Archive for the 'Money' Category

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$11.48 counts dagnabit.

Published on February 19, 2008 in Money. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Washington Mutual seems to enjoy disappointing me as a customer. Way back in November I discovered a charge on my ATM account that I did not recognize. I promptly called customer service to find out more about the charge. Knowing that I was not in the store in question that day, or even in the weeks leading up to that date, I wanted that transaction investigated. They assured me someone would call me back in a few business days with more info.

My phone never rang, so 6 weeks later I called again. Customer service informed me that I would need to call back within normal business hours to follow up with the claims department. Since it’s incredibly difficult to get a live person on the phone, I didn’t get a chance to call back until today.

I’ve now been on the phone for 40 minutes. 32 of those minutes I’ve been on hold or trying to circumvent the automated phone system. It appears my query regarding that $11.48 transaction at an Organic-to-Go was never investigated. So “Patricia” is now discussing the issue with the claims department for me, since she’s all about good banking experiences for WaMu customers. What Patricia can’t explain to me is:

  • Why did the first service rep I spoke to not submit the claim as he said he would do?
  • Why did the second claims person tell me the claim was moved on to the claims department, so I’d have to call back and talk to them? If the third person finds no record of such a query, chances are the 2nd person should have been able to see that too.
  • Why are banking professionals so freaking incompentent?

45 minutes into the call, I’m passed onto Eugene in the claims department Eugene doesn’t seem to want to spend time investigating an $11.48 claim when it was the only flagged transaction on my account in 4 months. Personally, I don’t care if it was $.50 at a news stand or $5000 at Fendi; it’s his job to care regardless of the size of the transaction. I don’t remember being in that location and want more info about that transaction. End of story.

50 minutes in Eugene reads back the notes he’s taken on the call. Sigh. I remind him that I’m 98% not 100% sure that I did not make that purchase. Could he please edit his notes accordingly.

Eugene: by the 26th, you should have the money back in you account. Oh, and I’m going to go ahead and cancel the debit card as we’re required to do with all questions of fraud. You can expect another one in 7-10 business days.

me: Excuse me, why are we canceling my card?

E: Because they’re obligated to do so as soon as a claim is started.

me: No one cancelled my card in November when I tried to file the first time. And don’t you think it would be, say, courteous to warn a customer that starting a fraud claim will automatically result in my card being cancelled. . .

Eugene’s: it’s WaMu’s standard operating procedure.

me: Eugene, since you know the procedure, and I as the customer do not, wouldn’t it be wise to let me know what the fallout of me starting a claim would be. (Here, take this medicine for her chest cold– 2 weeks later, oh by the way, that medicine causes kidney failure. Sorry). Perhaps I might want to get to the bank and get some money before you cancel my card.

E: I could put a note on your account to not close it until tomorrow, so you can get to the bank tonight. (by the tone of his voice, there was no guarantee that note would actually hold back the card cancellation)

me: Gosh, and get to spend another hour on the phone with customer service. Somehow I imagine my experience with WaMu could only go downhill from here.

Eugene confirms my address and assures me I’ll have a new card in 7-10 business days. There will also be an affadavit re: the fraud for me to sign. . . He ends by apologizing on behalf of the person who didn’t file the claim initially.

Thus far, I’ve spent about 3 hours on the phone over an $11.48 claim, which is perhaps WaMu’s aim. By the time you get past the automated system and are queued, most would give up on $11.48. But not me.

To enjoy more of my WAMU experiences, check out Lessons learned: only bank near your home

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Tax season

Published on February 2, 2008 in Money. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I am thrilled to report my tax returns have been e-filed. My credit company will be sad when I e-pay almost a third of my balance when I get my refund in 9-16 business days.

In the event you’re getting started or aren’t yet thinking about doing your taxes. The best pricing on TurboTax Online, that I could find this year, is here. It’s a 30% discount on e-filing your federal return (there’s an additional fee for the state return).

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Federal Deficit

Published on January 18, 2008 in Money and Politics. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The Bureau of Public Dept (IMHO, having such a department encourages debt — let’s rename it the Bureau of Public Savings and change the connotation) keeps an updated listed of Frequently Asked Questions on its website. My personal favorite:

How do you make a contribution to reduce the debt?

Make your check payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt, and in the memo section, notate that it is a Gift to reduce the Debt Held by the Public. Mail your check to:

Attn Dept G
Bureau Of the Public Debt
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188

The average American can claim $30,216.40 of the $9,189,407,238,702.18 federal deficit as their own (as of 1/19/08), that’s in addition to our monthly rent or mortage, credit card bills, car payments, and tuition or student loan payments.

We’re screwed :)
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At least I'm not alone

Published on January 4, 2008 in Business and Money. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The U.S. economy edged a step closer to recession last month by producing a mere 18,000 new jobs, its worst performance in four years, and sending the unemployment rate to a two-year high of 5%, the Labor Department said today.

By Peter G. Gosselin and Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times

GW is just doing a bang up job.

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The cost of higher education

Published on December 29, 2007 in Education and Money. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The NYTimes took a look at the financial fallout of Harvard’s recent announcement to make an undergraduate education more affordable for the middle-to-upper-middle class familes that routinely bypass Harvard because of sticker shock.

…for families earning $120,000 to $180,000 a year, costs will now be limited to about 10 percent of income, meaning that students from such families will pay a maximum of $18,000, a deep discount from the university’s full annual cost of more than $45,600.

Universities around the country now face a price war, with parents seeking the same treatment at other, less endowed universities. The pressure is on for private institutions to make their programs more affordable and further drive diversity.

I can certainly appreciate Harvard’s well meaning efforts, given that I went to UPenn, and my parents managed to just eek out on top of the ceiling for grants/aid direct from the university. My college education sucked up a third of my parents’ income after taxes for 4 years; I have no doubt there were dozens of other ways they’d have preferred to spend that money.

Ultimately, picking a school can be much like shopping for clothes. Sure I’d love to be wearing La Perla lingerie underneath my clothes every day, but Hanes does the job well too. College is about taking advantage of all opportunities presented to you, regardless of the initial sticker price. In college, I learned how to think critically. . . critical thinking is what the History & Sociology of Science major is know for. I probably could have learned how to think just as well at a smaller school that fell a bit further down the rankings.

Researchers at Princeton were able to show that ambition, not college choice, is the ultimate predictor of financial success. After tracking students for roughly 25 years,

In both data sets, Krueger and Dale, like other researchers, find that students who attended more selective colleges tend to earn higher salaries later on than those who attend less selective colleges. However, the researchers not only looked at the schools that students attended but also where they were accepted and rejected. They found that where a student applies is a more powerful predictor of future earnings success than where he or she attends.

Says Krueger, Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University: “It appears that student ambition, as reflected in the quality of the school to which he or she applies, is a better predictor of earning success than what college they ultimately choose or which college chooses them.”

Whether Harvard or your local State University, keeping your eye on the prize is more important than the name on your sweatshirt.

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Logan's Run

Published on December 21, 2007 in Business, Gen Y and Money. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The general consensus is that people work now, so that they don’t have to later. A financially comfortable retirement being the ultimate prize.

But here’s the problem. Seniors are increasingly unable to retire to high health care costs and poor returns on retirement investments. Retirement may be a complete relic by the time Gen Y hits their golden years. With boomers set to begin leaving the full-time work force and social security looking to go bust, (Was anyone else nonplussed by Gingrich sentiment a few year back that it won’t be an issue until his grandkids are adults, so why address a failing social security system now. . . . ARE THERE ANY LONG TERM PLANNERS in our government?), I don’t have high hopes for returns on traditional retirement plans.

Neither does Congress. The LATimes reported on recent study on pension plans and retirement

The study found that, under current trends, 401(k) and similar plans would be able to replace an average of 22% of the income of workers who retire in the middle of this century. That figure is far below the 70% to 80% often recommended by financial planners for a comfortable standard of living in retirement.

While socially security benefits could additionally “amount to an additional 30% to 40% of pre-retirement income for many workers,” that leaves a pretty substantial income gap.

I suppose until someone on Capital Hill figures out how to balance the budget today, long term strategic, financial planning is just a hope and a dream for the citizenry. The problem with public leadership on retirement planning is that they don’t suffer the same circumstances as most Americans; the kind of money exchanging hands in DC means that our elected officials are unlikely to ever face a decision like: hmm, my medications or my mortgage.   Thus there’s no incentive to improve the system for everyone else, leaving people to keep their fingers crossed that they’re making the right financial decisions.

Living Apart, Together — Part 2

Published on December 15, 2007 in Gen Y and Money. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I’ve been considering what I wrote a few days ago, and now I’m wondering if LAT isn’t the latest fallout from the boomerang generation. Young people aren’t leaving the nest quite as young. They go to college and with limited job prospects, move home. When they move out, they’re frequently living with one or more roommates. We’re looking at a Generation that will be hitting their 30s and will never really have lived independently. So with two incomes ensuring the financial security needed to maintain two households, maybe it will grow increasingly common. The relationship provides emotional and financial security, while separate residences allow individuals to keep their freedom, or experience it for the first time.

Living Apart, Together

Published on December 11, 2007 in Gen Y and Money. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Here’s an oddly counterintuitive trend. ABC News recently reported on a the growing popularity of “living apart together.” Committed/Married couples maintain their relationships but live in separate residences.

Last year, a survey-based British study conducted by the Family Demography Unit at the Department of Social Policy at Oxford University estimated that 1 million couples in Great Britain were currently in similar relationships.

There is evidence of this trend in the United States as well.

It would seem that as the cost of living rises and inflation limits what young and aging Americans can afford, keeping up separate households would be difficult if not back breaking.  Twentysomethings frequently live with multiple roommates to make ends meet at the start of their working lives.  Giving the increasing shake ground of social security, it seems saving more and spending less would be the responsible thing to do.

Does technology play a part in this growing need for separate spaces?  We are living much more isolated lives behind the safety of a computer monitor or cell phone screen. Do we need physical space separate from that of our most intimate relationships to maintain that comfortable isolation?

Success Paradigms

Published on November 26, 2007 in Business, Health, Money and Politics. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

This weekend I watched Michael Moore’s Sicko (Special Edition) and finished Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order by Noam Chomsky.

Here are my takeaways from the weekend.

  1. American “democracy” continues to act in direct opposition to the wishes of the American people. . . the electoral college handing Bush the election despite him getting fewer votes. . . NAFTA . . .cutting back on social programming like education and health care, while cranking out more and more corporate welfare in the way of government bailouts of failing industries and subsidies that do not allow the market to check itself.
  2. Industries like health care are meant to serve a population. Their success should not be judged based on how many medical procedures are denied in order to grow corporate coffers. Instead, such industries should be judged on how much good they do, and their ability to be sustainable industries that put any profits back into improving services offered. HMOs with billion dollar valuations are simply profiting off of denying people care they need. . . with potentially fatal consequences for those covered. What if we instead determined the valuation of such companies based on their customer satisfaction and longevity rates?

Thoughts?

Lessons learned: only bank near your home

Published on November 24, 2007 in Business and Money. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I do all my banking by ATM and online so I can avoid bank employees as much as possible. It all goes back to college when as a student at UPenn, a friend told me the tale of her roommate (a Wharton undergrad — yes, that Wharton) who asked to show her how to write out a check to pay a bill. The scary part. . .the Wharton girl interned at the student credit union processing deposits several days a week! Ever since, I’ve tried to avoid bank employees, and sometimes sticking with ATMS just isn’t far enough removed from banking employees.

I swung by an unfamiliar Washington Mutual on Wednesday to make a deposit since I had been in the neighborhood for dinner. I deposited $40 rebate check and a $50 check from my mom (in my family there is a Turkey Day fairy, much like Santa and the Easter Bunny). Basic math would show that $50 +$40 = $90. And my online banking profile shows a $90 deposit was made.

My online banking profile shows that bank removed $50 of that deposit as a “key in error,” implying that there was no $50 check.

How do I prove that there was a $50 check in the envelope with the $40 check?

I suspect I’m going to have to wait until my mother gets back the $50 check cleared and get a copy of that to prove that I did indeed deposit the check. Or do you think the bank is going to take my word for it? I so don’t look forward to field tripping to that bank on Monday.

Why are bank employees so stupid?

Update on 2/08:  Within a week of that phone call, I received a letter telling me they were removing funds from my account over that miskeyed entry.

Two weeks later, i have a copy of the canceled check in hand.  Before I can get to WaMu to deal with the brilliant staff, the $ is added back into my account. Seems they caught the error on their end.  No one bothered to inform me in writing that they made a mistake.

The person at that branch I spoke to all but called me a liar on the phone when I contacted them about the problem initially, but they just put the money back and go about their business.  I would like to think their mistakes would also merit a follow up letter, apologizing for the inconvenience of losing my  money.   Good customer service is hard to come by.

A few years ago, I ordered a block of checks that never came. The company couldn’t figure what happened to them, and 250 blank checks for my account should not be hanging out unaccounted for. So I went to my local Wamu explaining that I’d like to close that account and open another one because of the missing checks. The account manager told me that there’s no evidence of fraud on my acccount as of yet, so why bother? Maybe because I’d like to stay fraud free!

The stories I could tell about banking at WAMU. . .but sadly, the competitors seem to be just as bad.

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