraud alert，银行直接decline消费，造成不必要的麻烦。

if your card doesn't charge international transaction fees, always pay in the local currency

https://www.creditcardinsider.com/learn/change-credit-card-due-date/
How To Change Your Credit Card Due Date
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/paypal-cashback-mastercard-offers-2-percent-cash-back-on-all-purchases.php

PayPal Cashback Mastercard	2% cash back on all purchases	• Unlimited 2% back on general purchases • No annual fee	• No opportunity to earn bonus rewards • Cash back must be redeemed through your PayPal account • No sign-up bonus
Citi Double Cash	2% cash back on all purchases	• Unlimited 2% back on general purchases • No annual fee	• No opportunity to earn bonus rewards • No sign-up bonus • You must pay your bill on time to earn the full 2% cash back rate

https://milecards.com/1588420932/how-to-move-chase-freedom-points-to-your-chase-sapphire-or-spouse-account/

You can’t do that with a Chase Freedom card alone. But if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve card you’re eligible to do that by transferring your Freedom points into your other card’s Ultimate Rewards account.

As you can see, the PayPal Cashback Mastercard and the Citi Double Cash card earn the highest rate of cash back among these cards. Between the two cards, the Citi Double Cash appears to be the less restrictive option, since you don’t have to have a bank account with Citi to redeem your cash rewards. However – not that we recommend getting a rewards card if you don’t intend to make your payments – keep in mind that you are required to pay your bill on time to earn the full 2 percent cash back with the Citi Double Cash card.

In the short term, a card with a sign-up bonus may be more rewarding. For instance, the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa offers benefits such as a $200 sign-up bonus, 1.8% cash back on Android Pay or Apple Pay purchases for 12 months and up to $600 in cell phone protection. You could easily earn more cash back with the Wells Fargo than the PayPal card in the first year. Additionally, if you plan to carry a balance on your card or transfer a balance from a different card, the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa is your best bet, since you won’t pay interest on purchases or balance transfers for the first 12 months.

https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/sapphire/DualA
3X POINTS ON TRAVEL and dining worldwide —dash 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/sapphire/reserve

after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening* — that's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

$450 annual fee

• Automatically receive up to $300 in statement credits as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year*

• Get 50% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 50,000 points are worth $750 toward travel*
• No blackout dates or travel restrictions — as long as there’s a seat on the flight, you can book it through Chase Ultimate Rewards

• Special benefits during your stay with The Luxury Hotel & Resort CollectionSM*
• Pay no foreign transaction fees

we calculate your interest charges each month using 
the following formula:

1. Divide your interest rate by 365 (days in the year).
2. Multiply this number by the number of days in your 
billing period.
3. Multiply this number by the balance subject to the 
interest rate.
4. Divide this number by 100.

For your reference following is the calculation of the 
interest charged to you :- 
1) Your interest Rate = 15.49 / 365 = 0.0424.
2) Days in your billing period = 30 days *0.0424 = 1.273.
3) Multiply this number by the balance subject to the 
interest rate. -- 1.273 * 17735.03 = 22579.36.
4) Divided this number by 100 ---22579.36. / 100 = 225.79

To calculate the interest on your balance, we start with 
any balance carried over from the previous day and add new
charges or fees then subtract new payments or credits. 
This gives us the daily balance for one day.
Next, we add together the daily balances for all days in 
the billing period and divide this total by the number of 
days in the period. This gives us the interest on the 

balance for the billing period.



You can avoid interest charges by paying the full 
statement balance by the due date. Even if you pay your 
current statement balance in full, you'll be charged 
interest from the date the last statement closed until the

payment for the full balance on the account was received.

Information in regards to your interest free period can be
found in your card member agreement, that came with your
card.

Under "INTEREST RATES AND INTEREST CHARGES" -

How to Avoid Paying Interest on Purchases

Your due date will be a minimum of 21 days after the close
of each billing cycle. We will not charge you interest on
purchases if you pay your entire balance by the due date
each month. We will begin charging interest on balance
transfers and cash advances on the transaction date.