Category: Consumer Reports

How to Find and Cancel Unwanted Online Subscriptions

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Tired of paying for online subscriptions you no longer use but can’t quite figure out how to cancel? You’re not alone.

Streaming platforms like Netflix, cloud storage services like iCloud, and newspaper and music subscriptions often make it difficult to find the cancel function on their app or website. It’s also easy to simply forget about digital subscriptions you signed up for, especially ones started as free trials. Months can go by before you realize the provider is charging your credit card.

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How to Buy a Car From Another State

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Buying a car from out of state is becoming more common due to limited inventory, but it’s not without its potential pitfalls. 

When Colleen McDarby set out to buy an Audi Q8 last fall, she had no idea her search would lead to a dealership in Des Moines, Iowa, and end up involving a repair shop. 

McDarby, a federal employee, couldn’t find a vehicle with the features she wanted at dealers near her hometown in Centreville, Va. So she went to CarGurus, an automotive comparison shopping site, plugged in the details, and found an Audi dealer in Des Moines with the exact model. She purchased the vehicle in October. 

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How to Shop for Furniture

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If you’re considering investing in new furniture, you’re far from alone. A third of Consumer Reports members have purchased new furniture in the past two years, according to a new CR survey about the nation’s best furniture retailers.

But the survey, which collected responses in April 2020, doesn’t fully reflect how the coronavirus crisis has affected the furniture industry and furniture shoppers. Today, in addition to considering whether shopping online or in a store will be more effective, health concerns come into play. Being in a closed environment with shared air, settling into a sofa dozens of others have sat on, or touching the finish on a table that many other fingers have trailed across could come with a risk of virus exposure. 

If you decide to shop in person, call ahead to find out when the store is least likely to be crowded, or try to make an appointment. Ask about the store’s mask policy. Head out armed with your own mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer and—whether you opt for a walk-in store or a website—maximize your chances of a positive shopping experience by picking one of the retailers that earned top scores in CR’s new ratings. 

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Is Your Emergency Fund Big Enough?

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The recent federal government shutdown has underscored the importance of a basic financial planning rule: You need a rainy day fund to cover emergency expenses, such as a major home repair, medical bills, or a job loss.

But many Americans lack even a small amount of savings to help them through an emergency. As a recent report by the Federal Reserve found, 4 in 10 adults said they wouldn’t be able to cover a $400 emergency expense without having to borrow the money or sell something.

Without cash on hand to cover unexpected bills, families often end up opting for costly strategies, such as running up credit card balances. Federal workers had to turn to food banks or tap their retirement accounts, resulting in tax penalties. Granted, setting aside those dollars in a rainy day fund is a challenge for many families. It can also be difficult to figure out how much you should to stash away.

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5 Affordable Fall Travel Destinations

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Prime leaf-peeping season is fall-travelhere—and so are some great domestic fall travel deals. That should come as a relief to many consumers, given that Americans will spend an average of $2,836 per person to travel this fall—more than summer travel—according to travel insurance comparison site Squaremouth.

If you want to see the fall colors without spending a lot of money, plan a trip within driving distance of your home. The savings could be significant. According to financial research firm ValuePenguin, about 44 percent of travel costs for the typical U.S. family are for transportation.

Here are five fall travel destinations around the country that are affordable and offer some of the best fall foliage.

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A Rent-Back Agreement Can Protect Your New Home

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After months of house hunting, rentbackyou’ve finally found your dream home and the seller has accepted your bid. But there’s one problem—the seller isn’t ready to move out.

In such a case, a seller might want to go ahead and close on the home in order to have enough money to buy a new home. But in the interim, the seller needs a place to live. Linda Sanderfoot, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker in Neenah, Wisconsin says that if you decide to let the seller stay, a rent-back agreement can protect you.

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Make Your Home More Appealing to Young Buyers

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Millennials are powering the housing Milsbuyinghomemarket. For the third year in a row, Generation Y (age 18 to 35) comprised the largest group of homebuyers, making up 35 percent of all buyers, according to a March report by the National Association of Realtors.

If you’re considering putting your home on the market, you may want to think about doing some renovation work so that your home has greater appeal to younger homebuyers. That way, you may be able to sell your home more quickly and at the price that you want.

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