What made you raise my credit limit from $1,500 to $6,500? You more than tripled my line of credit overnight. Are you thinking this will make me pay you finance charges? I guarantee that it will not. I am not that kind of girl, Chase, so you can keep your extra five grand to yourself. And don't sit so close. I don't trust your intentions with me.
Your friend (but don't think I owe you anything!),
English Major
Showing posts with label credit cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label credit cards. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Jiminy Crickets, Chase!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Big Old Spending Mishmash
The dress didn't work out. I tried it on when it arrived yesterday, and it was well-nigh a disaster: cheap, flimsy, and definitely homely. Yuck. I'm going to take it back to Macy's in person (to save the return shipping), and maybe try on another dress I spotted on their website, a black sequiny deal. (I should really do my shopping in person--shipping is expensive and annoying, but when online shopping goes right, and something you really like is delivered to your door and you didn't have to get exhausted and grumpy in a fluorescent-lit dressing room...heaven.) In the meantime, though, I jumped on a sale and bought another silver dress, hoping to salvage the original metallic concept.
I don't imagine Macy's will refund the shipping charge, so that's annoying. And the new dress, even with the sale, is some $20 more than the old one, plus shipping, and it's all a little bit of a mess in my head right now. Aaargh.
This is what I really hate, when my plans get all messy in my head, and I don't know what's going on, and there's stuff floating around on my credit card bill. Aaargh.
I think, though, that if I take the dress in to Macy's on Saturday, and return some stuff I've been meaning to return to Old Navy (note to self: can I just take them into the store? There's one on 34th St., right near Macy's), the credit returned to my Visa should be enough to cover the cost of the new dress without any additional tinkering. Which would be really nice.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Pulled My Credit Report...
...from Experian and Equifax (I'll pull TransUnion in six months), via AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only place to get a truly free credit report.
I have a bunch of "authorized user" accounts on there, which I would rather not have to hash out with my parents--aren't those accounts supposed to be dropping off my bureau report, like, now? I'd like it if they could go ahead and hurry up with that--as it stands, it looks like I have credit limits approaching my annual income, which I certainly do not.
I also have a thirty-days-late from October 2001, on a store card I signed up for when I was in high school and didn't know how to use. I'd love it if that would drop off my report--it's just the one charge, a thirty days late note, and then zero balances all the way up through '06, when I last looked at my credit report, realized I still had that account open, and closed it--but it looks like I'm stuck with it until 2013--seven years from the last time the card reported, not seven years from the last charge. Annoying.
But it is supposed to be seven years, right? Then why does a card (another "uh, sure, I guess I'll sign up for the 20% discount" high school store card) that was closed in '02 seem to be scheduled to be on my report until 2012? And is "inactive" the same as "closed"? Because if it's not, I should close that account, right?
Conclusion: no identity theft (phew!), but the usual low-level financial-jargon confusion.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Identity Theft Hits Close to Home
I got a call from my mother last night: she's had her identity stolen. Over the past ten days or so, thousands of dollars' worth of purchases on the internet and over the phone have been charged to her principal credit card, and someone applied for a second card in her name (the card company in question, Discover, declined the application and notified my mom, so points to them).
It makes me realize that this can happen to anyone. It can happen to me. And most importantly, there is no way to prevent this, really, short of not having bank accounts. You can decline to put yourself in harm's way (by not falling for phishing scams, for example), but you can't close up all the chinks in your identity's armor. The key, it seems to me, is to keep a tight rein on your finances--my mom only found out about this because she was notified of unusual charges, but given that I check all of my accounts through Bank of America's My Portfolio service at least every other day, I'd probably catch it sooner, and so have less damage to undo. And it seems to me that that's the best one can hope to do.
It's a reminder to me, though, and perhaps to you, too, that by opening extra accounts, an identity thief can do damage to your life and credit report by moving your finances outside your sight. I'm going to pull my credit report this week (via Annual Credit Report); I suggest you do the same.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Business Error in Your Favor
I checked my credit card statement today (online), and found a weird discrepancy in which it said I owed less than I thought I did. Turned out there was a peculiar coincidence: an exchange at one clothing site was misprocessed as a return--for exactly the same amount of money as a purchase at another clothing site. Curious, no? The extreme tidiness of the coincidence made it easy to ignore--it was kind of just like getting a sweater and a pair of flats for free, like I'd never paid at all. It was tempting.
But I'd gotten really good customer service around this exchange process--the first dress they'd sent had a defective seam, and they'd sent a new one right away with expedited shipping--that it would absolutely have outraged the conscience to cheat them. It's always easier to make the right call when there's a human face on it, you know? It might have been a little more tempting if it had been the Gap.
I wrote the woman I'd corresponded with about the exchange, telling her to charge my card again.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Credit Piggybacking
Today's Liz Pulliam Weston MSN Money article is a reminder that credit bureaus are closing the "authorized user" loophole, where the credit history of an account transfers to the authorized user's credit report. That's how I developed credit--I've been an authorized user on my dad's Visa since I was like 15. It's an old account with a high limit, and it was a big boost when I applied for credit on my own. Now I've got my own credit, so I don't mind that the information is going to disappear from my credit report--in fact, I'm glad, because my dad's become a little erratic with payment schedules (he's just retired, and he's not used to not having a secretary). I'll get the benefit of hanging onto the card (I hardly ever use it--only when buying groceries for my parents or airline tickets that they're buying me but that I need to schedule) but without the downside of a) taking a ding if my dad sends in a payment late, or b) having this huge line of credit on my report, upping my debt ratios.
On the other hand, this means that K needs to apply for a card in his own name right quick--we were doing a piggyback thing with one of my cards. The article reports that the new FICO formula will be introduced at one (to date, anonymous) bureau in September and rolled out at the other two over the course of the following year, so I'll just remind K to apply for a card in early August.
Friday, May 04, 2007
What's the Point of Points?
I checked my credit card statement the other day, and realized that I have quite a few rewards points--enough to get a $25 gift card to various stores and nearly enough for an assortment of small appliances. What I don't know, really, is how I handle these points. Part of me is just like, "eh, get another Starbucks gift card and get yourself a few iced lattes over the coming summer months." Another part of me is like, "No! Save up the 50,000 points for a round-trip ticket to Europe!" A third part of me is like, "Hey, if you save these points until, say, November, they could take care of a chunk of your Christmas shopping."
No decision has been reached. How do you handle your rewards points?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Famous Last Words?
So...I've done one of those things you're not supposed to do.
I've added K as an authorized user on one of my credit cards--the Chase Freedom Visa, with a $1,000 limit--prompted by the fact that he applied for a credit card last night and was turned down for lack of sufficient credit history. "Lack of sufficient credit history," in his case, means "no credit history." Which is great, in that he's reached the ripe old age of 29 without ever having credit card debt, and also slightly problematic, in that at some point he might be interested in buying a house or something.
So I've added him as an authorized user. We've agreed that when Chase sends the card, we'll just cut it up, so he won't actually be charging anything on my account--I'll just be donating my credit history on this account, basically. Hopefully, he should be able to qualify for a card of his own within a few months, and then I can remove him as an authorized user without too many adverse consequences.
I know these are famous last words, but it does, actually, seem pretty foolproof.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Pre-Approved
So, I got one of those "You're pre-approved!" credit card solicitations in the mail this weekend, which isn't all that unusual, except that this one was for a card I wanted, American Express Blue. I'd actually applied for the Blue card some months ago, feeling like I should really have more than one kind of card (my current card is a Chase Freedom Visa), but copped out on the application when American Express wanted me to hold while they called my bank to verify something or other.
Anyway, I filled that sucker out and dropped it in a mailbox before I realized that I wasn't entirely sure that this was Blue Cash, and not just another rewards program. Oops! Although actually, no big deal--I could just switch my Chase Freedom card over from points to cash back, and still have the security of having two cards.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
