The Day I Would Have Been Paid
One of the interesting parts of my new job is that instead of getting paid twice a month, like at my old job, I will get paid once a month. Today would have been a pay day for me, but we are stretching our dollars to last to the end of the month. We've been planning for this since the last couple of weeks of December, so we're prepared, but I look forward to seeing that first check.I do like the idea of paying all my bills for the entire month on the first day of the month and then not worrying about them for the whole month.
Labels: finances
posted on Friday, January 15, 2010
Does a Paid in Full Van Drive Different?
For those who don't know, we're on the Dave Ramsey plan for paying off our debt. We started by exercising my stock options and knocked out our credit cards and a good portion of our van's loan.Today we paid off the van! Dave Ramsey always asks his callers if the vehicle drives differently now. I don't know about that yet, but it sure looks nicer!
Labels: finances
posted on Monday, October 01, 2007
Debt in History
I finished the book "Over the Edge of the World" today. It is about the circumnavigation of the globe by Magellan's expedition. Although only 18 of the 260 men made it back to Spain and only one of the five ships, the expedition made a profit and caused King Charles to sent three more expeditions with the goal of controlling the global economy which was within their reach. But all three follow-up expeditions failed. Due to King Charles' debt as he tried to buy a privileged Catholic post and the cost of the three failed expeditions, he was nearly bankrupt and could not capitalize on the discoveries Magellan made to control the global economy.I guess debt was bad even 500 years ago.
Labels: finances
posted on Thursday, September 27, 2007
Enid, Have you been buying beer in England?
I saw 2 charges on my Bank of America account tonight that I didn't recognize. After calling customer service we determined that someone had charged something in England to Enid's debit card."Have you done any international travel?" the customer service rep asked?
I laughed. "No."
"Would you like to because apparently you're getting charged for it," he quipped. I laughed out loud at that one. "Let me see what was purchased." He laughed a bit. "Okay, you're going to laugh: It's a convenience food store. [Pause] Lots of beer and snacks."
posted on Friday, September 07, 2007
Closing Credit Cards
We recently paid off our credit cards. Hurrah! So tonight I began calling credit card companies and canceling the cards.The first was Discover. After talking with the initial customer service representative, she told me she could not cancel the card and sent me to the cancellation group. These guys are the ones paid to make sure you never cancel a card.
"My name is John. How can I help you?"
"I would like to cancel my card."
"I'm sorry to here that. Is there something that Discover did to make you unhappy?"
"No. I'm paying off all my cards and would like to cancel them now."
"I see that we can offer you a low interest rate on balance transfers. If you would like to transfer any balances to this card, I can help you with that."
"No. As I said, I've paid off all my cards and I just want to cancel the card."
"But we could also transfer a car loan onto the card if you would like."
Boy there's a stupid idea! "No. I'd just like to cancel the card."
"We show that you have earned $[don't remember the dollar amount] cash back. Wouldn't you like to keep your card and continue to earn cash back?"
"No. I'd just like to cancel the card."
"There's 19 cash-back dollars you would be forfeiting by canceling your card. Are you sure you don't want to keep that $19."
"No. I'd just like to cancel the card."
"Could we offer you a lower interest rates or airline miles or something else?"
"No. I'd just like to cancel the card."
"Is there something that Discover did to make you unhappy?"
"No. I'd just like to cancel the card."
"Okay, sir. Well I'll cancel your card for you."
"Thank you."
Discover was just the warm up. I called Chase next. Again the first person I spoke to had to transfer me to the cancellation group.
"Hi this is Sandra [last name omitted]. I understand you want to cancel your credit card. I see you have been a customer of ours for 4 and a half years. We really hate to see someone who has been a customer with us for so long leave. Is there anything I could do to keep you as a customer?"
"No. I'd just like to cancel the card."
"Perhaps a low balance transfer or a lower rate or airline miles or bonus points?"
"No. I'd just like to cancel the card."
"Wouldn't you like to at least keep this card open in case of emergencies?"
"No. We're going to use cash for that."
Then she began to get a tone that sounded somewhat offended: "Well, it sounds like your mind is made and there's nothing I can say that would change your mind."
"That's correct."
Then she adopted the if-I-can't-have-it-my-way-then-I'm-going-to-take-my-ball-and-go-home tone: "Well sir, then we are going to close your credit cards. That will happen immediately so you will not be able to use your cards, so you can cut them up if you want. We will also be notifying the 3 major credit scoring companies within the next 30 days. Please know, that if you should decide to try to apply for the card again, it will be based on your credit score at that time and not on your credit score now."
"Thank you."
After that call I was feeling pretty good. It was nice to be the one in control instead of begging for a lower rate. I called the others and canceled them one by one. The easiest turned out to be Target which allows you to cancel your card through their automated phone prompts.
Labels: finances
posted on Monday, January 29, 2007
Bills! Bills! I want Bills!
After hearing me comment about bills, Ora got a bag and headed out the door stating "I need to go to work to get bills.""Well, that's how most people do it," I said, "but I would recommend you work so you don't have any bills."
posted on Saturday, December 16, 2006
