I would also probably raise hell (respectfully) with your current manager and HR. This isn't how you do this, mistakes happen and policies change, especially in mergers or acquisitions. Treating employees like this is a great way to tank company moral and cause internal dissatisfaction with the new company.

I would also add, don't forget about funding retirement too. It's fine to slow or stop retirement contributions for a short period of time to build up a downpayment, but doing that for more than a few years is going to really start to hurt long term. Being house poor is one thing, but being house poor and not have much saved for retirement is financial suicide for OP's income bracket.

I think OP needs to sit down and have a long hard thing about their priorities, and what's achievable with their realistic income and decide on what needs changing.

Call the bank, talk to them directly. Most of the card activation services are 3rd parties.

Thanks for the explanation, I have always wondered how this works exactly

I mean I guess if the convenience is worth $5-7k for you, or you can't be bothered to get some other offers from dealers or online places go for it. I think CarMax is lowballing you on the value of the Ram.

That's enough of a difference that I would be willing to work for it a bit on my own first before taking such a bath financially in the trade. I mean that's 2 years of fuel you planned to save down the drain on day 1.

You should still try to talk to the landlord, explain the situation and see if they can cut you a deal. Some money (if that) and letting you go on your own accord is better than no rent money and trying to evict you from a landlords point of view.

Your voluntary Disability life insurance policy seems really expensive. It's 41% of your total benefits including your 401k contribution. Have you shopped this on the private market to see how things would compare?

Do you work in a dangerous industry?

Plug your numbers into this minus the other deductions and see how it compares. https://smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator then use the IRS W4 calculator to adjust. I'm not sure an incorrect W4 is your problem here.

You would sure gain overall reliability and fuel efficiency by moving to a Prius.

Have you looked up how the dealers offer is in terms of where the market actually is?

Unless the truck has damage, or a ton more miles I would expect it to have depreciated less given how hot the truck market has been. That's all assuming you got a decent deal in the first place. With the pandemic causing auto market sagas you may have overpaid and that's the reason here.

Are you using https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbsSelect to do the fuel savings calculations?

I think the big thing to stress is, this isn't a time to freak out and completely change your behavior. The basic rules still apply, and it's likely to be a temporary period of inflation, especially the one we are in currently with the fed raising rates to slow down inflation. A historical approach too is important, especially for younger people who have never seen anything like this and think the sky is falling. You see it here with first time homebuyers who can afford a house but are not buying because they think rates are "too high".

I have my doubts for various reasons and I think you should too given they seem to be an online friend who doesn't have any time to answer your questions. Regardless even with a perfect credit score you don't get 0% rates for everything especially in today's markets. It's unlikely your rates and your friends rates would be very different if all other factors except the credit score were the same since you are both in the same category.

Chasing a perfect score isn't worth it if you are already in the best rating. It's just a number to brag about at that point.

Fairly common with a debit card, and gas stations do it all the time at the pump (asking for the zip) or when outside your normal home area in my experience.

I believe actually asking to see the card technically violates Visa's TOS but no one seems to care.

Ya I doubt you would get full disability from this but I am far from an expert here.

No idea what OP's plan was as far as degree and career but it sounds like a desk job would probably be what OP should be focusing on. Tons of ways to make a good income that doesn't involve being on your feet or walking much.

I'm in your camp here they screwed up, and the right thing would have been to refund you and everyone go on their way. Whatever admin costs they incurred well that would be on them here, as you did nothing wrong.

You really need a copy of their policies. It should be a part of the application and other paperwork you filled out. The language there determines if this is small claims court or a credit card chargeback (assuming it's credit card).

You should also look up what your state/cities renters protection laws are to see if there is anything there that helps you.

The unfortunate thing is regardless of the outcome here, if you have to take legal or credit card chargeback actions, you probably get blacklisted from this company's rental units, which isn't in your advantage long term but may not be a huge loss either.