{"id":26835,"date":"2021-08-24T15:45:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T19:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.eztaxreturn.com\/?p=26835"},"modified":"2023-06-05T13:19:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T18:19:38","slug":"5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Millions of parents will be receiving advance monthly payments of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eztaxreturn.com\/contact-and-support\/tax-terms.html#childdependentcarecredit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">child tax credit<\/a> through the end of the year.\u00a0 Eligible families will receive $300 per child aged 5 or younger and $250 per child aged 6 \u2013 17. How the money is spent is completely up to you. So, what\u2019s the best way to use the extra cash?\u00a0 Keep reading for our suggestions.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"h-cover-your-immediate-needs\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Cover your immediate needs<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re currently behind on your bills or having a hard time putting food on the table, the best thing to do is cover your immediate needs.\u00a0 Review your <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">budget<\/a> to see where you\u2019re coming up short and put the money towards those things.\u00a0 This may also be a good time to see what expenses you can eliminate from your budget (i.e. unused subscriptions, gym memberships, cable) to give yourself more breathing room.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"h-make-payments-towards-your-credit-card-debt\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Make payments towards your credit card debt<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting into <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Debt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">debt<\/a> is easy, digging yourself out is a whole different story.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve only been making the minimum payments on your credit card debt, use the extra cash to help stop the bleeding.\u00a0 There are two popular ways to pay off debt; the debt avalanche method and the debt snowball method.\u00a0 In both cases you\u2019ll make minimum payments on all your cards while putting most of your funds towards one specific card.\u00a0 With the avalanche method, your main focus will be paying off your card that has the highest interest rate.\u00a0 Once that\u2019s out of the way, you\u2019ll move on to the card with the next highest interest rate and continue until you\u2019re debt free.\u00a0 With the snowball method, you\u2019ll pay off the smallest balance first and work your way up to your highest balance until it&#8217;s all paid off.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"h-build-your-emergency-fund\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Build your emergency fund<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You may feel like you\u2019re in a good place right now, but anything can happen to anyone.\u00a0 So, you need to be financially prepared. \u00a0Having a cushion in the bank will prevent you from having to rely on credit cards or take out a loan if you lose your job, have a surprise repair bill or your child needs medical treatment.\u00a0 Unfortunately, a quarter of Americans have no money saved at all.\u00a0 If you fall into that group, use your child tax credit to start building your <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emergency_fund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">emergency fund<\/a> today.\u00a0 From there, you can work your way to having the six months of living expenses that experts recommend.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"h-open-a-custodial-account-for-your-kids\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Open a custodial account for your kids<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Start saving for your child\u2019s future by opening a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Custodial_account\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">custodial account<\/a>.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be responsible for all the transactions until the child is 18 or 21, depending on where you live.\u00a0 But once they get of age, they can take over the account and use the money to pay for college, put a down payment on a house or reach some other financial goal.\u00a0 To boost their savings, you can also deposit any birthday and Christmas money they receive.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"h-put-it-in-a-529-savings-plan\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Put it in a 529 savings plan<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/529_plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">529<\/a> is a tax advantaged plan that lets you save for education expenses.\u00a0 You can use the money to pay for college, K-12 tuition, apprentice programs and student loan repayments.\u00a0 Your earnings grow tax-free, and you won\u2019t pay any taxes if the money is withdrawn for qualifying expenses such as tuition, books and room and board.\u00a0 However, if the money is used for something else, you\u2019ll face a 10% penalty.\u00a0 If your child decides not to go to college, the funds can be transferred to another family member.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">File your taxes fast and ez in 30 minutes or less.<\/h2>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Millions of parents will be receiving advance monthly payments of the child tax credit through the end of the year.\u00a0 Eligible families will receive $300 per child aged 5 or younger and $250 per child aged 6 \u2013 17. How the money is spent is completely up to you. So, what\u2019s the best way to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-finance"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.13 (Yoast SEO v20.13) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Parents will be receiving monthly payments of the child tax credit until the end of the year. Here are our suggestions to best use this money.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Parents will be receiving monthly payments of the child tax credit until the end of the year. Here are our suggestions to best use this money.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ezTaxReturn.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ezTaxReturn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-24T19:45:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-05T18:19:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ChildTaxCredits.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ezTaxReturn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ezTaxReturn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53293fc1f8f3940b232359e95b10360b\"},\"headline\":\"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-24T19:45:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-05T18:19:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/\"},\"wordCount\":614,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Personal Finance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/\",\"name\":\"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-24T19:45:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-05T18:19:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"Parents will be receiving monthly payments of the child tax credit until the end of the year. Here are our suggestions to best use this money.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"ezTaxReturn.com Blog\",\"description\":\"File your taxes online\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"ezTaxReturn Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ezTaxReturn.com\",\"alternateName\":\"ezTaxReturn\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ezTaxReturnBloglogoSQ.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ezTaxReturnBloglogoSQ.jpg\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"ezTaxReturn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ezTaxReturn\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ezTaxReturn\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53293fc1f8f3940b232359e95b10360b\",\"name\":\"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/758e24e4e8a2dbdded8b37f0a112c6803d2565a6a732b9ec81920baf86a61d49?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/758e24e4e8a2dbdded8b37f0a112c6803d2565a6a732b9ec81920baf86a61d49?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/author\/brittany-harrison\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments","description":"Parents will be receiving monthly payments of the child tax credit until the end of the year. Here are our suggestions to best use this money.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments","og_description":"Parents will be receiving monthly payments of the child tax credit until the end of the year. Here are our suggestions to best use this money.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/","og_site_name":"ezTaxReturn.com Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ezTaxReturn\/","article_published_time":"2021-08-24T19:45:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-05T18:19:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":533,"url":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ChildTaxCredits.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ezTaxReturn","twitter_site":"@ezTaxReturn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/"},"author":{"name":"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53293fc1f8f3940b232359e95b10360b"},"headline":"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments","datePublished":"2021-08-24T19:45:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-05T18:19:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/"},"wordCount":614,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Personal Finance"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/","name":"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-08-24T19:45:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-05T18:19:38+00:00","description":"Parents will be receiving monthly payments of the child tax credit until the end of the year. Here are our suggestions to best use this money.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/5-smart-ways-to-use-your-child-tax-credit-payments\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Smart Ways to Use Your Child Tax Credit Payments"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/","name":"ezTaxReturn.com Blog","description":"File your taxes online","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#organization"},"alternateName":"ezTaxReturn Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"ezTaxReturn.com","alternateName":"ezTaxReturn","url":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ezTaxReturnBloglogoSQ.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ezTaxReturnBloglogoSQ.jpg","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"ezTaxReturn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ezTaxReturn\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ezTaxReturn"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53293fc1f8f3940b232359e95b10360b","name":"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/758e24e4e8a2dbdded8b37f0a112c6803d2565a6a732b9ec81920baf86a61d49?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/758e24e4e8a2dbdded8b37f0a112c6803d2565a6a732b9ec81920baf86a61d49?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ezTaxReturn Expert Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/author\/brittany-harrison\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eztaxreturn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}