I have about $28,000 in student loan debt and am caught in a dilemma. There are talks about loan forgiveness later this year, but it seems it’s all up in the air. I’m wanting to not accrue any more interest, so is it better to pay it all off or is it a pipe dream that there will be loan forgiveness later this year and into next year? I just don’t want to pay it off and then watch a bunch of people being forgiven when I had to put my hard earned money into paying all these off. Any advice?

Technically it's not just for children, but they're the most common category of dependent and most likely to benefit from *one* of the plans. It zeroes out tuition, it does not cover other expenses.
I just learned that California shifted its income-eligibility status (under Plan B) to a state-level poverty wage, rather than a federal-level poverty wage. This is a shift from something like a ~$15k annual limit for the child, to a ~$20k annual limit, and will increase as California's Franchise Tax Board revises.
One HUGE advantage of this program is that it does not require the VETERAN to live in California, which is a lot more flexible, than, say, Washington's. This is based on the residency of the DEPENDENT.
I told a friend about this when I was using my GI Bill, and by the next week not only did she zero out her future law school tuition, she got a refund on the amount she had already paid. She later ran into difficulties using this with an MBA program, because there was confusion over what it covers. It apparently covers "academic" programs, which includes full-time MBA studies, but does not cover "self-funded" or "professional" programs like the part-time MBA programs. So, her parent's sacrifices *only* covered a law degree.
Three useful links for you and your dependents to assess:
California College Fee Waiver, to explain in further detail (I'll copy-past the content of this here, but it may update) https://www.calvet.ca.gov/VetServices/Pages/College-Fee-Waiver.aspx
How a Dependent would to establish residency in California for Education purposes (TLDR: 366 days, intent to permanently stay):
https://www.ucop.edu/residency/establishing-residency.html
California Income Eligiblity Limits for Plan B (looks like $21,561 for 2024 based off 2023 numbers): https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/residency-status/index.html

College Fee Waiver

​​​The College Fee Waiver for Veteran Dependents benefit waives mandatory system-wide tuition and fees at any State of California Community College, California State University, or University of California campus. This program does not cover the expense of books, parking or room and board. There are four plans under which dependents of Veterans may be eligible.

Plan A

• The unmarried child of a Veteran who is totally service-connected disabled or whose death was officially rated as service-connected is eligible. The child must be over 14 years old and under 27 years old to be eligible. If the child is a Veteran, then the age limit is extended to age 30;
• The spouse of a wartime Veteran who is totally service-connected disabled is eligible. There are no age limit restrictions;
• The unmarried surviving spouse of a wartime Veteran whose death has been rated as service-connected is eligible. There are no age limit restrictions;
• Any dependent of any Veteran who has been declared missing in action, captured in the line of duty by hostile forces, or forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by a foreign government or power is eligible.

The Veteran must have served at least one day of active duty during a period of war as declared by the U.S. Congress, or during any time in which the Veteran was awarded a campaign or expeditionary medal. Concurrent receipt of benefits under Plan A and VA Chapter 35 benefits is prohibited. To receive benefits under Plan A, a dependent must sign an "Election To Receive College Waiver Benefits" statement acknowledging this fact. There are no income restrictions under this plan. To be eligible, the event which caused basic entitlement to benefits (i.e., the date the Veteran died of service-connected causes or the date the military or United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) rated the Veteran as totally disabled as a result of service-connected disabilities) must have occurred prior to the child's 21st birthday.

Plan B

The child of a Veteran who has a service-connected disability, or had a service-connected disability at the time of death, or died of service-related causes is eligible. The child's annual income, which includes the child's adjusted gross income, plus the value of support provided by a parent, may not exceed the annual income limit. The current academic year entitlement is based upon the previous calendar year's annual income. Under Plan B, wartime service is not required and there are no specific age requirements. Children are the only dependents eligible under this plan. There is no prohibition against receiving concurrent VA Chapter 35 benefits.

Plan C

Any dependent of any member of the California National Guard, who in the line of duty while on active service to the state, was killed, died of a disability resulting from an event that occurred while in active service to the state, or is permanently disabled as a result of an event that occurred while in the service to the state is eligible. Surviving spouses who have not remarried are also eligible.
"Active service to the state," for the purpose of this benefit, means a member of the California National Guard activated pursuant to Section 146 of the Military and Veterans Code. A copy of those orders pursuant to Section 146, not Section 143, must be furnished to establish eligibility.

Plan D

Medal of Honor recipients and children of Medal of Honor recipients under the age of 27 may qualify. Benefits under Plan D are limited to undergraduate studies only, and applicants are subject to both income and age restrictions. There is no prohibition against receiving concurrent VA Chapter 35 benefits.

Notes:

• All applicants must meet California residency requirements as per the schools requirements.
• If eligibility criteria is met, use of the College Waiver for Veterans Dependents may be applied to state-support programs in the CCC, CSU, and UC systems. Some academic programs at these institutions that are considered self-supported, commonly referred to as extension courses or extended education are not required to apply the College Fee Waiver because these courses, degrees, and certificates are neither funded by the state nor are they system-wide programs. Veterans dependents using this waiver should research their academic programs thoroughly before applying to the college or university.
• Education Code, Section 66025.3 does not provide the authority to grant College Fee Waiver benefits retroactively. However, an exception exists relating to applications received under the provisions of Military and Veterans Code Section 890.3(a)(1). The law permits retroactive fee waiver benefits when an application is denied solely due to the fact that the Veteran has a claim pending with the USDVA for service connected disability or death benefits, but the claim has yet to be awarded, and in the future the USDVA adjudicates a service connected rating. The Veteran or student must have applied for the College Fee Waiver during each academic year in which they are seeking the benefit; the application will be denied due to no service connected disability. Once the Veteran has been awarded service connected disability rating, bring the VA notification letter and denial letter(s) back to the CVSO for review.
• If you are a child of a Veteran, you must attach Verification of Dependency. Acceptable verifications include, but are not limited to, a Birth Certificate, Adoption Records or Marriage Certificate. Those seeking status as an Adopted Child or as a Stepchild must have entered into such status prior to the child's 23th Birthday.
• Effective January 1, 2024 Plan B applicant income, which includes the student's adjusted gross income for the prior year plus the value of any support received from a parent, will no longer be measured against the federal poverty threshold limit when making a fee waiver eligibility determination. Instead, beginning with Academic Year 2024-25, the student's income will not be allowed to exceed the STATE poverty level as published in the resident requirement filing chart found on the Franchise Tax Board website. This change was brought about when AB 1745, Soria. Public postsecondary education: veterans: waiver of mandatory systemwide tuition and fees, was signed into law by Governor Newsom. This represents a substantial change to the program as the State poverty threshold limit is significantly higher than the federal poverty threshold limit. For example, in 2023 the State threshold was $20,913, while the federal threshold was $15,225. ​

Hello all,
I’m trying to improve credit score. I paid off 6 or 7 collection accounts (settled for less / delete) this year that were 2-4 years old. My score went from mid 500’s to 655 on experian’s app, 630 TU, and about 615 on credit karma. I’ve been stuck here for a few months now. I have one more collection account (approx $1500) and a delinquent capital one account (approx $800) that’s not in collections. I also have 6 credit cards, 3 secured 5 unsecured with low limits (max is 1000). I’ve had them for about 2 years. Two of them three years now. My question is, is it worth paying off my remaining debt? I don’t have a lot of extra cash right now but want to qualify for better credit cards and a home loan in the next few years.
Thanks

My car took some body damage in a hail storm, enough to just barely deem it totaled, but it is still perfectly drivable with no issues. Only damage is dozens of little dents.
Progressive gave me 2 options. They could pay me 15K, the value of the car, 10K of that goes to the lienholder to pay off the rest of my loan. 5K goes to me.
Option 2 is, since the car, while deemed totaled, would not be a salvaged title and would remain a clean title, I could keep the totaled car, Progressive would pay 9300 to my lienholder (deducting the value of the totaled car) and I would pay the remainder and the car would be paid off in full. I told Progressive I wanted to go with option 2. They sent me some paperwork they said I needed to fill out before they sent the check to the lien holder. The paperwork appears to be me giving power of attorney to Progressive to request the title from the lien holder and also transferring ownership of the car to them.
Why would I need to transfer ownership of the car to them if I am keeping the car and making the final payment meaning the title should go to me? Because again, with Option 2, Progressive isn't paying off the full car loan

Part 1
Part 2
This was not enough for American investment banks. It seemed simple: they didn't gather clients but bought everything in bulk (on loans at 1% interest), the money from the monthly mortgage payments was flowing, everything was fine. But they came up with a new, even better earnings scheme.
They decided: let's resell these mortgage pools to Norwegian pensioners! To make them interested, let's create a new structure: Collateralized Debt Obligations, CDOs. Secured debt obligations. Let's issue bonds, secure them with our mortgage pool. Let's divide the mortgages into more and less risky ones and create a pyramid out of them so that each Norwegian pension fund can acquire both profitable risky assets, as well as solid monthly payments.
An investment bank creates a basket, for example, of a thousand mortgages, of which 500 are prime (white-collar workers and managers), let's label them class "A", 300 are subprime, class "B" (working people without higher education, service personnel), and the remaining 200 are high-risk, class "C", meaning unemployed and financially struggling families who were given mortgages hoping they'd somehow manage to pay them off. And if they can't — you can always kick them out into the cold and sell the house.
Norwegian pensioners who bought "A" class securities receive their income first, but their interest rate is the lowest (for example, 5% per annum). Those who bought "B" class securities are entitled to 8% per annum, but they receive their income only after the thousand mortgages have accumulated five percent payments to holders of class "A". There are also risk-loving grannies: they want to earn 15% per annum and buy "C" class securities — the ones with the highest risk.
Some investment banks went even further (as if that was possible). They bought "C" class securities and divided them again: presenting you with bonds of "parking attendant", "waitress", and "limping old lady"! Then they packed it into a new pyramid, for the most reckless grannies from Oslo, promising them not 15%, but all 25% per annum, which is unheard of in Norway. In those times if someone brought money to a bank there, they didn't give them interest, they took it for storage. And here they offer twenty-five percent per annum! Although the risk is enormous — how can you buy such a tangle of financial entanglements? Here's how: it was enough for the seller to declare that the bonds were secured by mortgages. Technically, that's what it was, but after diluting single malt whiskey with tap water, you understand... Still unclear? Well, the "The Big Short" movie explains it perfectly)
In short, it's enough for a few unemployed people to leave "McDonald's" for a couple of months and sit down to play GTA, and the pyramid begins to crumble. There's no tranche for the "waitress" class, which means the "C" class of the higher pyramid is left without payments. Then it turns out that Lehman Brothers took out a huge loan from Goldman Sachs against "C" class bonds, and Goldman considered this loan incredibly secure — firstly, Lehman always paid on time, and secondly, it's secured by mortgages! And when Lehman suddenly couldn't repay this loan, all of Goldman's calculations went to dust, dragging down the entire financial gang.
It's important to understand that being angry at finance mechanisms is unproductive — it's just technology, and it's not to blame. You have to work out the technology and learn to apply it, then it will serve you well. You might just be wondering, what do Goldman and Lehman had to do with this?..
Just remember - It's all cyclical

I just wante to alert anyone AGAINST trying to get a CPT internship job in the USA while at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
I've been trying to get my authorization for an Amazon SDE Internship for Summer and they have been putting a lot of obstacles to it.
For CPT, you need your job offer letter from the employer and then you submit that to a Handshake application (yes, that website to find jobs, even when you got your job elsewhere) and you have to wait for the Office of Experiential Learning to check the info and send an email to my employer to aprove it. It has been 2 weeks and tons of emails for them to send a link. A direct link to the aproval form.
Then you have to sign up for the internship course (0 credits if you are for a non-credit internship) and after that you submit the CPT form signed by your employer.
Well, now the Office of Global Services says the signature format in my CPT form is incorrect, even when Amazon does the same signature for thousands of interns.
And when you contact them via email, they send a response telling you not to email them or your case gets pushed back in the queue. Their phones are disconnected and the times I went in person they have a paper in the door that says "Not working for the rest of the week".
Right now, I am looking to change university because they just ruined my Amazon internship and now I have to keep paying my student loan.
I know, welcome to America and Illinois Institute of Technology.

Location: Washington State
I have received a summons for a lawsuit for Breach of Contract from a debt collection agency regarding a debt I failed to pay a few years ago.
I do not have money to secure a lawyer, but am unsure how to proceed.
I have 20 days to respond to the summons. I have the cash on hand to pay the debt off (and was actually in the process of putting together the paperwork for a debt verification letter when I received this notice).
I would like to try and settle this outside of court just to get it off my plate, and off of my credit, and not have to deal with going in and out of court, taking the time off, etc. Not sure if this is an option at this point or not.
Any help or advice on how to proceed is appreciated.

BoxOfficeTheory Presale Tracking
USA Showtimes As of May 10
Presales Data (Google Sheets Link)
BoxOfficeReport Previews
DOMESTIC PRESALES
Back to Black Thursday Comps/Predictions: $0.35M/$0.37M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.35M Thursday comp. Probably looking at EA around $100k from these numbers, it's limited to Dolby only though so it's quite tiny (May 15). Yikes bikes (May 12).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($0.39M Thursday and $1.21M Friday comp. We're back up to $.3M-$.5M Thursday while Friday is pretty consistent, still around $1.15M-$1.4M. Estimated OW: $4.5M-$5.5M (May 16). Knocking this down to $.25M Thursday. Despite relatively strong sales, comps are low around $1.25M for Friday (May 15). Not great. Let's say $.3M (May 14).)
  
• el sid ($0.38M Thursday comp. Average tomorrow will probably be around 400k (May 15).)
  
• filmlover (Looking at the sales even for the early shows on Wednesday it's on the anemic side (and nothing that's likely to boost it over the next days). Feels like we're about to see how low a biopic about a famous musician can go (May 10).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($0.38M Thursday comp.)
  
• Relevation ($0.26M Thursday comp. And for how shitty IF did, Back to Black cratered even harder, and likely would've been the worst selling movie I've ever tracked had I not run numbers a little late. Sub-$300K THU and a $2.5-4M OW (May 15).)
  
• Rorschach (Zero tickets sold on Thursday and only four on Friday. I don't think I'll be missing much (May 13).)
  

IF Thursday Comps/Predictions: $1.72M/$1.80M

• abracadabra1998 ($1.5M Thursday comp. Really good update here, FINALLY! Been waiting for this. This is encouraging for sure. With this growth now maybe shooting for a finish near 1.75 or maybe even approach 2. Eek. Zero sales day only a few days before previews, when you're dealing with a very low baseline. I'm not sure what's happening here (May 15). Most comps did move the right direction. If it keeps trending up perhaps I can see a finish around $1.5M Thursday. One thing to peep at: the MTC1 ratio (59%) is unusually large compared to other family releases. At T-2, other releases' MTC1 % was at: KFP4: 51%, Migration: 34%, Wonka: 59%, Wish: 35%, Trolls: 24%. So much more comparable to Wonka and KFP4; maybe something to think about when looking at keyser's numbers and thinking of the ratio there (May 14). My model has been pretty good for animated/family releases in the past, hence why every comp is so eerily similar. Still, looking at others' numbers and how much lower mine are, I am wondering if summer break might be something to consider here; from what I am aware, here in Minnesota most school districts don't start break until June (May 13). Hoping for some real acceleration this last week but not looking good (May 12). One week out, not impressed in the slightest (May 9). Rising against comps as expected, due to the short release window, but I am still failing to see anything that suggests the numbers given by some other outlets (May 5).)
  
• AniNate (All I can say is if you look at Tinseltown Canton presales the IF projections ($30M+) seem pretty reasonable. I will grant they might've booked more screens than necessary for it (May 16). I'm gonna guess that Nick IP spot for IF this morning ratcheted up interest, Fri-Sun sales at Canton now close to 200. Also of those 200 about 50 were for XD. Not the usual overwhelming presale split but not insignificant for a kids movie also playing on two standard screens (May 13). 45 sold at the five nearest Cinemarks for Thursday previews so far, so yeah there's evidently some kind of regional variation (May 13). I definitely haven't seen as much of a rush here with Garfield as with IF (May 11). I dunno, I have no comps but I feel like local presales is a pretty sizable haul a week in advance for an original non-Disney kids movie (May 9).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($2.43M Thursday and $8.49M Friday comp. Not a great day. Back down to $1.75M-$2M Thursday but pretty good day for Friday, bumping up to $7M-$7.5M. Estimate OW: $27M-$29M (May 16). Comps mostly are up. Adjusting up to around $2M-$2.25M Thursday. Unless this plays like Elemental, we're aiming around $6.5M-$7M Friday. Estimated OW: $25M-$27M (May 15). Definitely looking around $1.75M Thursday for now (May 14).
  
• DAJK (Selling pretty well so far here (May 4).)
  
• el sid ($2.4M Thursday comp. Friday up so-so 116% since last Monday. I chose Jungle Cruise, Dolittle, Elemental, Minions 2 and Sonic 2 as comps (always counted on Monday of the release week for Friday) and the true Friday number for IF would be 6.6M at the moment. In this case the comparison numbers were very similar, around 6-7M. Overall it was a boring counting today which lasted too long for so few action. And judging from some random samples Garfield also saw no significant jumps (I also didn't expect much, it's still too early IMO). Thursday up 92% since last Monday. I hoped for a bit better jump till today :( but it's also not too bad. So for Friday no big numbers but up 75% since last Monday (and the jump must have happened pretty recently) (May 13). Up 73.5% since Monday (where it had 143 sold tickets). Best sales in California, not doing too bad between the coasts. The number today is ok to me (May 12). Not really signs for a breakout for Friday so far, but very solid. It will not really get 4-6M Thursday e.g. compared to Migration but from most comps the number could be pretty decent (May 7). Looked good for the film, both on Thursday and on Friday (May 6).)
  
• jeffthehat ($1.90M Thursday comp. Slipped a little vs. comps. Sub-20% growth seems bad at this stage and opening size for a family film. But maybe walkups are better than presales suggest. Thinking $1.8m +/- $0.2m tomorrow (May 15).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($1.62M Combined SizeAdjusted+GrowthModel Thursday comp. $1.50M Santikos Thursday comp. Sticking to the 1.5m - 1.75m range. I'm looking for a +40% final day that would finish at 1.8m avg comps and 1.62m growth forecast. I'm not ruling out 2m, but it would need to have a very good day (May 16). Raising my expectations to 1.5 - 1.75m range. I don't really have a good feel for what age this is playing to (May 15). Thinking somewhere in the 1.2m-1.5m Thursday range despite a couple of higher comps (May 14).)
  
• keysersoze123 (Friday pace is promising (May 16). Dont think even if it doubles the gross, 2m is locked. But even if it does, it would barely do that much. Let us see how walkups go tomorrow. Pace is really meh for T-2. $1.75m ish for previews. OW should be similar to what I saw yesterday for now (May 15). I would say it should hit 2m previews or even more if walkups are strong. OW probably in mid to high 20s for now. Its Friday sales are not that much higher than thursday for crazy IM like say Panda 4 (May 14).)
  
• Relevation ($1.18M Thursday comp. IF completely tanked here, brutal comp average with no good comparisons at all. $1.2-1.5M THU and something in the ballpark of an $18-24M OW? (May 15).)
  
• RichWS (15 screen theater near me is giving IF peak Marvel number of showings. I know it's short and the market is quiet, but damn (May 14).)
  
• Rorschach (Good growth for IF, especially after Tuesday's abysmal sales (May 15). Even with no comps to go off, this growth seems pretty weaksauce. I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow (May 14).)
  
• Shawn Robbins (The pre-sales I'm seeing in multiple markets are little better than I think some expect here. I wouldn't be shocked with a number between 2 and 2.5 for Thursday, as well as big jumps on Friday and Saturday. The flip side of that coin is the reviews... although kids won't care. Could see 40 happening if this plays super strong in family markets and outside coastal cities like I suspect it could, but I'm surprised the studio didn't low ball it a little more to be safe... especially since we had been very publicly keeping our range in the high 20s/low 30s from the bottom end (May 15).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($2.39M Thursday comp. Really not much going on. Don't think walkups will be super strong either (May 13). Not much growth (May 10). Pace is collapsing a bit. Continues its downward trend (May 7). After a strong start, this has cooled off quite a bit (May 4).)
  
• Tinalera (Pretty quiet Vancouver and Calgary area (May 13).)
  
• vafrow ($0.6M Thursday comp. Well, we finally got something. It still lags behind comps, and if I could be bothered to track walk ups, I'm guessing this will do okay. But it's still lagging some very reasonable comps by a large margin here (May 16). It's going up, but slowly. The thing that hit me looking at the numbers is that the most popular format so far is the VIP theatres, which are 19+. With such low sales, you can't read too much into anything, but it kind of speaks to how this isn't grabbing the family crowd (May 14). Some marginal movement, but we're running out of time for this. At this stage, I expect my market is an anomaly, but I still hope and expect it will close the gap in the final few days (May 13). Still nothing (May 12). Still nothing happening. I did check Friday sales, and it was a lot stronger with 51 tickets sold. That's better, but still not tremendous. I also checked the wider radius, where it's pretty much exactly where Haunted Mansion was, which hit $3.1M opening (May 11). Still nothing really happening here (May 10). Since the last update, they released full showtime sets, and it actually lost two showtimes rather than gain. From the sound of it, it might be doing better in other Canadian markets, particularly BC (May 8). Numbers are still really low, making the standard track fairly useless. I did do a larger 100km radius track, encompassing the broader southern Ontaro market (~8M population, MTC4 being about 70-80% of the market). Even against Haunted Mansion, which underindexed here, it's not doing well (May 4).)
  
• YM! (So far in the four Wisconsin theaters I’ve tracked, IF is at about 45% of where Wish was at in the two theaters I’ve tracked 30 minutes before previews. Think it could get to something similar before preview time (May 16).)
  

The Strangers: Chapter 1 Thursday Comps/Predictions: $1.49M/$1.37M

• abracadabra1998 ($1M Thursday comp. Perhaps this will follow the Nun and the Exorcist comps, but I am not fully convinced. I'll just go with the average here and call it a day with my prediction: $1 Million, +/- 0.2. Not much movement here (May 15). Not a good update at all but I am wondering about the summer break deal here as well. For Back to Black it shouldn't affect it much I would think (May 13).)
  
• crazymoviekid ($1.24M Thursday and $4.35M Friday comp. Decent day. Feeling an inch past $1.25M Thursday but much better comps for Friday, aiming now between $4M-$5M. Estimated OW: $14M-$17M (May 16). Comps leveling off. Adjusting up to $1M Thursday and wouldn't trust Friday comp ($10.05M) (May 15). Weird comps. Let's go for $.5M-$.75M Thursday comp.)
  
• el sid ($1.9M Thursday comp. Nice surprise. Up very nice 67.5% since Monday (May 15). From what I saw, it had an ok jump till today but the jump till Wednesday will be way more important. But so far, decent presales (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($1.54M Combined SizeAdjusted+GrowthModel Thursday comp. $1.82M Santikos Thursday comp. Keeping on track to match IF tonight (May 16). We could have a preview battle on our hands! (May 14).)
  
• Relevation ($1.85M Thursday comp. The Strangers: Chapter One sold surprisingly well here, even somehow knocking IF for best selling movie of the weekend. Comps are hovering in the $1.5-2.2M range and I don't have a clue how walkups play here, but I suppose the $1.85M THU average my comps spit out sounds pretty right, combined with a $15Mish OW (May 15).)
  
• Rorschach ($1.09M/$4.68M/$5.23M Thursday/Friday/Thursday+Friday comp. Decent day for Strangers. Didn't quite continue off yesterday's big bump, but still holding well against the Tarot comp (May 15). More than double from yesterday's count. Curious to see if it keeps up the momentum going forward (May 14). Tarot had more tickets sold for Thursday compared to its Friday showings when I checked the Monday before it came out; hence, why the comps are so all over the place at the moment. The Thurs + Fri comp does appear to be a reasonable middle ground (May 13).)
  
• TwoMisfits (TMobile deal for May - $5 ticket to The Strangers Chapter 1 next Tuesday (May 9).)
  

Furiosa Thursday Comp: $4.31M

• abracadabra1998 ($5.46M Thursday comp. GxK obviously really propping the average up but for now I could see that settling at around $5 Million, still good pace! (May 12). Really good stuff in this market (May 9). Reallyyyyyy good day 1 here. I want to note that: NO I do NOT think preview numbers will be that high; it's just highlighting the fact that this is likely a movie that will be running hot in my market, as cinephile blockbusters usually do. Next update I will have T-14 comps, which will be a lot lower due to the short release window (May 8).)
  
• AniNate (Encouraging to see the weekend fill out a bit. Been seeing a lot of promotion during the basketball playoffs so general awareness has to be getting there now. (May 15). Skimmed through ThuFri and Valley View (Cleveland vicinity) has sold roughly 60 Furiosa tix so far while Tinseltown (Canton) has sold 40. I'm guessing the upfront audience does lean more toward the urban/cosmopolitan sensibilities (May 9). Presales show there's definitely some hype for this. Regal gonna irritate trackers again, offering no upcharge IMAX for Furiosa (May 8).)
  
• Charlie Jatinder ($3.05M Thursday comp.)
  
• el sid ($5.8M average Thursday comp (without Exorcist 2) (May 12). Furiosa continues its strong performance in "my" theaters. The movie yesterday had already 1.310 sold tickets (for Thursday, May 23). Up 15% in ca. 24 hours which isn't bad at all after the first rush. Already comfortably in front of The Fall Guy's final sales (it had 1.071 counted on Thursday for Thursday) and almost on par with Civil War's final sales (1.357) and also the Apes finally had not more than 1.657 sold tickets in my theaters (May 11). I also can't complain about Furiosa's presales in my theaters, not at all. Already 1,138 sold tickets (in all of "my" 7 theaters) for May 23. 14 days left. Promising start. Civil War on Thursday of the release week for Thursday had 1,357 sold tickets and The Fall Guy finally had 1,071 sold tickets (May 9).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($3.51M Thursday comp.)
  
• keysersoze123 (Definitely chugging along. I am feeling good about 5m+ previews (May 15). It has way stronger sales than Garfield and that is expected. I am thinking of 5m previews for now (May 14). I think this is a solid OD presales. With a short PS window its probably looking at 5m+ previews (May 9).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($4.44M Thursday comp. Keeps climbing at a strong pace (May 11). This continues to grow at an excellent rate (May 10). Really strong day 2. The short presales is for sure a factor (May 9). Not seeing much of a breakout. Still pretty solid start to presales (May 8).)
  
• vafrow ($2.9M Thursday comp. Comps are showing as steady since the last update, but it actually dipped quite a bit this week before rebounding today. Advance ticket buying has been so off in this market recently for some reason. Holding pace with Apes is a good sign (May 16). It had a good day (May 12). Mediocre day 2 (May 10). Not the hottest start. IMAX is the format of choice though, so, ATP will be high (May 9).)
  

Hit Man

• vafrow (Getting a theatrical release up here in Canada, and early signs are that it might get a pretty decent screen count. Not super wide or anything, but a pretty decent amount for a weekend that has a lot of other releases (May 14).)

The Garfield Movie EA+Thursday Comp: $2.24M

• abracadabra1998 ($0.76M EA comp and $1.19M Thursday comp. Still not really accelerating, and the EA is falling against comps (May 12). Good EA numbers, but many of these comps were PLF-only EA, which this is not, so I think the ATP will be quite lower and that should be adjusted for (May 9).)
  
• AniNate (EA sales look decent now, but this does feel rather weak compared to the IF presales. Not 100% certain what's going on here but based on this I buy the trades' opening estimates over the forum vibes (May 15). I definitely haven't seen as much of a rush here with Garfield as with IF (May 11).)
  
• el sid (The very even sales are a good sign (May 7). For Sunday, May 19, I can already report that also in my theaters it looks very good for Garfield. They will for sure add shows soon. It has so far only 1 show/theater and the shows are almost sold out, between 1 and 4 seats are still available. So my guess still is that this movie if it's not totally bad (and first reviews here were quite positive) will become a (big) hit. Seems not much on Thursday but it's a step in the right direction (May 6).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($2.52M EA+Thursday comp.)
  
• keysersoze123 (Its definitely weaker than even Elemental. That said these movies tend to finish strong and so I am not writing it off so early. Just that the long PS window is irrelevant for them. They could rather start presales like a week before release and it would be all the same. Meh. We have to wait until next week to gauge where its going to finish. It has very low ATP as well and actual would be even lower as its going to see tons of kids tickets (May 14). Early shows are regular digital shows at 1PM this sunday. So ATP will be very low. I think 500k ish at best. Preview let us see how things go in the final week. Presales at this point are almost non existent (May 13).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($2.14M Thursday comp.)
  
• vafrow ($0.4M Thursday comp. Comps don't paint a pretty picture though. EA shows are doing okay (May 11). Still no sales for my core sample for previews. But I did the larger sweep, which shows the interest right now is the Sunday early access shows. Looking at sales patterns, it's mainly blocks of 3/4 tickets, so likely families grabbing some. It's worth noting that the May holiday in Canada is the weekend of May 17-20th, not the weekend after with Memorial Day. I can see families prioritizing getting out the holiday weekend when they have more time (May 4).)
  

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Re-Releases (June 8-10)

• BoxOfficePro (Fathom Events has also announced that select Regal Cinemas will present the films in 4DX on June 22/23/24 for Fellowship/Towers/Return respectively (May 14).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Up to ~1,400 shows now with new locations picking it up and others adding a second showing. LotR1 has sold 831 seats OD, LotR2 sold 715 seats OD, and LotR3 sold 735 seats OD. For comparison, Phantom Menace didn't break 800 tickets until T-3 and we're still over a month out. JW3 comp is currently around 9m (it was at 1,670 tickets sold at this point!) (May 6).)
  

Inside Out 2 Average Thursday Comp: $8.14M

• abracadabra1998 ($3.67M Thursday comp. Holy numbers of shows and seats! Multiplexes are really expecting a lot here. Sales off the bat not amazing here sadly, but we shall see where it goes (May 15).)
  
• AniNate (It is encouraging that Canton is already giving me something to work with with 12 Thursday preview sales. Same number for Fri-Sun. I do see nine sales for first Thursday at Canton now and I think that's a pretty solid start (May 15). I do see a few 1-2 spots for Inside Out on Saturday. Think some M-F workweek adult fans might be putting down money for that (May 14).)
  
• charlie Jatinder ($11.84M Thursday comp at MTC2. $16M Thursday comp for Kung Fu Panda 4 (May 15).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Already at 180 shows for previews in my areas and still has a few theaters left to post. For comparison, Godzilla x Kong finished with 197, Kingdom of Apes 190, and Kung Fu Panda 205 (May 14).)
  
• keysersoze123 (At least the show counts show Plexes are expecting a big OW. I dont remember when we last had a animation movie start with so many shows. I wont count Mario as that was a fan driven movie. Definitely not great presales but this is not a fan driven movie. Let us see where things are in the final week (May 15). Too early to judge presales as ticket sales just started early this morning. Families dont book tickets on weekday mornings. Wait until evening today to judge it. From a release perspective its way bigger than all animation movies seen recently including Panda 4. Easily the biggest I have seen in a long time. Only movie which is not comparable is Mario but that was not just a family flick (May 14).)
  
• Porthos (VERY BAD COMPS: $8.83M Thursday comp. I really do not have good comps for this movie. Like, at all. Especially for D1. With that in mind, I did some digging and did manage to get the Elemental D1 numbers out of the old Tracking thread: IO2 = 5.45946x Elemental on D1 [13.10m]. Now will Inside Out 2 be as backloaded as Elemental? Well it's tough to literally sell 5.5x times the amount of tickets on the final couple of days that Elemental did, so perhaps not. But it does show how fracking backloaded purely kids animation is. Anyway, this is 30 days out and it isn't a CBM film (like AtSV) or CBM-adjacent film (like Incredibles 2). The Sonic 2 comp is perhaps a little concerning. On the other hand, nearly a weeks more of pre-sales so not exactly a great comp. 3.5% of presales are 3D and 40.1% are PLF (May 15). On the Saturday of release weekend (ie NOT EA) there is a special event screening for IO2: INSIDE OUT 2: FUNKO FAMILY EVENT! (2024) Sat June 15th. Might boost the OW slightly, depending on how wide this event is and how much more these tickets will presumably cost (May 11).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($8.20M Thursday comp. This is a super super strong day 2. Probably just Orlando overindexing, but yeah starting to lean towards something big brewing. Florida presales are somehow even crazier. Sold 2357 seats and is getting a blockbuster rollout in terms of showing allocations. Kung Fu panda comp day 2: gives me $8.50M (May 15). Well, I can't really tell if this is a breakout or not yet. Looks very good especially in the first few hours. These are probably terrible comps, but might as well try something (May 14).)
  
• TwoMisfits (I'm kinda shocked at the opening set from my Cinemarks... 2 screens (1 PLF, 1 not) and 6 showings at my PLF 14 for Thursday (and 11 showings on the same screens once it runs full day - 7 PLF b/c 1 is 3d on the reg screen, 4 not)... 3 screens (.75 3d, 2.25 not) and 9 showings at the non-PLF 12 for Thursday (and 12 showings on 2.25 screens once it runs full day)... So, 2 and 2.25 screens for the weekend presale sets... Disney must be charging a huge % for themselves b/c this is an Elemental opening set at my PLF...a little more generous for Thursday at my non-PLF, but then they too drop to an Elemental opening set after the adult Disney base Thursday rush... (May 14).)
  
• vafrow (No new sales. Whatever glitches in the system on day 1 didn't push sales to day 2. I still think the lack of base ticket options will push families to wait. Cineplex has jacked up the cost of premium formats, plus they're throwing in an increase for opening weekend of major releases. It adds up quickly for families (May 16). With the site glitching yesterday, it might account for the slow start. But, what's interesting is the format breakdown. Nothing is being made available in anything close to a regular showtime. The one non 3D showing in Dolby is a matinee showing. Everything else is carrying a hefty premium. They'll likely release regular showtimes closer to release, but right now, it's priced to get eager fans to pay the premium formats (May 15).)
  
• YM! (In fairness it's only been an hour but yeah sales are softer than I expected. However, it is a month out and will largely skew more towards kids than say TLM/Across so wasn't expecting a blitz like them. Here at Marcus theaters are going all out for IO2 with it having the lion share of PLFs with it getting both screens when there is two PLFs with tentpole like levels of screens (May 14). Was taking a look at Marcus Cinemas to see that they have preloaded Inside Out 2 showtimes which seem to start at 3:00 pm on a Thursday. It seems like Marcus is going all out on it as judging from showtimes it's taking away all of Bad Boys’ PLFs in that theaters that have two+ PLFs are giving all to IO2 (May 11).)
  

Domestic Calendar Dates (last updated May 3):
MAY

• (May 16) Presales Start [Bad Boys Ride or Die]
  
• (May 16) Thursday Previews [Babes + Back to Black + If + The Strangers: Chapter 1 + The Blue Angels IMAX]
  
• (May 17) Presales Start [Ezra]
  
• (May 19) Review Embargo Lifts [Garfield 9 PM EST]
  
• (May 20) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man Homecoming Re-Release]
  
• (May 22) Presales Start [The Watchers]
  
• (May 23) Thursday Previews [Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga + Hit Man + The Garfield Movie + Sight]
  
• (May 26) Presales Start [Bikeriders]
  
• (May 27) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man Far From Home Re-Release]
  
• (May 30) Thursday Previews [Ezra + Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle + Robot Dreams + The Young Woman and the Sea]
  

JUNE

• (June 3) Opening Day [Monday: Spider-Man No Way Home Re-Release]
  
• (June 5) Presales Start [Despicable Me 4]
  
• (June 6) Thursday Previews [Bad Boys: Ride or Die + The Watchers]
  
• (June 8) 1-Saturday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 9) 1-Sunday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 10) 1-Monday Re-Release (1st day) [The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 13) Thursday Previews [Inside Out 2]
  
• (June 15) 1-Saturday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 16) 1-Sunday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 17) 1-Monday Re-Release (2nd day) [The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 20) Thursday Previews [The Bikeriders + Janet Planet]
  
• (June 27) Thursday Previews [Blue Lock The Movie -Episode Nagi- + Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 + A Quiet Place: Day One]
  

JULY

• (July 2) Opening Day [Wednesday: Despicable Me 4]
  
• (July 4) Opening Day [Thursday: Possum Trot]
  
• (July 4) Thursday Previews [MaXXXine]
  
• (July 11) Thursday Previews [Fly Me to the Moon + Untitled New Line Horror movie]
  
• (July 18) Thursday Previews [Twisters]
  
• (July 25) Thursday Previews [Deadpool and Wolverine + Didi + Fabulous Four]
  

AUGUST

• (August 1) Thursday Previews [Harold and the Purple Crayon]
  
• (August 8) Thursday Previews [Borderlands + Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us + Cuckoo + The Fire Inside + Trap]
  
• (August 15) Thursday Previews [Alien: Romulus + Horizon An American Saga Chapter 2 + Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure]
  
• (August 22) Thursday Previews [Blink Twice + The Crow + The Forge + Slingshot]
  
• (August 29) Thursday Previews [City of Dreams + Reagan + They Listen]
  

Presale Tracking Posts:
April 23
April 25
April 27
April 30
May 2
May 4
May 7
May 9
May 11
May 14
Note: I have removed most tracking data that has not been updated for 2 weeks. I think there is value in keeping data for a week or two but at a certain point they start to lose their value and should not be treated the same as more recent tracking data.

Hi. Just got off the phone with Nelnet. Verified my address, told me they aren't sure the amount but then i re-read the letter and at the bottom it says: consolidation will be forwarded to your new servicer rather than refunded to you.
When I checked my Studentgov account on my AI Loan, the detail says canceled -2,000. The other AI loan detail says canceled -1,167. Both say Paid-in-Full by Consolidation.
I don't believe I'll receive a re-fund, but again, it's only the beginning of this situation, nobody doesn't know a real answer just yet. HOWEVER, I'm just assuming I won't get a refund because it was Paid-in-Full by Consolidation.
Just double check your Art institute loans on Studentgov.

Need advice ! Family owned agency decreasing benefits, pay, and over looking seniority.
I 24 have been working for a family owned agency for about 3 years. Started at 17 an hour with a matched 401k. Off weekends as a csr. found interest in getting licensed. The benefits at the time out weighted so I dived in.
We are an independent brokerage working with about 5 standard carriers and access to over 30 non standard carriers. We primarily handle P&C as well as all court ordered bonds. We have some goals I believe around 10k a month in premium. But they rarely do checkins or accountability.
Over time I was I given additional tasks outside of my original duties of answering the phone and servicing clients. Just before passing my insurance exam I was taking care of all of the service work for all of the agents that work in our agency (3) as well as essentially being a personal assistant to our agency principal from scheduling meetings, over seeing his schedule, and even attending networking meetings in his place. as well as handling the surety bonds billing, filing, and notating.
After a year I received a dollar raise to 18. Shortly after I was officially licensed in P&C. I was then beginning to receive lists of quotes from our agency principal and expected to completely quote renewals with explanation on the coverages and why I chose certain endorsements for “ practice and experience” but no compensation for helping. On top of all of the additional day to day work.
Eventually I began building my personal book of business and this was becoming impossible to juggle.
This carried on for months until October of 23 when our principal finally decided to hire in for my position and move me to a full time producer roll. ( there was only me handling all things insurance and bond related for almost 2 years)
Now I am building my book of business while still running quotes for my supervisor with no additional percentage for helping.
They have me networking twice a week.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays I spend 3 hours straight driving around and stopping into spaces to get leads. They tried to convince me that it’s better to claim the mileage on my taxes at the end of the year than to receive a stipend for gas. I am not sure what the standard is so I didn’t say anything
This move changed me to a salary and commissioned producer. This is where my issues really begin. I am salary but making less due to the consideration of commission. I was at about 1200 every two weeks and now I am about 800. Which has been tough because my commission isn’t stable. Also After switching and because I am being paid differently I was kicked from the 401k program.
No 401k and no insurance. They have been “ trying” to get things set up but that was back in October. It’s now may and I haven’t accrued any additional retirement.
They are additionally making changes to our vacation and personal time in our handbook. Bringing my vacation time down to only 5 days a year. also removing pay from personal time and only 3 sick days for a whole calendar year!
To top it all off they have hired in two additional part timers that start soon with raises after 6 months, starting at 22 dollars an hour. The one girl monitors the agency principals application work for him and the other part-time marketing cultivation sending out letters and making calls.
I am looking for additional opinions on how I should self advocate regarding my pay, workload , and time off. I feel that it is long over due but because I struggle with ADHD and I am on the spectrum self advocating can be a huge challenge for me.
Outside of getting a percentage of commission for call ins. There doesn’t a seem to be many benefits staying with the agency.

Sorry for the long post but I need to vent and no one in my life cares enough to listen. I M(23) on paper should be having a great life. I grew up middle class, never missed a meal, was a competitive swimmer (those who swam know it’s an expensive sport), went on vacations and had all my needs taken care of. I graduated college and have very manageable student loans; I work a decent paying job, with great benefits, where I can save a lot for my future because I live at home, I’ve had trouble with my parents in the past, but we have worked through our issues, so it hasn’t been awful. From the outside I have the stereotypical middle-class upbringing, I am very thankful that my parents have provided me with everything and on paper I should be thriving, I work out daily, eat healthy and take my dog on a walk, but I am fucking miserable.
I’ve had depression since I was about 16 and it’s been on/off, in high school it was bad but high school just sucks anyway. When I went to college, I thought things would be different, but I was wrong. I had a good time in college and made good memories, but I was a shell of my former self by the end. I would do anything to help others not feel how I was feeling, which lead to everyone saying they “would do anything for me” or that they “loved” me, it was all a bunch of bullshit, no one cared about be, no one was worried when I would go quiet or not show up to gatherings. My coaches didn’t care either, they belittled me daily, told me I wasn’t good enough or that I need to be more like the better people on the team, they gave up on me when I needed help. I spent months in therapy talking through my problems because of them, a coach who breaks you down to nothing can really mess you up. I quit mid-season of my junior year because I couldn’t take it anymore, I was horribly depressed, I resented everything and everyone. All through high school I was told that I wasn’t good enough, all through college I was told I wasn’t good enough and it brought me to tears daily, who the fuck tells a young kid that they aren’t good enough to succeed????
I thought graduating college would make my life a bit better but boy was I wrong. I got a starter job out of school for a decent company but they never gave me work and the pay was shit, I got told I was doing most things wrong but “they just loved having me”. This job really starting hitting me hard because I was stuck in an office with no windows and couldn’t really go outside and the work was depressing. My depression has been prevalent since my senior year since I lived in a shitty situation with roommates. I was breaking down and couldn’t stop, therapy wasn’t helping, my parents had no idea what was going on and my friends just ignore me when I’m low. For some background my romantical life doesn’t exist, whatever it is women want I just don’t have, I’ve been ghosted countless time and have been told that I’m not a catch. My friends however love telling me about all the women they have been on dates with or had sex with, then they always make fun of my inability to talk to women. I am saying this because I was doing ok for a while and trying to work on myself and manage the job trying to make it better, but I made a stupid choice (yes I know it was my fault and I have no one to blame but myself) and got sexually extorted. Just my luck that the one person who feigned interest in me was just extorting me for money. I lost a good amount over it and was ready to off myself because I couldn’t stop thinking why the fuck did this happen to me, of all people why me? What deity did I piss off so much that they decided to fuck with me like that. They eventually released my pictures but thankfully no one has said anything to me and that was months ago.
Since that incident I have been living in a fugue state where I am so disconnected from reality that I have no idea what is wrong with me. The last time I was truly happy was when I got my dog and he is the only thing that makes me smile anymore, I have no joy or passions, nothing excites me. I’m irritable all the time and just not a joy to be around. I’m constantly told how much money my friends make and how much sex they have and that they have better jobs and how my degree is useless (marketing). I don’t fit in anywhere and my new job is ok, but I have zero work and don’t fit in. I feel useless and feel like I am constantly making the wrong decisions, because I am being told how successful my friends will be compared to myself. Even my therapist ghosted me, and I haven’t been to another one because I don’t have the energy to set up the appointments, I feel like the end of the road is coming quick and am losing hope for anything getting better. I mean who wants a below average looking guy with no hobbies or passions working a middle of the road job? I try doing yoga and meditation daily, but things aren’t getting better, everything that I have dealt with is compounding into one big issue and I just don’t have the strength to fight anymore.
Sorry for the long post but venting helped a bit. TLDR I am miserable and things aren’t looking better.

Need advice ! Family owned agency decreasing benefits, pay, and over looking seniority.
I 24 have been working for a family owned agency for about 3 years. Started at 17 an hour with a matched 401k. Off weekends as a csr. found interest in getting licensed. The benefits at the time out weighted so I dived in.
We are an independent brokerage working with about 5 standard carriers and access to over 30 non standard carriers. We primarily handle P&C as well as all court ordered bonds. We have some goals I believe around 10k a month in premium. But they rarely do checkins or accountability.
Over time I was I given additional tasks outside of my original duties of answering the phone and servicing clients. Just before passing my insurance exam I was taking care of all of the service work for all of the agents that work in our agency (3) as well as essentially being a personal assistant to our agency principal from scheduling meetings, over seeing his schedule, and even attending networking meetings in his place. as well as handling the surety bonds billing, filing, and notating.
After a year I received a dollar raise to 18. Shortly after I was officially licensed in P&C. I was then beginning to receive lists of quotes from our agency principal and expected to completely quote renewals with explanation on the coverages and why I chose certain endorsements for “ practice and experience” but no compensation for helping. On top of all of the additional day to day work.
Eventually I began building my personal book of business and this was becoming impossible to juggle.
This carried on for months until October of 23 when our principal finally decided to hire in for my position and move me to a full time producer roll. ( there was only me handling all things insurance and bond related for almost 2 years)
Now I am building my book of business while still running quotes for my supervisor with no additional percentage for helping.
They have me networking twice a week.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays I spend 3 hours straight driving around and stopping into spaces to get leads. They tried to convince me that it’s better to claim the mileage on my taxes at the end of the year than to receive a stipend for gas. I am not sure what the standard is so I didn’t say anything
This move changed me to a salary and commissioned producer. This is where my issues really begin. I am salary but making less due to the consideration of commission. I was at about 1200 every two weeks and now I am about 800. Which has been tough because my commission isn’t stable. Also After switching and because I am being paid differently I was kicked from the 401k program.
No 401k and no insurance. They have been “ trying” to get things set up but that was back in October. It’s now may and I haven’t accrued any additional retirement.
They are additionally making changes to our vacation and personal time in our handbook. Bringing my vacation time down to only 5 days a year. also removing pay from personal time and only 3 sick days for a whole calendar year!
To top it all off they have hired in two additional part timers that start soon with raises after 6 months, starting at 22 dollars an hour. The one girl monitors the agency principals application work for him and the other part-time marketing cultivation sending out letters and making calls.
I am looking for additional opinions on how I should self advocate regarding my pay, workload , and time off.
I feel that it is long over due but because I struggle with ADHD and I am on the spectrum self advocating can be a huge challenge for me.
Outside of getting a percentage of commission for call ins. There doesn’t a seem to be many benefits staying with the agency.

Hi I know this has been asked so many times, but I just want to double check my sanity here:
I am applying for the Chase sapphire preferred and Chase unlimited. Below are some of my stats:

• Age - 24 -Income - 115,000-120,000 -Rent - 1400

Credit information: 3 cards - discover IT - 10.5k limit Paid off 7k over the past year sits at 0 dollars a month now

• Capital One Quick Silver - 3k limit Did a balance transfer of 3k (from Discover) 1.5k with 0% intro apr left on the card(will be paid off by next month)
  
• Citi Simplicity - 7.8k limit Not used for anything
  

Student Loans: 11k from 3 loans I pay the minimum on
History - Authorized user on Moms Card - 8 years
Discover - 6 years
Citi and Capital One - 2 years old
Credit Score:
FICO - 741 Equifax - 744
Anything that makes you think I’d get denied from these two cards? I’m very new to the point game, and the plan is to put all expenses on these two cards and pay in full each month. Any tip’s welcome

Last week, my mother emailed my sister and me, informing us that she plans to gift us a stable home in about 2-3 months. Currently, I'm not speaking to my mother for reasons I won't disclose. My older sister mentioned that our mother intends to buy a house with an apartment in the back, allowing each of us our own space. When jokingly discussing who would get which part of the property, my sister asserted her claim to the front house as the oldest.
Later, she proposed that she take out a $30,000 loan to establish her share property ownership alongside my moms, suggesting that together the three of us could work towards paying off the mortgage and eventually buy another property for me.
I expressed hesitation, suggesting that any agreement would need to be formalized in a contract, and that I would only agree if I could live in the front house and contribute rental income towards the mortgage from the payments we will receive renting out the back house. My sister became upset, retracting her proposal altogether. While I initially accepted the idea of my mother providing whatever accommodation she saw fit, it's worth noting that it was my mother's idea for my older sister to get the front house because she is the oldest.
I also suggested to my sister the possibility of a multi-property home for investment purposes or a duplex to have the same amount of space. However, my sister dismissed this idea, expressing a desire not to live too closely with me.
Considering the circumstances, I'm unsure whether to encourage my mother to pursue a duplex option or to agree to my sister's proposal. If you were in my shoes, would you recommend reaching out to my mother about the duplex idea? Would you agree to my sister's proposal, or would you suggest any alterations? Any additional advice or perspective would be appreciated.

Me (24F) and my boyfriend (28M) met 17 months ago on a dating app. At the time we were both in different countries and had set our location to a place we were both planning to visit. He asked me on a date for new years eve and even bought an event ticket for that night when we were both supposed to be there . Unfortunately a few days before my flight I got sick and never got to visit that country or see him there. I was expecting us to stop talking and I was talking/dating afew other people since I thought him and I would never meet in real life but to my surprise we started talking every single day and he was the sweetest guy I had ever met . We got to know each other pretty good to the point that he kept asking me to move to his country. After around 4 months of talking online he told me he’s getting a ticket and coming to see me for a week . And that’s when we had our first phone call , over that phone call he said he needs to tell me something because it might be a red flag for me and he just wants to be honest about it , he said he has dated a stripper before me (around 2 years before me) but they were never official and it was something casual just because he was lonely and she was pushy. To be honest I didn’t like hearing that but I was still okay with it. Fast forward to our first week together, we went on date every single day , we went to really nice restaurants and bars and he was putting in so much effort into our dates, we eventually spent the weekend together and that’s when he gave me a gift along with a letter telling me how much he loves me and then we were intimate for the first time and spent the entire weekend in his hotel room .
He went back to his country for work and came back to see me after 5 weeks and we had another amazing week together and that’s when I told him that I love him too so we got alot closer and talked about our past, about how he used to be a party boy and into drugs but he’s changed now and people we have dated and exes , and in a funny conversation the topic of body count came up and I told him mine is 3 and he said he has been with 6 people in total which was shockingly good in my opinion. He also told me that the last time he slept with someone was a year before me because he’s not into one night stands or casual sex because he is emotional and can’t just have that with anyone and that was very respectable and admirable in my opinion and made me fall in love even more . I was honest with and told him the last time I had slept with someone was a month or two into us talking but there was no emotion connection with that person, he was upset but he said he understood that we weren’t that serious back then .
He came back for the 3rd time after 2 weeks and that’s when we got an Airbnb and spent the whole week together cooking and talking like a married couple in love , on the same week we ran into a girl in our airbnb building and she was so happy to see my bf , she jumped to hug him and gave him a kiss on the cheek but my bf seemed kinda uncomfortable. After the interaction I was curious to know how does he know someone in my country so I asked him who she was and he said she is his high school classmate that lives in the same city as him now and she just got married so it must be a coincidence that she’s visiting too.
He was back to see me for another week after 2 weeks and at that point we both knew we are offical and that neither of us has even talked to anyone else for the past 4-5 months but we still didn’t put a label on it because I was so afraid of doing long distance and the fact that I was going to move to a country even further away from him in a month. On that week we went and got an STD test together and I even got an IUD so we don’t have to worry about using protection anymore. He knew that I had this unreasonable fear of contracting HIV and this was him being supportive and calming my nerves.
Afew weeks later I moved to a different country around 17000 miles away and when I was looking for a place there we decided to lease an apartment together and furnish our home together because he was planning on moving there to live with me . He came to visit me for a month and we had more amazing days together and became officially girlfriend and boyfriend .he was the sweetest most loving and understanding guy ever.
We did 3 month of long distance and I missed him so bad that I decided to leave everything behind and sell my stuff to go travel with him for 3 months and also go and visit his family and his hometown , it was hard but we made it work and we were both on cloud 9 for the first 2 weeks together. And after meeting his family things were even more serious , they all loved me and keep asking him when he’s going to propose and end the long distance and I even got invited to his brother’s wedding.
One night my trust issues got the best of me and decided to check his phone ( I know it’s bad) I didn’t see anything too bad as his chats were mostly deleted but I came across a chat with that high-school classmate I mentioned earlier and I found out that they had been on a few dates and that he had sent her the same sweet questions as he sent to me word for word. I also saw that they spent the night together and he had a hickey on his neck from her . I also saw that before meeting me he was sliding into girls dms calling them hot and being sexual and I was sooo shocked just because the image he showed me of himself was so so different. I gave him a chance to come clean in the morning but he kept on lying to my face till I showed him the chats , even then he denied ever sleeping with her . I was so hurt that so early in our relationship he could lie to my face for no reason .
I was upset so I left our villa to stay at a hotel, he kept texting and calling and begging me to give him another chance and go to dinner with him and I did, he was so apologetic he was so upset and he kept saying all he wants is to go back and never lie to me so I asked him to come clean about anything else he has lied about . I went over everything with him and asked if they were lies too? he said no . I decided to stay and give us another chance .
Just 3 days after that night I asked him if I can delete his exes number that is a stripper off his phone in front of him he said yes and when I went to delete it I saw their messages , it wasn’t from 2 years before me ! The last message was 15 days before meeting me and turns out she was actually his friend’s girlfriend and they were secretly seeing each other… I was so heartbroken I couldn’t believe he is a person like that and that he has lied to my face again! He used to always say he hates cheater and that he has been cheated on before so he would never do anything like that but in the chats they were making fun of that girl’s bf which was his friend.
He started apologising again and told me there is more, there is someone else he has slept with shortly before me and that whole not sleeping with anyone for a year and no one nights stands was lie to make me fall in love with him . I forgave him again and decided to help him not feel ashamed about his past .
4 days later I asked him to send me our STD test results from months ago to me again because I lost it and my doctor wanted see it he started looking at his emails and said he can’t find it so I offered to help him look and I found it in his trash folder, but again I wanted to give him a chance so I asked if he has deleted it? He said no ! Turns out he was tested positive for a very minor and not dangerous STD and because he felt ashamed he edited the results when he sent it to months earlier. And deleted it afew days prior. His excuse was that I’m very anxious and fearful about STDs so he didn’t want to worry me because the doctor said it doesn’t need a treatment , And again I was convinced .
A few weeks passed and we were arguing a-lot because of trust issues but we were trying to get help and work on the relationship, he even confessed that there were more small lies he has told me , like saying some of the girls he was following were his friends or friends of friends when in fact they were girls he had met on tinder before meeting me . I struggled to understand why he would lie to me about stuff like this when I had never showed to be a jealous or not understanding GF .
A few weeks later we were doing better and travelling different countries together and I thought we’re done with lies so one night I was overthinking and asked him about a blocked number I saw on his phone that first time I looked through it , I asked who’s number that was because It had the country code of the country I lived in when we first started dating. He reassured me that it’s probably a scam number and that I was overthinking but I wasn’t convinced so I put it into google and it brought up so many escort websites from that country. For a whole week I begged and cried for him to tell me the truth to tell me I’m not crazy and what I’m seeing is right but he denied it every time for a whole week and even cried because I couldn’t believe him till one morning when I promised him I won’t leave if he just tells me , he confessed that on that first week after or first or second date when he went back to his hotel room he looked at escort sites and texted them but kept swearing that he never saw one and to him it just like watching porn . Once again I was in disbelief because he used to always say people that pay for sex are evil and are using girls that might have been trafficked for sex , I was also heartbroken and disgusted that he could do that in my city , somewhere that was my home and he was supposed to be there just for me and the fact that I’d have been on the same bed we had sex for the first time and the same room he told me he loved me in only 2 days later …
He blamed it all on porn and his porn addiction, I was shocked because I never had a problem with him watching porn I had even asked him if he wants to watch it together but he always seemed not that interested. He said that he has had trust issues and the reason why he went on an escort site in the first place was to make sure I wasn’t one … Honestly I didn’t know what to do with that informations ! How could he even possibly think that but it doesn’t bother me what bothers me is thinking that he got on 5 hour flight and took me on all those nice dates thinking I might be an escort?? And when he realised I wasn’t he looked for a real one ? Like he was disappointed that I wasn’t an escort? After 5-6 months of talking to me all day and night . I couldn’t not understand and will never understand .
Because of my promise I stayed and went to therapy ever since then he keeps saying I know all of his dark side and secrets and there is nothing else he would lie to me about. He’s been super apologetic and putting up with my anxiety and hearing out my hurt and looking for ways to fix our relationship and trust.
Our trip ended and we are doing long distance again and I told him I won’t be like before because it takes time to rebuild trust he understood and said it’s fair for me to look for things or have doubts . The other night i was looking at his email to make sure there are no more escort or things like that and I saw an email from a almost a year before me , it was from a flowegift shop that he has bought me flowers from which was very meaningful to me .
I saw that he had sent the same flower to that stripper girl that he claimed he was never in a relationship with only difference is hers was way more expensive and it had a note saying she is his world and there was another flower order worth 500$ sent to the same girl and the note was he is sorry for not keeping his promises and that he is in love with her more than he could have ever imagined.word for word of how he has apologised to me.
He has been telling me for over a year now that he never told that girl he loved her without me ever asking him . So I asked him if he has ever bought her flowers? But I also sent him a text saying he doesn’t owe me anything from his past and he shouldn’t worry about hurting my feelings and just tell me truth because I love him . He said no . Afew hours later he said he remembered that it was one time and it was from the same shop but what he got me was better and once again without me even asking he said no but I never loved her and never told her I lover her . I gave him the benefit of the doubt and asked if there is a chance he doesn’t remember ? Maybe because it was over text ? He said no there is no way he wouldn’t remember saying something like that .
I sent him the email and all he had to say was that he wasn’t lying he just didn’t remember… And he kept saying but that’s all , I never got her anything else (like that’s the point) but I also saw another email in his trash folder and it was another gift order to the same girl and he deleted that email the same day so there is no way he wouldn’t remember those gifts …
I’m so done and over the lies but I’m starting to blame myself for asking things for caring about the past , my mind keep telling me at least he didn’t cheat on you . But then I remember he lied to me about things I never even asked for cared about. I remember that he might have been interested in me because he thought I might be an escort not because of who I am .
He has been the kindest and nicest person to me and has done everything to make sure I’m okay during our relationship . Am I doing something wrong? What to do ? I’m so confused

Wife and I have been working on paying off some of our frivolous debt and working towards getting debt free in general. Have a ways to go here, but making good strides. Paid $17K off over the last few months, so good progress.
However, wife is out of town for work, at her home office. I talking with direct supervisor, she is in line for promotion which would require her to be in office, requiring a cross country move. Reality within the next 2-3 years out.
In thinking about this, makes me think that working on the high Interest debts are still a good thing, but things like our 2 car payments (loans at 3.95% each) and my student loans (2.9%) should not be priority because using that extra money in a HYSA or other investment vehicle would be more beneficial to finance a move and home purchase. I know a 1-3% difference in interest isn't huge, but definitely adds up and puts the money into a usable account.
My job is everywhere so relocating I may be out of work for a short time while moving, background check/drug test etc, so not terribly concerned about that.

here’s the situation I co-signed a vehicle loan for my daughter’s grandmother about a year ago. Loan was around 50k. The loan was joint and my name and her name was on the loan. She did her own registration and insurance and payments and i was not involved in any of that.
A couple of weeks ago, she was in an accident (no injuries) however the car was totalled. Obviously it’s an unfortunate situation as insurance wrote off the vehicle and didn’t pay off the entire loan amount, and 17k still remains on the loan
Anyways, she does need a vehicle and asked me if i would be willing to co-sign again on another vehicle and they can combine the 17k negative equity. I said I would be willing to try. However the first car sales people we talked to couldn’t get a joint loan for us. only a loan in only my name. I do not want this
we try another place, i told them, i’m not willing to do a loan in only my name, as i’m not willing to deal with issues of registration and insurance and there’s 0 chance that i will insure the car myself and add her as a driver on my insurance. They keep saying, we can do the loan in your name only, and add her on the bill of sale so she can do her own registration and insurance.
Is this true? can she insure the car with her and my name on the bill of sale and ONLY my name on the actual vehicle loan/finance contract? it doesn’t make sense to me and i can’t find a clear answer
TL;dr : can you finance a car in your own name, put the bill of sale in two names, where the second person can then register and insure the vehicle in their own name without the first persons name on any of the registration and insurance?

If someone who has considered bankruptcy or gone through it can offer any input that would be greatly appreciated!
I’ve been keeping track of my expenses but after 1.5 years my credit card keeps going up. This is mainly due to interest and unexpected expenses. I’m 25 and have 20K in credit card debt and 20k in student loan debt. I do not have anything in savings, 1K in investments from few years ago and roth from work. I have been looking through people’s experiences and reading over threads and feel like bankruptcy might be for me but I have been scared to even think about it. The only assets I really have are a car and what I listed above.
I have tried to reduce my use of credit cards and pay more than the minimum every month but barely making a dent. I tried looking at getting a different credit card with 0% APR but hard when my credit is bad from my cc debt. I understand it’s my fault for not budgeting, i mainly used to help my family out. I keep getting letters for loan consolidation but it seems to good to be true…if someone has done this I would love to hear personal experience!
My job also does not allow for me to have a second job which I know can help so I feel stuck (auditor). I make around $4k after taxes, and use 2.6k for living expenses (already reduced my living expenses, this is the lowest I could do and includes $200 i use to try to stretch through the month on grocceries) and the remaining 1.4k goes to my credit cards which $1,200 (includes minimum pmt and interest) so only $200 actually goes to paying it down.
I’m just not sure what to do and exhausted of stressing and being sleepless trying to figure out what to do. Any advice would be helpful.
I also understand this is my fault, I am much better with money but I just feel stuck in this cycle.

For background I'm 19 and I want to start saving/investing so that I can pay off my student loans when I get out of college or to start a business. I think that the best way to do that will be to just DCA into an index fund (VOO). So I really have 2 questions.

1. Is DCA-ing into an index fund the best way to go about it or is lump sum better in my position?
   
2. How would I go about DCA-ing? I use Charles Schwab and there is no automatic buy option to DCA that I could find.
   

Thanks!

My credit report says the amount in collections has been paid, but it is still a big drag on my credit score.
This was in late 2023, and I paid the amount as soon as I got a collections letter in the mail.
This all occurred because I changed cell phone providers, but I had no idea I supposedly owed another month of cell phone coverage. I had paperless billing and automatic bill payment, and so maybe this was the issue as to why I had no idea I had one more bill to pay after my account closed.
Is there a way to get this off my report?
I'm thinking about writing a letter to the 3 credit bureaus to get this removed. Something about it feels unfair that I was not properly notified of my last bill after my account closed. I think they should have mailed me my final bill since I no longer had an account.
I filed a dispute online months ago, and it came back as failed.

Apologies ahead of time if I provide too much or too little detail. I’m prepared to answer questions or clarify as needed.
In 2017 my mom arranged a cash out refinance on her condo in Colorado, at which point I took over all expenses, and she moved to Virginia to live with my aging aunt. I’m the youngest of her five children, three of whom had been estranged from my mom and each other for nearly ten years by the time she left the state. The intention of my moving in was to maintain the condo so it would be available for her to move back into one day, date unknown.
She had a fatal heart attack and passed away in August 2023. My one other sibling on speaking terms with her shared that she had named me as the executor of the will, but after going through everything, we found no will. Even with no will however, all four of my siblings were vocal that the condo should be mine as I was paying for it alone for the life of the current loan and have put time and effort into maintaining (redid the floors and remodeled the kitchen). The plan when starting the probate process was for them to renounce claim on the house and I would inherit alone allowing me to assume the loan under the existing terms (checked the contract, this is allowed).
The first issue came when the most estranged sibling attempted to use the death as a way to force a reluctant sibling to open communication. The attempt was unsuccessful and I received texts from the most estranged sibling expressing that he would not agree to that sibling being named as the personal representative, and that he expects “his 20% of the estate, including equity in the house.” The lawyer hired to start probate advised that because I was transferring the mortgage payments into a bank account with only my mom’s name on it, which then made payments to the mortgage company, that I had no legal right to the home so the ideal scenario would be to get the estranged sibling to sign off on renouncing by paying him out his 20%.
After breaking everything down it looks like we have two options. 1. Somehow convince estranged sibling to renounce entirely, because the reality is he owes so much in back child support and unpaid taxes he won’t get anything anyway. Or 2. Sell the house, his share goes to his ex wife and children, and the rest of us get 20% as well.
I’ve come to terms that I might lose my home and have to move, and if this is the case I’m even happy to give the estranged sibling’s share to his ex and children. 2 of the friendly siblings are on board to pay the taxes on their share and gift me the maximum so I can pay off debt and be able to afford the higher cost of renting in the area, or potentially as a down payment on a new home. The 3rd friendly sibling, who was at first the most vocal about not wanting anything from the estate, has since started commenting how a big check would be nice and questioning whether I’m entitled to the sale proceeds. This thought pattern has trickled to the other 2 where they now want to stipulate that if I should get to keep the house I should will it to the next generation. There are 8 grandkids between the four siblings, I have no children of my own. I find the questioning of my claim to be audacious, and I can’t find reason in my being made to will the house to anyone I don’t choose.
Do I have legal grounds to stand on in pursuing ownership of the home or full proceeds from a sale?

And that I should just try and use behavioural stuff learned at a support group, which I don't even need a diagnosis for, so why am I so set on getting one? [NB I am set on finding out if I actually have ADHD, not demnading a diagnosis.] He repeated this about ten times - apparently I just have to learn better coping techniques and organisational strategies. MY WHOLE LIFE IS A COPING STRATEGY AND THERE IS NO ORGANISATIONAL TECHNIQUE I HAVE NOT TRIED. (Also I've read the NICE guidelines - that is not what they say.)
The support group in question is one that I waited 7 months to hear back from after referral, who had just told me that it meets for 2 hours a week in the middle of a weekday afternoon.
I have a full time 9-5 job. Who already think I'm a flake because I need so much time off for medical stuff, which I then try to make up for by working late at night when I feel a focus binge coming on and generally flogging myself into a state of psychological collapse.
I also don't have a diagnosis because the distracted psychiatrist I FINALLY saw deemed me insufficiently impaired. During the consultation he *skim read* read the paperwork I submitted mnths before describing my issues that had not been included in my file; left the room three times to phone his pregnant wife after reading texts during the assessment I'd waited a year and a half for (his THREE MONTH pregnant wide it eventually turned out, not his "about to go into labour" wife as I had assumed); dimissed completely the relevance of my laundry list of blood relatives with serious mental issues (diagnosed, undiagnosed & partially diagnosed); and had zero interest in my questions about an underlying cause for the permanent depression and anxiety issues I've struggled with since my teen years, which are very poorly managed by my two plus decade long SSRI prescription (now changed to an SNRI prescription with very little impact except some horrible new side effects). He also failed to notice that I'd told him one of my parents is dead and the other insists that she can't remember anything about my childhood - and wrote that I "refused to approach parents for evidence" in his report. Oh and had indicated a prescription different from the one we agreed in the assessment.
I'm basically in despair at this point. Feeling entirely dismissed because I'm a late 40s woman who has spent her life furiously masking and burning out every 18 months or so. Apparently becoming unable to function for weeks to months every year and a bit is "not sufficiently impaired" and just means I have some "ADHD traits". I have a job and no active addictions so I cannot expect any actual help or to be taken seriously.
I'm in Scotland (Lothian), so I can see no hope of shared care if I was to go private and get a diagnosis, which will use up all of my spare £ as I already pay for private therapy in a deperate attempt to remain sort of functional. The GP surgery has anyway strongly discouraged any talk of seeking a private assessment/possible diagnosis. What the fuck am I supposed to do???
I have been trying to write a letter asking for a second opinion for 7 .5 months now - should I also make a formal complaint?