Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Lost and Found

Happy day!

Lost: My mind

When a certain unnamed credit card company bought my ten year old account in great standing they immediately closed it. Never a call or letter to tell us, either. Just closed it. We went to buy a plane ticket and it wouldn't process. These glitches happen. We thought nothing of it and just paid a different way. Then we went to make another purchase and it didn't process again. We kept trying, checking online to be certain there was nothing wrong with the account. There was no unusual activity, the account still showed we had the available credit. We paid a different way and then called this bank. "Your account has been closed." You should be getting a letter shortly. Two weeks later, sure enough, the letter arrived. This was the big card we carried. Incidentally, they also increased our interest rate - to 31.99%!!!

It super-sucked because then the other accounts we had saw BigBank had closed our account. Domino effect, big time. We like rewards, so I usually dump most of every paycheck into an account which earns us great rewards. I dumped in the money and got a letter in the mail the same day. Due to your ratio of debt to available credit blah blah blah... they lowered our credit limit. This was an "Oh crap!" moment for me because I needed to pay my bills with the money I just dropped on that rewards account. Things were spiraling out of control.

Why do things never spiral into control?

Yesterday I got a letter from BigBank offering me a 'deal'. I worked some numbers and called today with a goal in mind. I talked to a guy who was apparently screening the callers for this deal. After several minutes he put me through to Lisa, who asked a few questions and came up with a number and a deal even better than the one I was hoping for when I called! Hello 6% interest! We just saved a ton of money.

The moral of the story is this: Hey! my stories never have morals to them. What are you doing hanging around here waiting for one this time? If there is a moral to the story this time it is "It can't hurt to ask."

Helpful hint: Make them give you a number. They asked me what payment I wanted. Had I answered I think they would have taken it. I would be paying more than I am now if I had named given my numbers.

At no point in this or any other blog post will I actually say I found my mind. My mind is much more settled than it was yesterday.

Found: Money



1 comment:

  1. That's in my inbox. Hadn't read it yet. Glad you picked up on that. In light of that I'd refuse to host any giveway where I was responsible for the fullfillment. I prefer to let the company offering the giveaway send out the prize anyway. The blogger shouldn't get stuck with the shipping hassle and costs.

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