TessMore Finance Blog

Financial fraud is a common occurrence in today’s world. For that reason, you must know how to verify funds on a check if you accept checks as payment for a product or service. Verifying funds on a check is an easy but important step you can take to avoid getting scammed out of your money. In this article, I’ll show you how to verify funds on a check and uncover some check-writing scams you should be aware of.  Table of Contents Verifying Funds on a Check Verify the Issuer’s Legitimacy Search Contact Information for the Issuing Bank  Call the Issuing Bank for Verification  Deposit the Check as Soon as Possible  4 Common Check-Writing Scams Lottery Scams Online Auction Scams Personal Assistant Scams Job Offer Scams Check Fraud Red Flags Someone Asks to Exchange a Check for Cash Nervous or Shifty Behavior Contradictory Information  Checks That Don’t Look Legitimate Go with Your Gut Steps to Take if You Get Scammed Call Your Local Po...

After driving through a mix of slushy snow and road salt this past winter, your car is probably in need of a little TLC. We sought out tips from auto experts at CarMax and the Car Care Council on what car owners ought to take care of before embarking on a spring road trip. Remember, regularly keeping up with vehicle maintenance is generally less expensive than dealing with a major repair due to lack of upkeep. 7 Spring Car Care Tips Heed this advice to keep your car in good shape for spring — and the rest of the year. 1. Remove Dead Leaves and Debris Take the time to brush out all the dead leaves and debris that may have gathered under your hood or along your roof crevices. They could block air intakes, which may hurt your vehicle’s performance, or clog the drain holes in your sunroof gutters. 2. Remove Your Winter Tires If you switched to winter tires to handle driving in snowy conditions, you’ll want to swap them back out in the spring. The knobbier tires may lower your car...

Quick Navigation Jobs That Pay for College Tuition for a Four-Year Degree Waste Management Target Chipotle Disney Starbucks Boeing Walmart and Sam’s Club Papa John’s Discover T-Mobile Verizon Jobs that Offer Limited Tuition Reimbursement or Assistance Amazon BP Home Depot Taco Bell KFC Intel Pilot and Flying J Wells Fargo Bank of America Tuition Assistance for College Employees’ Families Tuition Assistance Sounds Great! Is There a Catch? A competitive labor market means employers are in wooing mode. Expect to see more companies offering better perks and benefits as competition remains high for workers to fill vacant jobs. One of the most valuable of those perks: full or partial college tuition paid by your employer. We found a few companies that pay for a full ride in higher education. More common are assistance programs that reimburse or cover a capped annual amount toward a degree at a community college, technical school or four-year college. Many comp...

Many families struggle just to manage minimum payments while incurring even more debt from predatory interest rates — the average annual percentage rate (APR) for new credit cards surpassed 18% in 2022. In short, credit card debt can be debilitating. While there are several options available to those struggling (the debt avalanche and debt snowball methods, personal loans and even debt settlement), one of the easiest and most manageable — when done right — is a credit card balance transfer: taking outstanding debt from one or more cards and shifting it all onto one (more manageable) credit card. What Is a Balance Transfer Credit Card? Balance transfer credit cards are normal credit cards with a balance transfer perk. A card with a balance transfer option allows you to move a balance — or multiple balances — from one card to another. It doesn’t matter if you move balances from Visa to Discover or from a store credit card to a new Mastercard. However you usually can’t transfer bala...

If you’re a Lyft or Uber driver, you already know how important it is to track your mileage and expenses. You’ll need that information come tax time to make sure you’re squeezing out every last penny in deductions. But rideshare drivers aren’t the only people eligible for mileage tax deductions. If you drive your personal vehicle for other kinds of paid work or use it for charitable, moving or medical purposes, you may also qualify for a standard mileage rate deduction. Back in the old days, tracking mileage meant pulling a crumpled notebook out of the glove box and hoping your pen wasn’t out of ink. But now there’s an app for everything — including mileage tracking. Here are our favorites. Best Mileage Tracker Apps Mileage Tracker App Cost Tracks business expenses with bank account syncing? Good for both individuals and small biz owners? Everlance Free or starts at $60/yr Yes Yes SEE DETAILS Stride Free No No SEE DETAILS TripLog Free or...

There was a time when you had to explain to those in the 9-to-5 world what it really means to work from the couch or hang out in loungewear all day long, that’s no longer the case. Since the pandemic pushed so many people into working from home temporarily or permanently, the life of an independent contractor isn’t so difficult to envision now. To be clear though, being an independent contractor is nothing like working from home when a paycheck still comes regularly and the company is taking out the taxes for you. How you file taxes is different from what your W2 counterparts do, and that’s the most important administrative thing that sets you apart. Whether you’re considering making the big leap into the world of freelancing or you’re already in the deep end, your tax situation doesn’t have to be that complicated. Here’s what you need to know about paying taxes as an independent contractor. Paying Taxes as an Independent Contractor Before we get started, we need to stress we’r...

You can use vinegar for a zillion things besides salad dressing. Well, maybe not a zillion but at least two dozen. Vinegar is one of the most versatile items in your home. A gallon of distilled white vinegar can be had for under $3 at Walmart, maybe even less at dollar stores. That’s 128 ounces and many uses call for less than a cup. A little goes a long way. Word of caution. Use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar for all of the below. Save your fancy balsamic vinegar for the dressing. That goes for red wine vinegar and other flavored vinegars, like champagne. There are so many uses for vinegar. Plan on using it to clean and freshen, indoors and outdoors. Most of the time you will be just mixing equal parts vinegar with water. If you rinse out and reuse spray bottles, you will be saving big bucks throughout the year. Difference Between Diluted Vinegar, Distilled White Vinegar and Apple Cider Vinegar Diluted vinegar is exactly that — vinegar that has been thinned with water. It c...