Matt B

My wife has a lack of credit history. She doesn't have one single bad thing on her credit, but it's still just 670. I am needing to try and get the credit score up to 680 in order to get us on a conventional loan rather than an FHA loan on a home. There is enough money to easily pay the car off in the bank right now, but I'm trying to let her make payments to build credit. My question is... would paying a bigger chunk of what we owe on the car affect her credit score enough to get her up to 680?

I'm having a trust issue with a bank that i've been paired up with on a home purchase. Most of these trust issues have hinged on math that doesn't add up when I talk to the loan lady at my bank (who I may be able to get a conventional loan through). Here's my situation- My wife grew up in a family that saved up and paid off things in full rather than financed them. That's a very admirable policy, and one that leads to a lot less debt crisis in their lives. However, when I spotted this, I began trying to build her credit up. We've been working on this for a year, and today, her middle credit score is 670. Upon review, there are no negative reports on there, just a general lack of history. Every loan person I've talked to has completely shut me down and pushed me towards an FHA loan on a house. I don't want an FHA loan because it's over $100 a month difference in the wrong direction. I have seen a variety of information that says that her 670 credit score shouldn't be a problem so long as the loan-to-value is 90% or less. The loan lady I have talked to says that without 20% down there is no way we're going to be able to do a conventional loan. The house we are buying was last tax appraised at 167,900, and we are getting it for $125,000... While tax appraisals aren't the exact same as a bank appraisal, they are usually very close. We are looking at a loan to value on this home of approximately 75% right out the gate. I guess my question is this... Are the loan people I am talking to trying to turn a profit on making a sucker out of me, or are the things I've found concerning conventional loan standards untrue.

My air conditioner went out overnight Sunday night, and I reported it broken Monday morning. The contractors who are in charge of fixing air conditioners said they can have a new unit in place within 24 hours of getting the landlord's permission to install one. The landlord is taking forever on this, and it's been as hot as 92 degrees inside my apartment. I was wondering if I could a.) Get a hotel room, and deduct the expenses from my rent, or b.) Pay for the replacement unit and bill it back against rent. I live in Tennessee and have had a little trouble sorting for the actual laws regarding this. All I REALLY want is to be able to live in my apartment again. My rent is always paid on time, I have caused the landlord no issues, she's just a cheap person.

I was called back and offered a job today, but they asked if there was any reason why I would be unable to work 6 months without requesting a day off. I was up front with them and told them that I am getting married in June, and have already arranged the ceremony and honeymoon. They called back later and said that they would have to wait until after my honeymoon to re-consider me for hire. Is this anything more than an ethical wrong? Would there be a more wise way of going about this?

I'm trying to get a good idea together for a presentation, and I was wondering what things were really the biggest turnoffs about car dealerships. I think I would know of a few, but I'm curious as to what you would have to say.

Scientific law states that matter can be neither created nor destroyed, only change. This being the case, how did every single piece of everything in the world get here? Scientifically, it would have had to always have been here... but it had to have a beginning, right?

What I am hitting at is that if God was limited by science, He would not be God. Science would be God. The idea is that God created science to give us the ability to better understand the world we live in. But if you think science is a means to an end,that it has all the answers, you're hopelessly kidding yourself. I don't understand why the concept of a God who exists outside of time and has control over the universe is strange, yet a theory which states that something came from nothing even though that's impossible by scientific law is being taught as normal and truthful.

I would just suggest that people re-consider the idea of atleast teaching creationism as a possibility, because I don't believe it's as crazy as scientist make it out to be. I mean, how many books out there know more about their author than the author knows about himself? So why are we acting like we know that there couldn't possibly be a God who created everything since He had control of everything anyways. Your thoughts?

I've looked at American Eagle, Gap, Old Navy, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Goody's, Kohls, Nordstrom, Belk, Sears, JCPenney, Kenneth Lane..... And haven't found what she is looking for. She wants a short pea coat, bright red, with red buttons. No hood or belt.... Would anyone know where to look?

I've been praying about what to do in this situation, and I've asked around, and all of my responses have been true, but often contradicting. For our one year anniversary, I'm wanting to give my girlfriend a promise ring, as a symbol that she can keep with her to know that I promise to always love her, and that when the time is right, that we'll be engaged/married. There are still too many things we both have to take care of before we are ready for that step. My question is this: Should I say anything to her parents about my plan to give her a promise ring before I carry out my plans? I've had people say "it's between the two of you and it's none of their business," but I'm not really thinking that's the right thing to do. I'm not a "behind their back" kind of person, and I want them to at least understand that my intentions are honorable. It's simply that I want her to have something special that she can always look at and say "I know he loves me." What should I do?

This is the advertising major in me coming out... asking the same general question with a twist...but anyways:

I'm aiming for a promise ring because:

1.) She said she doesn't want to be engaged before she turns 20. 2.) She still has another year and a half of college left, and I don't want to complicate that with wedding plans. 3.) I am graduating in December, and have many unanswered questions that a dad would want to know about before getting engaged.

From what responses I have gotten so far, it seems like the overall consensus is that the decision of giving a ring is strictly between me and my gf, but informing the parents would be a good thing to do.

Now with that in place... 1.) do you agree with the idea of "informing".... 2.) If so, what kind of details should I give and what might be best left unsaid, 3.) How should I best go about informing them (email, in person, on phone...) and 4.) As a parent, what (if any) questions would you want to ask me.

Hey, I asked this in another area and got a lot of mixed opinions, so I wanted to ask actual parents.

I'm planning on giving my girlfriend of one year a promise ring. There are definite reasons why we aren't going for an engagement ring: 1.) She doesn't want to be engaged before she turns 20, and she'll be a month shy of that... 2.) She still has another year and a half of college left, and I don't want her mixing school and wedding planning when she can't handle that, and 3.) I want to be more settled financially before taking that step.

Everyone in my other question seems to be in agreement that it's not as big of a deal because a promise ring is between her and me. But my question is.... in this situation, would you be more upset if I didn't say anything to you as a parent about this, or would it be better not to bring it up (because it might create anxiety thinking about having your only daughter one day moving out). Please be honest, I want to do this the RIGHT way.

My girlfriend and I have been dating for almost a year to the day. We've officially been together since November. My plan is to give her a promise ring on our anniversary. I have every intention of marrying her when the time is right. She still has some college ahead of her, so I don't want to complicate her getting her degree by getting her preoccupied with wedding planning.

Her parents seem to like me just fine. I know her mom really likes me a lot, her dad... doesn't hate me, he's just really quiet around me. I'm thinking it's that his daughter is his only child, and he's not too happy at the thought of her one day being gone from home. One of the unfortunate things is that he holds his courtship with his wife against us at times (they were together for 7 years before getting married, but they started dating at 15, she was almost 19, I was 22. ) I'm wondering if it would be better for me to talk to them about it first or not, and if so, what to say to them. Thanks!

If so, I was wondering what the rates might be. I can't find any information on the web whatsoever.

I'm 22 years old, and about to graduate from College (in December). So far I have lived at home, but upon graduating, I'm looking to move out on my own. I've been trying to calculate the cost for living on my own right now, but I'm wondering what kind of things I might be overlooking. I've factored in Utilities( cable, electricity, water), Car Insurance, Apartment Rent, Gas, Food, Telephone, and household items like toiletries and cleaning supplies. What other things might I have to factor in?

I just recently asked this girl to be my girlfriend, and she said yes, but a couple of days afterwards, this other guy that she had been hanging out with alluded to wondering if he and she(my girlfriend) were officially dating... She's a really nice girl, she has a hard time hurting peoples feelings, but it really feels like she's having "too" hard of a time letting this guy down. She showed me what she wrote him, and not once did she mention me. And the guy wrote back guilt tripping her, basically saying about all the fun things they did together, and saying that she will be the last person he'll ever date... it's just seeming like her feelings of sadness for letting this guy down are stronger than her feelings of happiness for me asking her to be my girlfriend. I don't really think I should step in and tell this guy the way it is, because it may well be none of my business, but I feel like I need to be doing something to fix this. How should I handle this situation?

There's a girl that I have known for almost a year now. I didn't really get a good chance to get to know her well until January of this year... we went out to lunch one day, and she SAYS she's interested in going out with me again. However, every time I try to set something up, it always seems to fall apart. I'm trying to be fair to her here without being overly-optimistic. My line of thinking is that if it was important to her that we go out again, she'd be doing more to make that happen. BUT, at the same time, I've always heard about how girls like to feel like a guy is "fighting for them" which makes me wonder if she's not seeing how much I want to go out with her.... so I was wondering what your thoughts are as to why she's behaving like this.

Alright, as bad as this may sound, my mother is all the time telling me that a girl EXPECTS to be kissed on the first date. I think that's a bunch of crap from back in the time when she dated. My rule is that unless I think that they had an absolutely wonderful time with me, and I feel like they definitely have an interest in me.... then so long as I'm interested in them, go for it. However, she says that no matter how the date goes, she's going to judge that first date on whether or not you kiss her... so I guess really, I wanted an honest opinion from the 18-25ish ladies as to how it really is. Should I just go for it if I enjoyed going out with the girl, or am I right to put more thought into how she might feel about me?

I'm single right now, there is no cheating on anyone at this point, however, I'm stuck. I still have some lingering feelings for my ex-girlfriend, mainly because what split us up wasn't something bad, and I really felt like we had the perfect connection to each other. The other x-factor is that she currently lives over 2000 miles away. There is a girl that lives much closer that I have met since we split up, and I've realized that she has all the things that I loved about my ex-girlfriend, but she's going to a Christian college (which is great, except for the fact that if she goes on two dates with a guy, he's proposing....), and thirdly, there's a girl that goes to college with me. I do like her, and I think she likes me too. I can't say that she's like the other two because I haven't seen that in her. She has said since I met her that she really wasn't looking for any relationship with anyone, but time may have changed that. Is there a right way to go?

I'm single right now, there is no cheating on anyone at this point, however, I'm stuck. I still have some lingering feelings for my ex-girlfriend, mainly because what split us up wasn't something bad, and I really felt like we had the perfect connection to each other. The other x-factor is that she currently lives over 2000 miles away. There is a girl that lives much closer that I have met since we split up, and I've realized that she has all the things that I loved about my ex-girlfriend, but she's going to a Christian college (which is great, except for the fact that if she goes on two dates with a guy, he's proposing....), and thirdly, there's a girl that goes to college with me. I do like her, and I think she likes me too. I can't say that she's like the other two because I haven't seen that in her. She has said since I met her that she really wasn't looking for any relationship with anyone, but time may have changed that. Is there a right way to go?