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And lo on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:25:17 +0100, Darren New <dne### [at] san rrcom>
did spake, saying:
> Phil Cook wrote:
>> Same thing with the majority of utility bills - the invoice comes
>> through and the payment drawn a few days later.
>
> While handy, it hasn't been available in the USA long enough for me to
> trust it to work reliably. :-) It only took them about 5 or 10 years
> before direct deposit failed to suck. No way am I letting them take it
> *out* without my interaction.
Fair enough, I've had reliable direct deposit for over 15 years, and
direct debit for over 10 which is why I found this rigmarole over positive
credit balance etc. a bit odd.
--
Phil Cook
--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com
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Jim Charter wrote:
>> Same thing with the majority of utility bills - the invoice comes
>> through and the payment drawn a few days later. In some case they'll
>> charge you an 'admin' fee for not doing it this way.
>>
> Yeah, I might try and get organized enough to try something like that.
> At least for bills. I didn't know you could do it for credit card.
I never opted for this. Times have arisen where I wanted to dispute a
charge or two. I'd rather dispute first and pay later than the reverse.
If it's your first few offenses, you can usually get fees waived. In my
first so many years of using a CC, I'd rarely been late on a payment and
always called and got an extension or a waiver. Then one time it
happened again. I just got sick of it all - the reason was that whereas
before it was late if it were paid after midnight, now it was late if
paid after 5pm. Then it became late after 4pm (they invoked a time zone
argument). So I just said to them:
"I'm kinda sick of this. I won't dispute anything. But please shut down
my account and I'll pay whatever's left + fines".
They "convinced" me to keep the account open if they'd waive the fines.
I've been late only once after that, and they played a new "trick" on
me. Deadline to pay was, say, May 1st. I missed it and thought, "What
the heck, it's too late, I'll pay when I get the next statement and pay
both together". So I got a late fee and interest, which showed up on my
next bill. I paid it all on time (I always pay the whole balance). Then
on the *next* bill, I get another interest charge. How come? I had paid
the whole balance! Well, it was a sort of residual interest on the
earlier interest. Once I'd paid that, I got no more interest charges. It
makes sense, but a lot of CC companies didn't do that in the past. I
hear it's becoming more common.
I now try to use the CC for online-only transactions. There was a long
while where I just kept it at home. I try to pay whatever I can in cash
now. Not to save money, but I got wary of various companies knowing my
shopping habits.
Paranoia, as Sabrina said.
--
The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.
/\ /\ /\ /
/ \/ \ u e e n / \/ a w a z
>>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
anl
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On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:05:52 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, with the debit card, you've got a PIN associated with it, so I
>> don't quite understand the issue there.
>
> Not the ones that work just like a credit card, AFAIK. In any case, the
> legal system distinguishes. If someone's going to steal money, I want
> it to be the bank's money, with them proving I owe it to them, rather
> than my money, with me proving to the bank they need to give it back.
Oh, I see - yes, and that additional bit of information there on the
legal side of things makes perfect sense to me.
Jim
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On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:02:04 -0500, Mueen Nawaz wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>>> I also don't use debit cards, for similar reasons.
>>
>> Well, with the debit card, you've got a PIN associated with it, so I
>> don't quite understand the issue there. Of late, I've preferred to use
>
> If you can use it as a credit card, then no. No PIN is needed and
the
> money is still debited from the account.
That's true, hadn't even thought of that.
Jim
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On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:35:15 +0100, St. wrote:
>>> Not via e-mail.... ;-)
>>>
>>> But of course, you're using a different meaning for "cheque" than I am
>>> -
>>
>> ...or maybe not, now that I reread it.
>
> Ah, no probs mate, it was the 'mailbox' word that made me think
> that.
Darned technology, anyways. ;-)
>> But yeah, the credit card companies have started sending this out as a
>> way to allow you to draw on your credit line; usually they have some
>> sort of special promotional interest rate associated with them.
>
> Oh, I get those almost five days a week from differing banks than
> my
> own. I can have £10,000 credit if I want, (instantly), but since my
> early days living on the street and such, I've learnt the value of money
> I think, (but I've got some heavy sh*t going on at the moment - damned
> inland revenue!)
>
> I use a debit card only and will never have a credit card.
In thinking about what Darren wrote not long after what you wrote here,
might be worth another thought on that. Just does require some
management and discipline = two things I'm not overly good at.
>> The one that *really* bothers me, though, is when they pre-fill the
>> dollar amounts in.
>
> Yes, it is tempting, but with the way the world is working now, you'd
> be
> foolish to use any credit unless you can pay it in time. I pity young
> home buyers. It just isn't going to happen the way it did a few years
> ago for them.
True enough; when my first credit card company pushed my limit over $10K,
I got much more cautious with the usage because I don't want to owe that
kind of money on an unsecured loan of any kind. I'd much rather have
things paid off (that's a really good feeling to have).
Jim
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On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:25:29 -0300, Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> One of the nastier things they have started doing is sending out these
>> "convenience cheques" with low interest rates. You have to read the
>> fine print to see what the % is they're charging for the use of the
>> cheque, but even more insidious is that on some (Discover has done
>> this) they require you use the card 2 times a month to keep the lower
>> rate, but the payments you make go against the lowest interest rate
>> first.
>
> There's an ad around here for a *zero interest* loan. Fine print says
> there's a 15% "administrative fee".
Yeah, I love how they can do that...
Jim
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Jim Henderson wrote:
> I don't want to owe that
> kind of money on an unsecured loan of any kind. I'd much rather have
> things paid off (that's a really good feeling to have).
That's good. But better an unsecured loan than a secured loan! :-)
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Ever notice how people in a zombie movie never already know how to
kill zombies? Ask 100 random people in America how to kill someone
who has reanimated from the dead in a secret viral weapons lab,
and how many do you think already know you need a head-shot?
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On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:28:52 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:
>>> Same thing with the majority of utility bills - the invoice comes
>>> through and the payment drawn a few days later. In some case they'll
>>> charge you an 'admin' fee for not doing it this way.
>>>
>> Yeah, I might try and get organized enough to try something like that.
>> At least for bills. I didn't know you could do it for credit card.
>
> Well you can in the UK
You can with some cards in the US as well. We do autopay for nearly
everything (but we also look at the bills closely, too) - I think one of
our basic services (water, electric, something like that) doesn't have
the option, and Discover doesn't do that, but they do let you pay
online. So I just go and submit next month's payment when the previous
month's clears.
Got hung up *once* with this because the payment I put in ended up being
less than the minimum (had to get the brakes done on the car - and we
used the wrong card) and I got a call from their collections department
the *day* after the bill was due. We got them to reverse the late fee
and reinstate the 0% transfer balance, but it was really surprising they
turned it over to collections so quickly. Discover Financial apparently
is struggling.
(Of course you wouldn't know anything about them in the UK, since
virtually nobody accepts them over there)
Jim
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On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:49:24 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I don't want to owe that
>> kind of money on an unsecured loan of any kind. I'd much rather have
>> things paid off (that's a really good feeling to have).
>
> That's good. But better an unsecured loan than a secured loan! :-)
Well, from a credit standpoint, a secured loan like an equity line (where
the "security" is the property) makes good sense. I have heard some
people use the equity in their homes to make money (by investing it), but
that seems a little risky to me. But for doing things like putting a new
roof on the house (which we had to do - to the tune of about $14,000 this
year), that is a good way to cover a cost like that.
But using that money appropriately is the key - using it to enhance the
value of the property through improvements seems to be the best route to
go.
That's what I meant by "secured" - which I know is different than other
types of "secured" credit cards (where you pay money as a security
deposit and then your limit is set to what you put down as a deposit).
Jim
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"Mueen Nawaz" <m.n### [at] ieeeorg> wrote in message
news:489b20cd$1@news.povray.org...
> I now try to use the CC for online-only transactions. There was a long
> while where I just kept it at home. I try to pay whatever I can in cash
> now. Not to save money, but I got wary of various companies knowing my
> shopping habits.
That's exactly what I do. I hope they never get rid of cash, to me, it's
the most important thing in life, (as far as paying something goes). I
wouldn't feel safe if there wasn't any hard cash to use.
> Paranoia, as Sabrina said.
Yes, that's it.
~Steve~
>
> --
> The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.
>
>
> /\ /\ /\ /
> / \/ \ u e e n / \/ a w a z
> >>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
> anl
>
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