Before You Pay Your Taxes with a Credit Card, Crunch Some Numbers.

April 15th is fast approaching and you know what that means--it's time to pay your taxes.  If you owe the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) money for the 2014 tax year, you may be thinking, let me put it on my credit card.  After all, it's convenient, and you'll get miles (or points or cash back). What a deal!  You pay your taxes, and you can put the miles towards that GoPro mount you've been wanting since last summer!

Before you whip out the plastic, you should crunch some numbers.  You can pay the IRS using a credit card via one of their payment processors, but you'll be slapped with a "convenience fee" ranging from 1.87% to 2.35% of the amount you charge on your card.  If you e-file and use the integrated credit card option, you'll still end up paying a fee.  These "convenience fees" range from 2.35% to 3.93%.

So let's say you owe the federal government $4,500. You have the Delta SkyMiles Credit Card and earn 1 mile per dollar spent.  You've done your research and know that the GoPro mount you want costs 4,500 miles.  You don't want to pay anymore than you have to, so you use the payment processor with the smallest convenience fee--1.87%.  Perfect!  Pay your taxes with plastic, get your GoPro mount to film your surf sessions this summer!

Not so fast.  You won't be paying $4,500, you'll be paying $4,500 plus an $84.15 "convenience fee" (4,500*0.0187).  Is that GoPro mount worth $84.15?  Nope.  You can buy it directly from GoPro's website for $19.99 and get free shipping!

Unless your credit card offers you a cash back percentage that is higher than the convenience fee, stick to the old-fashioned personal check.

It's that time of the year again...FAFSA TIME!!

You probably remember filling out your FAFSA during your senior year of high school.  Did you know you have to fill it out every year if you want to continue receiving financial aid?  The FAFSA for the next school year always becomes available on January 1st.  Since some aid is given on a first come, first served basis, it's important to fill it out as soon as you can.  Haven't completed your taxes yet?  Just estimate your income based on last year's tax returns.  You can use the IRS data retrieval later to update the form.  And yes, you still must include your parents' income.  One year on a college campus doesn't make you an independent student in the eyes of the government, no matter how many loads of laundry you've managed to do on your own.

Check out the government's student aid website for more information.