I still haven't received any of my W-2s. I can do my taxes based solely on how much interest my savings account made, but I think that would be kind of fraudy.

Lilty, in thinking about your credit question, my guess is that having a credit history is good, but leaving open lines of credit willynilly (even if you've chopped up the card) is bad. You want to establish that you can be trusted with money, but if you have 10+ credit cards (even if some of them are store cards) then the lender may look at you funny.

Of course, I had a Sears card for 4 years without using it, and it was only a case of theft/fraud that got me off my duff to close it officially.

Jesse if you get too productive you will miss your napportunity.

Shit! I'd better get cracking on that nap, then...or, I mean, on the taxes and shit.

If you aren't useing the card - close it. exception - If you are getting a loan soon - don't , because that looks funny too. At least this was my understanding from our morgage loan officer.

I still haven't received any of my W-2s.

yes. this.

Gah! Work is really getting in the way of what I'd like to get done today.

1099 INT? Is that the form your bank sends you to say how much interest you earned?

I haven't gotten my W-2, but I want to at least calculate all my taxes early this year. I got a big refund last year, and why not get it sooner? Or if I have to shell out (as is more normal), I want lead time.

Oh, such a sense-making paragraph, yet I've never done the arithmetic before April.

Kristin, are you going into New York or is he filming elsewhere tonight?

It's not TDS; he's appearing in Hartford for "An Evening with Jon Stewart" tonight. I have bad seats, I mean, REALLY bad seats. I don't care. He sold out the entire Bushnell (decent sized theatre) for two shows. It should be incredible.

Details! We demand details!

I'll post all about it tomorrow.

DW says:

It is better to have the accounts open, than to close them. It looks bad to the creditors if you close a bunch of cards out. As long as they are open and active, they show you with more credit unused (which is a good thing.) The comment about having too much open credit usually means having lots of open Bank cards with balances.

What if they're open and inactive?

1099 INT? Is that the form your bank sends you to say how much interest you earned?

That, and a couple of variations. I get some amalgamated "This replaces 1099-E, 1099-R, and FXPQABC-1-Z for your tax preparation purposes" statement from my credit union.

I also get the form that says how much interest I paid on my student loans in a year, so they usually cancel each other out anyway.

Hmm. Thanks for all the info- I may keep the Best Buy card open, at least as long as the service plan on my iPod is valid, but not use it. I don't have mountains of cards or anything, although more than I'd like. And I try to make a mental note to check my balances online regularly, even for cards that I don't use, to make sure no one is using them.