By Sara Rathner | NerdWallet

Thanks to travel rewards credit cards, you summer like a celebrity for the cost of a staycation, and your friends are starting to notice. There’s no reason to gatekeep your travel secrets — the more friends know about how to earn valuable rewards, the more who will join you on epic and deeply discounted adventures.

Not only do you take the time to answer their credit card questions, but you also send referral links if you carry a card they’re interested in applying for. If they end up getting a card with your referral, they can earn a generous sign-up bonus by meeting the card’s spending requirement, and you get “paid” for your time and expertise by getting a referral bonus.

But there might be a catch. That referral bonus can come with a tax bill.

How the IRS looks at credit card rewards

You may owe taxes on some credit card rewards, depending on how you earn them and the dollar value of what you redeem.

“If you have to spend money for it — for example, you get a bonus after spending $3,000 within a certain time frame — then, it‘s not taxable,” Luis F. Rosa, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent in Las Vegas, said in an email. “However, if no money was spent and it was just an incentive, then, the income is taxable.”

According to the IRS, rewards earned through spending count as rebates, which aren’t taxable. But you don’t have to spend anything to earn a referral bonus, so it’s potentially taxable, especially if you earned at least $600 in value.

Credit card issuers’ fine print spells this out, though some issuers provide more information than others. Citibank’s terms and conditions are quite specific, stating that you may owe taxes on rewards in the year in which you redeemed them, and Citibank determines the value of those rewards. Chase and American Express also include language on taxes in their terms and conditions, but it’s more vague, basically stating that you may earn taxable income and, if so, you’re responsible for the tax liability.

If any of your credit card rewards earnings meet the qualifications to count as taxable, you’ll receive a 1099-MISC form from your card issuer, which will contain information to include on your tax return. Rosa says that even if your earnings from referral bonuses amount to less than $600 and you don’t receive a 1099-MISC, you should still report those earnings to the IRS.

When in doubt, consult a tax professional for guidance on your specific situation.

Should you refer friends for credit card offers?

Any taxes you may have to pay will, of course, be a percentage of the value of the bonus. So it may still be worth it to you to refer friends and deal with the sting of a slight increase to your taxable income later on.

There is another instance, however, where you might want to hold off for the sake of your friendship. Sometimes a card’s welcome offer is larger if you apply through the card’s website or at a bank branch location. In cases where your referral yields a smaller bonus for your friend, the decent thing to do would be to steer them toward the bigger bonus.

Sure, you won’t get that financial incentive, but you’ll win your friend’s respect and avoid potential taxation.

Sara Rathner writes for NerdWallet. Email: srathner@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @sarakrathner.

The article The Hidden Cost of Helping Friends Earn More Credit Card Rewards originally appeared on NerdWallet.

AUSTIN — U.S. existing home sales have reached their lowest levels in nearly 30 years, despite a surge of millennials entering their prime homebuying years, and activity likely won’t bounce back until interest rates start coming down.

“I thought by this time the housing market would be recovering. It has not yet recovered. Home sales are still down from last year,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economic with the National Association of Realtors, speaking Thursday at the annual conference of the National Association of Real Estate Editors in Austin.

The Federal Reserve gave guidance in December that it might cut rates three to four times in 2024. But inflation has remained more persistent than expected, and forecasts are now down to one or two cuts this year, Yun said.

Although the country has 70 million more people than in 1995, existing home sales nationally are now at levels seen in that year, he said.

Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic, called 2024 “the year of the head fake” when it comes to housing.

“We started the year expecting a recovery in the housing market. It turned out to be more of the same. Mortgage markets remain elevated,” she said at NAREE.

Rates matter because monthly payments are running about 80% higher for the exact same home than they were prior to the big jump in mortgage rates, Hepp said.

Hepp said even if sales aren’t picking up steam, home prices are. Her forecast calls for a 5.7% gain nationally, describing it as “another really robust year” for home prices.

The inventory of homes is growing, which should give buyers more options and could lift sales, especially if rates come down. Metro Denver, for example, has 3.4 times as many listings this year as it had in the first five months of 2021.

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Hepp said where the strongest home price gains are happening is shifting. Formerly hot southern markets like Texas and Florida have been replaced by markets in the Northeast, Midwest and California.

“Markets that are seeing a lot of job growth aren’t seeing high home price appreciation,” she said.

Through the first five months of the year, the median price of a home sold in metro Denver is 2.76% higher than in 2023, although prices remain 1.5% below the peak reached in 2022.

Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American Corp., said millennials have surpassed baby boomers as the largest generation. Although a smaller percentage own homes than comparable generations did at their age, most are still looking to buy — it’s just taking them longer to get there.

Affordability remains a challenge, but lower interest rates should help when they arrive. And the housing market will have a strong foundation of demand for the next several years.

Matt Wallner hit his International League-leading 18th home run, Randy Dobnak worked around trouble in five innings pitched and the St. Paul Saints won their 10th game in a row, beating Toledo 4-2 on Friday night.

Dobnak (6-5) allowed just one run, but gave up three hits and five walks in his outing. Dobnak had four strikeouts. Ronny Henriquez secured his third save of the season.

But St. Paul’s recent run has been buoyed by a deeper lineup and surging offense, thanks to some improved health and a couple of players demoted by the Twins making an impact.

Wallner has homered in back-to-back games, has seven in his past eight games and 11 in the month of June. His league-leading total has come in just 56 games after starting the season with Minnesota.

The Saints’ first run came on a bases-loaded walk by Anthony Prato, which Toledo challenged using the ball-strike challenge system. The call was upheld. Wallner’s two-run homer, with Brooks Lee on base, came in the fifth inning to put St. Paul ahead for good. The final run came in the eighth on a throwing error by Mud Hens catcher Dillon Dingler after Will Holland and Prato executed a double steal.

Lee, Diego Castillo and Will Holland each had two hits for the Saints.

According to the team, its 10-game winning streak is the longest by a Twins Triple-A affiliate since at least 2005. St. Paul became the eighth team in the International League, since the Saints became a Triple-A affiliate in 2021, to win at least 10 games in a row.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Lakeville’s Regan Smith will be swimming three individual events at the Olympics after winning the 200 backstroke at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on Friday night.

Smith was under world-record pace through the first two laps but faded a bit at the end to touch in 2 minutes, 5.16 seconds.

Still, she finished more than a second ahead of Phoebe Bacon, who grabbed the second Olympic spot in 2:06.27. Bacon chased down reigning world champion Claire Curzan, who missed out on a berth in Paris with a time of 2:06.34.

Smith previously won the 100 backstroke in world-record time, along with a victory in the 200 fly. She just missed a fourth individual race in Paris with a third-place showing in the 100 fly despite swimming one of the fastest times in event history.

Still, it’s been a dynamic meet for the Minnesota native, who has endured plenty of ups and downs since setting her first world record in 2019.

“I’m incredibly proud of this performance,” Smith said. “I ran out of gas in that last race, but its been a great meet for me.”

Dressel flies in 50

After a long layoff and all the doubts about whether he’d reclaim his place as one of the world’s greatest swimmers, Caeleb Dressel looked like himself again Friday night.

Dressel earned his first individual race of the Paris Games, powering to a relatively easy victory in the men’s 50-meter freestyle.

One of the biggest stars in Tokyo with five gold medals, Dressel finished third in the first individual event, the 100 freestyle, which relegated him to the relay at that distance.

But he’ll get a chance to defend his 50 free title in Paris, blowing away the field in the all-out sprint from one end of the pool to the other at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s tough. That was a tough one,” Dressel said. “I was not super-confident until I got up on that block. There’s only so much you can do in the 50. It’s head down and go fast.”

Dressel did just that to touch in 21.41 seconds, not far off his winning time (21.07) at the last Olympics. Chris Guiliano claiming his third individual race in Paris with a runner-up finish of 21.69.

In the aftermath of his Tokyo success, Dressel stunningly walked away from swimming during the 2022 world championships. He later revealed what a toll the sport had taken on him, saying he needed to take an extended break to rediscover his passion at the pool.

Dressel failed to even qualify for the 2023 worlds, but these trials have provided proof that he’ll be a force to be reckoned with in Paris.

About 35 minutes after his victory in the 50 free, Dressel returned for the semifinals of his final event, the 100 butterfly.

The tattooed Floridian showed more impressive speed, posting the fastest time of 50.79 to stamp himself as the favorite in the final Saturday night. Dare Rose was next at 51.11.

If Dressel can finish in the top two of that race, he would likely swim up to five events in Paris counting the relays — not far off his six-event program in Tokyo.

Guiliano edged Matt King for an Olympic berth by a hundredth of a second, with Jack Alexy taking fourth in 21.76.

Guiliano has emerged as a big star of these trials, heading to his first Olympics with three individual events on his plate. He won the 100 freestyle and was runner-up in the 200 free and now the 50 free.

Foster earns IM double

Carson Foster will be doubling up in Paris, adding a victory in the 200 individual medley to the title he won in the 400 IM.

Shaine Casas was under world-record pace through the first two laps, but Foster chased him down on the freestyle leg to win in 1:55.65.

Casas grabbed his first Olympic berth with a runner-up showing — a huge relief for a swimmer who was billed as a rising star ahead of the Tokyo Games but failed to qualify in either of his events at the 2021 U.S. trials.

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