The new refinance plan is supposed to save homeowners an average of $3,000 per year by helping homeowners take advantage of the current, low mortgage rates.

The new Obama refinance program will be for homeowners previously not covered by the making home affordable program: homeowners who are current on their payments, but can’t finance because they are underwater or have a loan not owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Responsible Homeowner Refinance Plan

Here are some of the highlights of the refinance plan from the fact sheet released by the White House:

The refinancing program will be open to all non-GSE borrowers with standard (non-jumbo) loans who have been keeping up with their mortgage payments. The program will be operated through the FHA.

Simple and straightforward eligibility criteria: Any borrower with a loan that is not currently guaranteed by the GSEs can qualify if they meet the following criteria:

• They are current on their mortgage: Borrowers will need to have been current on their loan for the past 6 months and have missed no more than one payment in the 6 months prior.
• They meet a minimum credit score. Borrowers must have a current FICO score of 580 to be eligible. Approximately 9 in 10 borrowers have a credit score adequate to meet that requirement
• They have a loan that is no larger than the current FHA conforming loan limits in their area: Currently, FHA limits vary geographically with the median area home price – set at $271,050 in lowest cost areas and as high as $729,750 in the highest cost areas
• The loan they are refinancing is for a single family, owner-occupied principal residence. This will ensure that the program is focused on responsible homeowners trying to stay in their homes.

In addition, borrowers won’t have to submit a new appraisal or tax returns. Eligibility will be based only on the banks confirming employment.

Underwater loans will be eligible, but the LTV doesn’t appear to be set yet:

The Administration will work with Congress to establish risk-mitigation measures which could include requiring lenders interested in refinancing deeply underwater loans (e.g. greater than 140 LTV) to write down the balance of these loans before they qualify.

Now the plan must get approval from Congress…

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Here are the official details of the positions. If you have any questions, just let me know.

Personal Finance Staff Writers

My Dollar Plan Writing Topics

My Dollar Plan is a personal finance site focused on covering retirement planning, taxes, investing, and credit cards in depth. In addition, other topics are also featured on the site including frugality, debt, budgeting, college savings, couponing and deals. If any of those topics caught your eye, keep on reading!

Qualified Applicants

Applicants should have a knowledge of various personal finance topics, strong writing skills, and the ability to connect with readers on a personal level. To put it more simply, if you would be interested in reading it here, it would probably be interesting for other readers.

Writing Requirements

Article topics are based on assignments for current events and seasonal topics, reader questions, and your own ideas from the topics above. Writing requirements include:

• Minimum of 1 post per week, at least 500 words or more.
• Responding to comments and questions from readers on your articles.

Payments

Payments are based per article, with various seasonal incentive bonuses. Incentives and increases are based on the popularity of your articles, writing style, and connection with the readers.

How to Apply

To apply, send a sample article on a personal finance topic to articles@mydollarplan.com with the subject title: Staff Writer for consideration.

Please include your per article rate requirements, and which topics you feel you would be most qualified to write about. Also include any relevant background information about yourself that you want us to know. And finally, let us know if you have your own site or have any links to samples of your writing.

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How to Get Your $25 Statement Credit

1. Starting in early November, register your American Express card for Small Business Saturday.
2. On November 26, 2011, (that’s the day after Black Friday) use your registered card for a purchase of at least $25 at a small business near you.
3. Receive a $25 statement credit from American Express!

American Express Terms and Conditions

• One-time statement credit.
• To receive credit, spend $25 or more on Small Business Saturday at any qualifying small business that accepts American Express.

More on Small Business Saturday

Small Businesses. Get creative when thinking of which businesses you want to support – small restaurants, bars, dry cleaners & nail salons are all good places to start!

Stack it. You can also take advantage of the Free American Express $25 Gift Card from FedEx for the Small Business Saturday promotion.

The extension. Last year, American express extended Small Business Saturday until the end of the year. However, since we don’t know if they’ll extend it this year, make sure you take advantage of the $25 on Nov. 26.

American Express Cards. If you don’t have an American Express card yet, now is a great time to get one in time for the Small Business Saturday promotion. Our favorites include:

• Costco American Express
• Starwood American Express
• Blue Cash Preferred American Express

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In addition to the Gift Card Deals we covered recently, here are more discounts and opportunities to stretch your shopping budget.

Here’s a list of shopping bonuses and deals for the last minute shoppers this week:

Merchandise

Amazon. Amazon is offering free 2 day shipping until 7 pm PST today with Free Amazon Prime for Parents or Free Amazon Prime for Students.

Best Buy. Reward Zone members are getting a $10 or $20 gift certificate from Best Buy to use by December 25. You get $20 if your last purchase was between October 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010, and $10 if your last purchase was between May 1, 2010 to November 7, 2010.

Target. Target is giving REDcard customers a 5% discount on all purchases made online or in stores with a Target credit or debit card or a Target Visa card.

Toys “R” Us. The Toys “R” Us loyalty program is tripling its rewards dollars to 10% on purchases made in stores or online through December 24. Madison ordered a bunch of presents there and plans to cash in on the 10% rewards.

Magazines.com. Magazines.com is having a “secret sale” until December 24. You can stack the deals with 26% cash back from Ebates and the code holidaymags.

Credit Cards

American Express. American Express is offering a $25 American Express Shopping Bonus to customers who shop at small businesses this holiday season.

Chase. Chase is adding discounts for redemptions and more opportunities to earn points through its Ultimate Rewards program.

Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo credit and debit card holders can earn up to 16 points for every dollar spent through their online shopping portal through 12/31/10.

Citi. Through 12/31/10, each time Citi customers make a purchase, they’ll be entered to win a prepaid credit card between $10 & $10,000. You’ll have to register your card first.

Discover. Discover cardholders earn 2% cash-back on online purchases of up to $1,000 and 5% on up to $300 spent at restaurants, department stores & clothing stores through 12/31/10.

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The house passed the $6 billion cash for caulkers program yesterday, so I’m sure we’ll be hearing lots about it in the next few weeks.

Apparently the “cash for stuff” names are sticking after the cash for clunkers program last year.

Cash for Caulkers

Details on the rebates for renovating your home with the homestar program include:

• $1,000 – $1,500 Silver Star Rebates: Consumers looking to have simple upgrades performed in their homes would be eligible for 50% rebates up to $1,000 – $1,500 for doing any of a straightforward set of upgrades, including: insulation, duct sealing, water heaters, HVAC units, windows, roofing and doors. Under Silver Star, consumers can chose a combination of upgrades for rebates up to a maximum of $3,000 per home. Rebates would be limited to the most energy efficient categories of upgrades—focusing on products made primarily in the United States and installed by certified contractors.
• $3000 Gold Star Rebates: Consumers interested in more comprehensive energy retrofits would be eligible for a $3,000 rebate for a whole home energy audit and subsequent retrofit tailored to achieve a 20% energy savings in their homes. Consumers could receive additional rebate amounts for energy savings in excess of 20%. Gold Star would build on existing whole home retrofit programs, like EPA’s successful Home Performance with Energy Star program.

Sorting out the Energy Programs

The cash for caulkers program is different than the energy efficient tax credit ending this year. And if it goes through as planned, you might want to wait, because a 50% rebate could be worth much more than the current 30% tax credits.

Next up, a vote in the Senate. We’ll see if the Homestar cash for caulkers program will become law. Until then, hold off on the home improvement projects!

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What happens to your old $100 bills? No worries, they’re still valid and you don’t need to trade them in.

Picture of the New $100 Bill

The new 100 dollar bill shows phrases from the Declaration of Independence and the quill the Founding Fathers used to sign. Here is a picture of the new 100 dollar bill from the front:

The back of the new 100 dollar bill has a new enlarged vignette of Independence Hall. It shows the back instead of the front of the building. Here is an image of the new 100 dollar bill from the back:

New $100 Bill

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has an educational website which includes all kinds of information, more than I ever needed to know, about our money and the new 100 dollar bill.

Did you know the $100 bill is the most widely circulated? I sure didn’t!

Security Features

Of course, the new 100 dollar bill has a few new security features to prevent counterfeiting. They include:

• New: The Blue 3-D Security Ribbon on the front of the new $100 bill contains images of bells and 100s that move and change from one to the other as you tilt the note.
• New: The Bell in the Inkwell changes color from copper to green when the note is tilted, an effect that makes it seem to appear and disappear within the copper inkwell.
• Portrait watermark of Benjamin Franklin
• Security thread
• Color-shifting numeral 100

Now that you know what the new 100 dollar bill looks like, it’s time to make your money work harder.

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Last year, months after April Fools’ Day was over, I was talking to a friend and we started talking about the website; she thought I had sold the website. I realized at that moment, that she never realized I was joking last year.

So this year, I was determined to make it very obvious, like Google changing its name to Topeka, so just in case, after today, people would know I was joking.

Obvious… or Maybe Not…

I thought something so extreme, so out of character, would be perfect. The idea for Planning a $100,000 Strategic Default was born!

I love my readers. Each and every one of you! Even my most gullible readers….

Mark was ready to attack:

I was totally going to put in a comment questioning your judgment (and possibly moral character) until I saw the other comments and realized I’d been had. Happy April Fool’s Day!

Even some long time readers who knew it was coming still did a double-take. Stephanie’s comment was priceless:

I’m so glad I jumped to your site today to comment. I know you play April Fools jokes on us each year and yet I was caught on this one! Good Job!

I was already to rant about lack of responsibility and accountability being a huge part of the problem with our economy today.

Thanks for reminding me to not believe everything I read on the ‘net.

The True Story

Don’t worry readers, of course I’m not going to default on anything! Everything I own, including this website is very closely intertwined with my credit and my ability to secure financing for my legitimate ideas.

But beyond that, my parents raised me to work hard, save a lot, and buy only what you can afford. It would never even cross my mind to default on a promise to pay. Of course, they also taught me to be light-hearted and enjoy April Fools’ Day too!

Now, stay on your toes the rest of the day….

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We were eligible to take the home office tax deduction and self employed tax deductions. As the financial guru of our household, I gladly take the reins on taxes. However, all of these tax situations are new to me, and so I was particularly eager to try out the TurboTax 2009 software that touts itself as “GPS for your Taxes”.

Overall I was very impressed with the product and its ability to take a complete novice with some very tricky tax situations and leave me feeling confident enough to submit my own taxes. There were also some frustrations, which you can read about below.

Immediate Tax Feedback

One neat feature of this product is a box at the top of each screen that automatically updates the amount of money you either owe or will receive from the government after each tax form that you input. Of course this was an exciting feature to me because with our tax deductions on purchasing our home and my fiancé’s 401k contributions, he was owed money by the government (think slot machine going up, up, up in green font). Unfortunately I owed money to the government, so for me the number was red.

Access to Actual Forms

There is a button at the top right hand screen that you can use to look at the actual tax forms with all of the information you have inserted. This was particularly helpful to me as I was unsure of a few areas based off of the prompted questions, and so I could clarify this by looking at the forms.

Different Degrees of Help Available

TurboTax gives you the option of guiding you through each of the sections through the button “Guide Me”, or to explore the forms as needed through the button “Explore on my Own”. Of course I used the “Guide Me”, and was thankful for the simple and intuitive yes/no questions it asked.

Import Tax, Asset, and Other Information

Another neat and convenient feature is the number of forms and asset/tax information that can be automatically imported into this program. My W-2 and mutual fund information (from being sold) were both imported.

Also, there is a neat website called “ItsDeductible” which helps you put a dollar figure to any physical donations you have made through the year. You simply search for the item, and then choose the amount that is suitable, based on condition. The value is based upon the value of the same items sold on eBay. You can also visit the ItsDeductible website and keep track of all of your charitable donations throughout the year, and then import this information directly into TurboTax next year.

Frustrations

My experience with this program was not without its frustrations. One of the biggest issues was that my computer failed to allow the text from pop-up explanation windows. The actual window would pop-up, but there would be no text. This gave me headaches, and I had to search on the internet for answers in some areas. I attempted to call the TurboTax people, but was not given a call back in time for the writing of this article. When I did my own tax return on the online version of TurboTax, the pop-ups did come up. Also, my fiancé works in IT, and he could not figure out the software problem.

The second frustration was with the home office tax deduction. I had specific questions that needed to be answered, and the prompted questions from the software were not as helpful as it could have been. Because I was unable to get the software to work so that the pop-ups worked, I could not access immediate help from the program itself and get my questions answered.

As of the writing of this article, I am still waiting on the TurboTax people to respond to me. Hopefully, when it gets closer to the tax deadline, they will respond faster to their users.

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To celebrate My Dollar Plan’s one millionth visitor, it’s time for a giveaway! What a perfect way to celebrate Free Money Friday, since the one millionth visitor will be stopping by sometime this weekend. (We’re at 997,797 right now!)

I’m giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card! I love Amazon, and since the holidays are getting closer, it’ll come in handy for the lucky winner.

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

I like easy giveaways, so to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment and answer the following:

What is your favorite book about finances and why?

By the way, my favorite is Your Money or Your Life.

The giveaway will end October 9, 2009 at midnight central time. The winner will be announced on October 10.

Leave your answers in the comments.

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And of course, August usually means the kids will be going back to school shortly. When the back to school sales start popping up, it reminds me that summer is almost over… and September is just around the corner.

Popular in August 2008

1. 7 Sneaky Ways Your Health Insurance Can Save You Money
2. 12 Ways the Olympics Can Impact Your Finances
3. Back to School Savings Challenge
4. Digging Out of Dirt and Debt
5. IRS Loses Lawsuit: Refunds for 30 Million Policyholders Possible
6. Unconventional Roth IRA Strategy to Lower Tax Bill

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Want to do the same? If you keep a lot of email, take a glance at some of the emails from last July… I’ll be curious to hear what you find!

Popular in July 2008

1. 10 Important Tasks for Your Mid Year Checkup
2. 7 Ways to Payoff Credit Card Debt
3. 12 Tips to Prepare Your Finances for Vacation
4. I Quit!
5. Tax Savings: How to Deduct Mileage on Your Personal Car
6. 10 Step Plan for Debt Elimination
7. Downsizing It All – Your Work, Your House, and Your Life
8. 4 Things to Consider When Picking the Right Investments

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Here were the most popular articles that were written in June 2008. Many of them still have a lot of relevance this year!

Popular in June 2008

1. New Grads: 29 Money-Smart Tips
2. 10 Financial Tips for New Grads
3. 11 Fun & Frugal Summertime Activities
4. How to Handle Irregular Paychecks
5. We Sold My Car! What Worked and What Didn’t
6. What is Credit Card Arbitrage?
7. Small Business Problem: Advertiser Bounced a Check!
8. Free FICO Scores & Credit Reports

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Here were the most popular articles from last May. Obviously, many of them are still very relevant today, even though the economy has changed considerably from a year ago.

Popular in May 2008

1. Plan Ahead: 6 Steps to Secure Your Financial Future
2. Credit Card Arbitrage Q&A
3. Turn Your Wasted Money Into a Debt Reduction Plan
4. 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers
5. Frugal Tips I Can’t (or Won’t) Do
6. What Happened to My Cell Phone?
7. It’s Wedding Season! Tips to Keep the Costs Down
8. Free Magazines: Finance, Business, and More!

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How to Submit an Article

1. Send your submissions to articles@mydollarplan.com for consideration.
2. Text format is preferred, but I’ll also accept submission in email or word documents.
3. Feel free to include any relevant information about yourself that you want me to know.

Requirements

• The content should be a personal finance related topic. If you’re unsure if your article would be appropriate, feel free to contact me first.
• Include a short bio with a link to your site, if applicable.
• The guest post must be YOUR original content and not previously published elsewhere.
• Relevant links are encouraged; but please don’t include affiliate links or keyword links back to your site.

The Fine Print

The offer wouldn’t be complete without including all the official mumbo jumbo, would it? Prepare yourself for the really exciting part…

By submitting an article you are granting me the right to publish it at mydollarplan.com and are agreeing not to submit or publish it elsewhere. Your article may be syndicated by other partner sites but you will always be attributed.

I do not guarantee all articles will be published. I will only publish quality content that I feel readers will benefit from. I reserve full editorial rights, and may add or delete content and links and edit for grammar or clarity.

… I told you it was exciting! Now, go get started on your guest post!

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Of course it was only fitting to follow it up this year with For Sale: My Dollar Plan. For my dearly gullible readers, thanks for all the well wishes! I truly appreciate your thoughts!

And even though I’m not selling, there was some truth in there. Yes, we really are having a baby this summer and we did come to a decision about downsizing. Check back tomorrow to see the results.

Happy April Fools’ Day… now stay on your toes the rest of the day!

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