I recently got a shock when my MasterCard bill arrived with both a $35 late fee and a $25 interest charge. I knew the payment had been mailed in plenty of time.
When I complained, the customer service representative on the other end of the line got defensive and insisted that payments are posted right away. But when I asked to have the two charges removed from the bill, she agreed without hesitation. Credits for both items appeared on the next statement.
I share this story to encourage you to do what I do: Call and complain whenever you think fees or interest charges have been incorrectly applied to your account. If problems continue, stop using the credit card.
Once I foolishly opened a second Visa account at a bank so I could get a new credit card with a University of Florida Gator logo on it (yes, I do have my weaknesses). The bank proceeded to post all the charges to my new account and all the payments to the old one, even though I had asked for the old account to be closed. The result was late fees and interest charges on the new account and a credit balance on the old one. For several months I called monthly to straighten things out. Eventually I got tired of the problem recurring and stopped using my coveted card.
I recommend reviewing your credit card statements as soon as they arrive. Fees may be levied for a variety of offenses from exceeding your credit limit to bouncing a check. If you are categorized as someone who pays late, your punishment may include a sharp hike in the interest rate on your card in addition to late fees. If you call to protest, make a note of the date and time and the person you spoke with.
Sometimes calling to report a problem may not be enough. Consumer advocates say you should always put it in writing when you want to dispute a merchant charge on your credit card bill. Send your letter to the address specified on your statement, which is usually different from the address for sending payments, then keep a copy for yourself as proof.
Q. When my dad died, he left his home to me with a life interest to his widow. She sold her interest to me last year and then I sold the house. How do I figure the taxes? According to the IRS, the tax basis of inherited property is the value at the date of death. How can I determine what the value of the house was more than four years ago? Since the house was not mine to sell until my dad's widow relinquished her life interest, shouldn't the cost basis be the value at the time I bought the life interest? Does the amount I paid for the life interest fit in somewhere?
The tax basis for inherited property is the value at the date of death. In your case, the original basis was the market value when your father died minus the market value of your stepmother's life interest. What you paid for that interest then would be added to your basis.
It is up to you to come up with a good faith estimate of the market value to use as your basis. St. Petersburg accountant Celia Hall says you might hire an appraiser to make an estimate for you, particularly if the house sold for a hefty price - say $300,000 or more.
Or you could do your own research, perhaps consulting with the county property appraiser's office and with a real estate agent. Some of the information to collect would be the property appraiser's assessment of the property's value, sales prices for comparable houses and how much property in the area has appreciated since your father's death.
One option would be to work backward from the sale price, subtracting the estimated appreciation since your father's death. Hall suggests attaching something to your return explaining the method you used to estimate the property's value.
Note to readers: Fake e-mails purporting to be from legitimate companies and government agencies increasingly are landing in consumers' e-mail inboxes. Some of the latest appear to be from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The scam e-mails ask you to click on a link that takes you to a Web site asking you to "verify" your account by entering personal information such as your bank account number, Social Security number, credit card number or password. If you get an e-mail like this, assume that it's a scam and delete it.
- Helen Huntley writes about investing and markets for the Times. If you have a question about investments or personal finance, send it to On Money. We'll try to answer those we think are of greatest reader interest. All questions must be submitted in writing, but readers' names will not be published. Send questions to Helen Huntley, Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731 or huntley@sptimes.com
