James Bronzz

There are three types of 1040 forms: 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ. If mortgage interest is your only deduction, the right version of IRS form 1040 to use largely depends on how much interest you have to deduct. If it’s more than the standard deduction for your filing status, or you make over $100,000 per year, you will need to use form 1040. The standard deduction for 2018 is $12,000 for individuals, $18,000 for taxpayers filing as the head of a household, and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly.

If your deductible mortgage interest is less than your standard deduction, the decision between forms 1040EZ and 1040A comes down to whether you want to claim any credits for retirement savings, education, or child and dependent care. If you do, 1040A is the way to go. If not, you can opt for the simplicity of 1040EZ.

Here’s when each 1040 form is typically filed:

• Form 1040EZ is the easiest to fill out, as you can imagine. But you can’t use it if you make more than $100,000 per year, claim dependents or itemize deductions.
• Form 1040A is a bit more involved but also more flexible. It too applies to people who make $100,000 or less per year and don’t plan to itemize deductions for charitable donations or mortgage interest. Unlike 1040EZ, form 1040A allows you to claim credits for children, other dependents, education expenses and retirement-fund contributions.
• Form 1040 is the form you use if you don’t qualify for 1040EZ or 1040A. It’s the only one of the three that allows you to fully itemize deductions, including the deduction for mortgage interest.

So to recap, the standard 1040 form is typically filed when a taxpayer only has a mortgage interest deduction that’s greater than the standard deduction. Form 1040A is used when the standard deduction exceeds your deductible mortgage interest but you want to claim dependents or certain other credits. And form 1040 EZ is used to take only the standard deduction.

Just bear in mind that the mortgage interest deduction rules have changed. You can now only deduct interest on up to $750,000 in mortgage debt, instead of $1 million as in the past. That shouldn’t affect most people, though.

You can't go over the Best Buy credit card limit. Best thing to do is tell the cashier you're gonna pay for some of your purchases in cash first. Or, if you're paying in person, try to split up the amounts on different credit cards.

If you're paying online, you might have to put this on a different card entirely.

You won’t be able to earn a sign-up bonus on a Chase Freedom card if you have opened another Chase Freedom card or if you earned a sign-up bonus on that card in the last 24 months. No other conditions you must meet to get the sign-up bonus.

You can use your OpenSky Visa card to get a cash advance at any ATM that accepts Visa, which is pretty much any ATM in the world.

However, cash advances are extremely expensive, as you will be charged a cash advance fee of 5% (min. $6) and interest that starts piling up immediately at a variable rate of 19.14%, so you may want to look into alternatives.

Capital One QuicksilverOne is a Mastercard, so it's accepted pretty much everywhere in the world.

The APR is high at 24.99%, but that's kind of normal for credit cards designed for rebuilding credit. Other than that, I like this card. I find the Credit Education section they offer quite useful.

I also like the 0% for 9 months on purchases and balance transfers. It's rare to see 0% offers on cards for bad credit.

It can take up to 50 business days to get your OpenSky credit card deposit refunded. That is normal for secured card cards since they want to make sure you don't have any auto pays that attempt to charge after closure.

The Chase trip cancellation insurance will provide reimbursement of up to $10,000 per trip if a covered loss prevents you from traveling and results in trip cancellation.

It's important to know that you're expected to file a written claim within 20 days of your trip's cancellation. You'll receive a Proof of Loss form after reporting your loss and must submit it with all your supporting documentation within 90 days of the occurrence.

No, there is no waiting for the trip cancellations insurance. Well, technically you have to pay for your entire trip with your Chase Sapphire card. So if you didn't apply yet, you'll only be able to use your card and thus get trip cancellation insurance after you receive it.