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Discover® More Wildlife
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
10.99%. |
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Advanta Platinum BusinessCard with Unlimited Rewards
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 15 Months, APR:
7.99%. |
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Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: Up to 12 Months,
APR: As low as 8.49%. |
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Blue from American Express®
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: Up to 15 Months, APR:
4.99% (for life on transferred balances). |
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Advanta Life of Balance Platinum Card
Intro Rate: 2.99%, Time Period: Until Paid |
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Chase Platinum Visa®
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
11.99%. |
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Discover® More Card
Intro Rate: 0.00%, Time Period: 12 Months, APR:
10.99%. |
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In This
Issue
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Cool Quote |
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Living above my means for years--what now? |
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STATISTIC: Buying Used vs. New |
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7 Things You Should Never Say to Customer
Service |
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3 Bank Deception Stories |
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"When Credit Card Companies Compete for Your
Business--You Win!" |
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How to persuade customer service reps to
help you |
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Household Math™: What does Jenna owe? |
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Should I declare bankruptcy? |
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Digging Out of Medical Debt |
Cool Quote
"Stretch your leg only as far as your blanket."
--Turkish Proverb
More cool quotes from past issues
Scott,
I've been living above my means for years, using credit
cards to pay for the difference from what I make and what I spend. I can't be in
denial much longer as the cards are getting to their max. I currently don't'
have any past-due payments since I still use the credit cards to offset what I
can't pay. What do you recommend I do?
I was thinking of going to the credit card companies and
letting them know that I'm struggling, to see if they would stop charging me
interest, but I'm afraid of losing a good interest rate or the payments going up
as they'll mark me as high risk. I just don't want to go through the harassment
I've heard other people have gone through, with them calling or trying to go after
what you own or your paycheck.
I have 2 homes. I downsized with the second one, but that
backfired when I couldn't get rid of the first one. So it's renting right now
for the majority of the payment, and I have no equity in either of them.
Please let me know ASAP what you think, as I need to do
something before it's too late. : (
Kate
Finish reading this article
Pre-owned shoppers refers to U.S. adults ages 18+ who have
ever purchased pre-owned merchandise. With economic concerns facing many
Americans, more than half of pre-owned shoppers (54 percent) are turning to
online sites such as eBay to purchase used items. The most popular items
purchased secondhand within the past six months include consumer electronics and
entertainment, which 56 percent of pre-owned shoppers have purchased, and
clothing and accessories, which more than half of pre-owned shoppers (54
percent) have purchased. In addition, pre-owned shoppers have purchased used
home-related (31 percent), automobile-related (24 percent) and collectible (23
percent) items within the past six months. Seventy percent of adults say buying
used is more socially acceptable now than five or 10 years ago and 43 percent
say it's easier to buy popular items if purchased used rather than new.
More credit card and debt statistics
7 Things You Should Never Say to Customer Service
Comedian George Carlin made famous seven "dirty" words you
should never say on television. Likewise, I have a list of seven things you
should never say to a customer service representative. Mention any of these and
your conversation will come to an abrupt end--along with any hope for a quick
resolution to your dispute.
1. "Lawyer." As in, "I'm going to call my
attorney." This will end the conversation instantly and eliminate any future
communications, except between guys in expensive suits with bar cards. Corporate
legal departments train customer service agents to terminate the dialogue any
time a caller mentions going to court or getting a lawyer involved. For the same
reason, avoid using legal terms, such as "lawsuit," "district attorney," or
"mandatory sentencing."
See story here
Below are three stories of bank deceptions submitted by
email newsletter readers. Thanks to all for your feedback about my Chase story.
However, keep in mind that we need to use the banks against each other. That
means you don't want to close your accounts. Transferring your balances is the
best revenge!
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Sunday due-date raises rate to 28%
From Mona Williams
Chase was the bank. We had written a convenience check to
make an investment, with the life of loan interest at 3.99%. Our monthly bills
are paid electronically through our personal bank, with most of the electronic
transactions occurring in about 24 hours....
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Cheers to you Ms. Robinson
From John Phillips
A few years back, my partner Ben, who is an authorized
user on my Bank of America Rainbow VISA card, had charged up to the $7,500
limit. At the time, the card had been issued by MBNA, prior to their merger with
B of A. I contacted MBNA customer service, and I asked if it would be possible to
lower the interest rate, which at the time was 14.49%. I admit that was my first
mistake...talking to a customer service rep at MBNA!...
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Deliberately set up to be overdrawn
From JoAnn Breitling
My check goes in automatically, and I have items that are
set to come out on the same day. I also deposit several cash transactions
throughout the month. My friend who worked at Bank One said they will
deliberately try and set you up to be overdrawn, showing a larger item to come
in first, and sending back three items, charging three fees, when the two
smaller items could have been paid, incurring one overdraft fee...
Finish reading the article
If you are carrying balances at a high APR rate and your
credit card company refuses to lower the rate, then take action and "spank their
bottom lines" (page 222). Find a better credit card offer, transfer the balance,
then wait a few months for a low-interest rate offer from the same bank to appear
in your mailbox. This strategy worked for me and saved me a considerable sum in
monthly interest payments.
This was the first strategy I employed after my first
night reading Scott's book. The interest I saved paid for my investment in
Scott's books many times over. Let me tell you how I applied Scott's strategy to
win an incredible promotional offer from the very same credit card company that
refused to lower the APR on my account balance.
When I called the credit card company, they flatly refused
to lower the 26.99% APR. I told the representative that I would find a better
rate and transfer the entire balance to their competitor, at which point they
would lose the cash flow from my monthly interest payments. The representative
still refused as did the supervisor that I spoke with soon after, in spite of
agreeing that they would be better off with some monthly interest payment rather
than none at all.
I did find a better offer soon after. I transferred the
entire balance to a competitor and then maintained a $0 balance on the account,
as Scott advised. Several months passed. I then received a mail offer from the
same high-APR credit card company. As I read the terms of the offer, I realized
that the same company that could not lower my rate was now offering me a balance
transfer deal of up to $4000 at a promotional rate of 3.99% APR fixed until the
balance is paid off (page 233).
Where can you get a $4000 loan at 3.99% interest fixed,
with an unlimited amount of time to pay off the balance? As Scott suggested,
credit card companies do take notice when you do take action and transfer
balances to a competitor.
I used half the available credit line ($2000) to "fire a
shot over the bow" of another stubborn credit card company that I had warned
previously about their absurd APR rates. The remaining $2000 balance, at 3.99%
percent fixed rate, financed a much-needed home repair.
Needless to say, Scott's strategies are now a part of my
own financial management strategy respective of managing debt and improving cash
flow. I continue to reduce my debt and reinvest money that I would have
otherwise paid to credit card companies. I have only scratched the surface
respective of all of the strategies that Scott provides in his book and via his
website.
I highly recommend "Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt"
to consumers who carry a balance on their credit cards. It is an excellent guide
for those of us that want to learn how to better negotiate with credit card
providers to reduce interest rates and uncover the best offers available. If you
want to save thousands of dollars over the life of your credit card loans, then
this book is a must read for you.
--James C. Intriglia, Management Consultant (Conifer,
CO)
Learn how to "Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt"
How to persuade customer service
reps to help you
Here's a clever tip for getting customer service reps to
help you with a sticky problem that will require extra effort on their part.
It's from Noah Goldstein, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago
Graduate School of Business and the author of Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven
Ways to Be Persuasive (co-authored by Robert B. Cialdini, who wrote the
terrific book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion).
See story here
Jennafer read Scott Bilker's, "Talk Your Way Out of Credit
Card Debt," and called her credit-card bank in the hopes of reducing her
interest rate. Armed with the techniques from the book, she was successful at
reducing her rate by 5 percent to 9.9 percent! After doing the math, she
calculated that the debt would be paid back one year faster and she would save a
total of $3,012! How much does she owe the bank--what is her current balance?
Answer this math problem
Gary,
My husband and I got married quite young, made some unwise
financial decisions and ended up in debt (some credit card, some personal loans)
with a grand total of $24,000. My husband has worked very hard over the years,
sometimes 3 jobs at a time, trying to make ends meet. We have gone through credit
counseling and a consumer proposal. We are the parents of 3 young children and
have had to choose between paying our bills, so we wouldn't go bankrupt, or buying
groceries.
After many years of trying, we feel that we have no other
choice but to file for bankruptcy. We honestly would like to do anything else,
but we feel that this is our only alternative.
Exhausted in Sudbury
Finish reading this article
Digging Out of Medical Debt
Back in 1994, Jinx Kincaid, now 55, was diagnosed with
breast cancer. Although the Locust Grove, Va., resident has long held health
insurance and her cancer is now in remission, she is still in debt. Years of
costly medical treatments saddled her with more than $100,000 in medical bills.
Kincaid has since whittled that heart-pounding sum down to
$8,000, thanks to financial assistance from her medical provider and the help of
a credit-counseling agency. Even better: She expects to be completely debt free
in two years. "I feel like now I can live to see my grandchildren get
married...if I was still looking at all that [debt] in the face, I would be
looking at hypertension in a bad way," she says.
See story here
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