I am a service member stationed overseas from NY and I am trying to have my state taxes withholding exempted, usually the military uses dd2058-1 but I fall under group B in the other form but they won’t accept it, is there any other way I can try to stop the deductions or someone I can talk to?
I'm at a loss trying to deal with finance.
Scenario:
Member is unmarried with newborn child.
Mother is non-military.
Agreement of 50/50 custody with no paperwork or child support.
Finance is requesting paperwork that doesnt meet any of this criteria, but won't update the BAH until something is provided.
Anyone have a suggestion or course of action? I've been browsing 65-116.
I had switched from active duty to reserves and for the first time ever, I used my GTC to pay for my flight to drills ($307). I followed the instructions to submit a voucher and although I thought I submitted it, I never did. The entire time I whole heartledly beleived it was paid for. A year later, GTC had tacked on around $200 in late and enrollment fees then closed my account. When I found out, I attempted to reach out to my old unit and they said they cant pay for it nor will my new unit.
What are my options/what should I do? I do not mind paying out of pocket since it was my mistake but when I tried, it doesn't even recognize my account number.
Also, they fully outprocessed me, but I still have my gear, cant login to SEAMs because my cac is expired and I dont have access to a base and my unit was in a different state. I feel pretty fucked ngl.
Hey guys - separated back in May. Sold like 40 days of leave so I just about broke even on my last paycheck haha (My YN didnt stop special duty pay, sea pay, sea pay premium or sub pay, so i owed all of that back for the month of terminal leave I took). My boat went underway the day I started terminal so a bunch of things got messed up, including that my terminal leave chit sent to them was an old one before I had to re-route it, so i was also owed a week extra of those pays, but that's hardly the important part.
On my separation worksheet, it says I was owed 27 cents of BAQ, i figure because 1 cent per day and i separated on the 27th. I called mncc a few times, they put in tickets with virginia but they keep getting closed with no resolution. I want to make sure that I am in the right here.
As a note, I separated from Guam to Pennsylvania.
So I am about to reenlist and I’m getting 30k for 3 years the tax they take from my bonus would I be able to get some of that back this coming tax return season?
**I’m currently in the navy as a MMN and I hit my 24 month mark for a star reenlistment. If I reenlisted for 2 more years I can get a 140k bonus (actually 98k paid in one lump sum installment of 49k and the rest paid out over the rest of my contract). I can also increase my monthly pay by about 2.2k a month tax free (getting access to BAH). I’ve been on my ship for 2 months and have about 3.5 years left to go on my contract. The job is challenging but I think I could manage an additional 2 years. My ultimate goal is an early retirement (40 is the goal) so this lump sum upon reenlistment is very attractive to me. I currently have 51k in my Roth, 38k in my tsp, 20k in my HYSA and 72k in my Schwab at 25. I have a yearly income of 40k with a yearly expenses totaling 6k and majority of my money left after expenses go towards saving and investing (fun spending has never gone over 5k in a year while ive been in the navy). With the star reenlistment I’d rank up (\~5k more a year) and get access to BAH (26k a year tax free)**
**The upside is a large lump sum towards my brokerage, (I max my Roth each year) and getting closer towards my early retirement with more money compounding earlier.**
**The downside is that navy nukes have a very solid job outlook/network so I could expect to earn 90k+ once I separate from the navy. I would be taking time way from a higher earning civilian career (but also would have to shoulder costs like rent and healthcare). Mathematically, all other things aside does it make send to reenlist for this bonus and spend 2 more years in the navy? My main reason for doing it would be to put that lump sum into my brokerage to accelerate my retirement timeline.**
Does anyone know the current per diem for Misawa? Is it meals plus incidentals 83+21 = $104?
I’m supposed to be picking up a UHall trailer tomorrow for my PCS. I was wondering if I can go and weigh my truck without the trailer or do I need to have the truck and trailer both empty before I weigh. I’ve seen multiple answers I just want clarification on the correct way to go about it. TIA
I’m stationed in California and my home of record is New York. My current car has NY plates and i’m trying to buy a new car and have my NY plates transferred to it. The dealership keeps telling me it has to be registered in California for it to be driven off the lot and the only way I could register in NY is if it was shipped there. This is what they sent me when I kept pressing the issue.
“California Law: Legal Requirements for Leaving the Lot
• Temporary License Plates: Under California law (AB 516), if a vehicle does not have permanent metal plates to transfer, the dealer must print and securely mount scannable paper temporary plates on the front and back. [1 (https://www.iadac.org/blog/2022/03/22/2019-New-Laws-7), 2 (https://scalirasmussen.com/insight/2019/01/08/dealer-alert-temporary-license-plates), 3 (https://www.dealereducator.com/2025/09/07/california-temporary-license-plate-requirements/)\]
•
• Expiration Date: These temporary tags remain valid for 90 days, giving the California DMVenough time to process and mail the permanent metal plates and registration card. [1 (https://www.iadac.org/blog/2022/03/22/2019-New-Laws-7), 2 (https://www.dealereducator.com/2025/09/07/california-temporary-license-plate-requirements/), 3 (https://glasseylaw.com/failure-to-provide-vehicle-registration/)\]
•
• Dealer Filing Deadlines: The dealership is legally required to submit the registration paperwork and fees to the DMV within 20 days for a new vehicle, or 30 days for a used vehicle. [1 (https://www.autolawfirm.com/blog/2024/02/california-dealership-failed-to-transfer-title-learn-your-legal-rights/)\]
•
• No Bill of Sale Exceptions: Driving with only a bill of sale and no plates or temporary tags is illegal and can result in a citation by law enforcement. [1 (https://www.quora.com/In-the-state-of-California-lets-say-I-just-bought-a-car-yesterday-and-im-driving-it-around-with-no-license-plate-but-I-have-bill-of-sale-Can-I-still-get-a-ticket-for-not-having-any-plates-or-even-temporary-plates)\]”
I feel like this doesn’t really have anything to do with what they are trying to tell me because I know that I don’t have to register in California. What is the simplest way that I can go about this? Temporary tags and register with NY myself?
Does anyone know of any good technical master programs that can be (mostly) covered with TA? I've been looking at Georgia Tech online masters of comp sci and analytics, but I would still have to pay out of pocket. I'm not sure if there's a better use case of TA so any info would be helpful
Hey ladies and gents, I could use some guidance on the following.
About 8 months ago I separated from the Army. Before that I had been a part of the Southern Border Operation in Texas. We used for the majority of my stay, a GTCC. When I got back to home station to get out I filed all my travel vouchers with the receipts I had, little did I know that while I was away dealing with border crossings and guard duty. The government had shut down and was still shut down by the time I got back to base.
When the government temporarily re-opened which was about 2 months later, I was nearly out rushing around base clearing out of post and all that fun jazz, when the civilians checking the travel vouchers came back to work they immediately pushed it back citing error.
Now ensues a whole 2 month long battle trying to get everything corrected and sent out to get reimbursed.
I get the final thing done after two months and that's all I hear from it.
Until last week where I now find out I'm considered delinquent.
I reach out to my S8 office who promptly disregard and leave me hanging. I reached out again to the Agency Coordinator of my previous unit who states they will refund 1/3rd of the Card owed.
And have since then, even with all the receipts I STILL HAVE! Haven't said a word to me since then.
I just need some help if there's anything I can do to relieve this debt because the voucher every time it got submitted, got pushed back for error after error.
I really need help, I've been losing sleep to it and I don't have the funds to pay it all off.
Thanks for reading if you stayed this long.
TL:DR: Big Gov messed up, rejected travel voucher, now stuck with big booboo debt.
I finally have enough equity to refinance out of my FHA loan, and now I’m not sure if I should switch to a VA loan. The VA loan would get rid of my $165/month FHA mortgage insurance, but the interest rate is a little higher. My lender also showed me an FHA refinance with a lower rate, so the monthly payment is about $60 less than the VA option.
The part that's making this hard is that my wife and I aren't completely sure how long we'll stay in this house. We could end up moving in four or five years or we might be here a lot longer. What do you think works better? Should we switch to a VA loan or just go with FHA?
My husband is active duty (24) and I work on base (22). We live in Havelock NC on base currently. With BAH we make about 80k a year. Way above the median for our area. We got pre approved end of June and been looking at houses since, 260k and under. We have 2 newer paid off cars so our monthly bills aren’t crazy. We have orders to move to PA end of 2028. We’re not in a desperate need to move right now but the idea was to always buy a rental at each duty station. After looking for so long we’ve learned that New Bern has crazy city taxes, for example a 225k house mortgage was 1750. And Havelock is notorious for an average 200-300$ a month water bill. We’re currently stuck on a house that’s right in the middle so it doesn’t have either of those things, it’s 260k with a 1800 mortgage before buying points. The house is 3 bed 2.5 bath very large new fenced in yard, new hvac, 1 car garage in a sought out neighborhood. It does need cosmetic updates inside but nothing crazy or has to be done. There’s a slightly bigger house in that neighborhood currently renting for 1900. But you have to consider rent will go up in 2 years but it’s still cutting it close. I definitely feel like this house is the best bang for our buck but I don’t know if it’s a good investment opportunity. We are handy but I’m not willing to deal with a huge project and it’s rare that a house does pop up in this in between spot. I also feel like we’re getting desperate bc we’ve been looking for so long but I dont want to make an emotional decision because like I said we dont even need to buy a house here at all. Our families keep saying the mortgage is too much and we wont find someone to rent for a price that will be making us a profit.
Just looking for advice 🙃 TIA
As an E-1 with TA can you qualify for Federal Pell grant? If so what is the amount you could possibly be awarded with?
If I were enrolled in eligible courses at two different accredited institutions, with both terms starting around August 28, would Army Tuition Assistance be able to fund courses at both institutions?
I am trying to maximize my available TA benefit for this fiscal year, since I have not used any TA yet.
I submitted a SCRA request for my Citi Diamond Preferred credit card and to my surprise they have lowered interest to 0% until the end of my active duty term!
(TL;DR): What is the TLA limit for a family of 3 to stay in a hotel in Ansbach, Germany while awaiting PCS out flight?
Is there a limit on room space or is it a fixed price thing?
We are in a predicament… The on post lodging failed us and scheduled us a hotel room for July and not August. Me thinking everything was fine over the phone since “July” was never once said on the phone, I did not double check the reservation email.
They just so happen to be full now and had to get a “statement of non-availability.” We just found all this out last night and we have to find a hotel by Monday next week for 2 days. Absolute perfect timing finance and housing’s systems are not functioning properly and they went home early so I am completely left to figure this out on my own terms.
What exactly is the limit we are allowed for a hotel room in Ansbach, Germany. I googled online and saw that we roughly are limited to $142 per day but that is pretty low for the hotels available with space for 3 people, 1 cat and 1 dog. We just need a definitive answer on what our limits are before we are refused reimbursement. Is it also possible to request something that is bigger than just 1 room for a family of 3 or is that also limited?
Thank you in advance and sorry for the long read, we are just completely lost at what our next moves should be in such short notice.
EDIT - PLEASE limit comments to specific thoughts about Navy Fed and Chase. I have already looked at other local banks/credit unions. Thank you.
Thinking about switching from our current institution due to unhappiness with current customer service. I have reviewed many posts here and on other blogs and narrowed down the choice to Navy Federal and Chase.
Navy Federal because everyone raves about their customer service, but their closest physical branch to us right now is about 100 miles away. Not sure if we need it but there have been times when I wish I could have walked in to our current bank to get a matter resolved.
Chase because they have seem to have a good reputation with "military" department/perks and physical branches everywhere in the US (we are retired and unlikely to ever be overseas except on vacation), but we are unsure if the supposed military perks are worth it. This would be mostly for checking/savings and maybe credit cards at this point. We will be researching home and auto insurance as well but will still be including other dedicated companies like State Farm for those. We don't need a mortgage company at present.
Chase would also be more convenient because we still have a joint account for our young adult son who lives in another city and may be moving again in the future for grad school. He does better with in person servicing when there's an issue. But he should qualify for membership in Navy Federal, too, as the child of a retired military person.
Thanks in advance for any specific input you all have.
Trying to figure out my best option. Bought a home January 2025, got orders this summer and left the home. Been looking for a tenant without any luck. If I do get a tenant i’d still be paying ~$800 out of pocket just to pay the mortgage as the rental is lower than my current mortgage payment.
A realtor recommended to me to apply for a VA compromise sale just to get rid of the headache of dealing with my home and payments. However I’m not sure how this will play out when we want to buy a home in the future.