And my bank fails again...

Accidentally get double-charged while using your card? Better hope you're not traveling when it happens.

My job sent me on a month-long business trip this week at the last minute, so in preparation for my new temporary position, I headed out and bought some new clothes the day before I left. When being rung up, the first register had problems with the credit card machine, so they switched me to a second counter and I was on my way.

However, after arriving at my new job, I noticed that both transactions had posted to my account. I emailed customer support, and got a form letter back instructing me to call the customer support line instead.

Filled with dread, I took out 45 minutes of my work day to wait on hold. Finally, I was patched through to a sales associated. Unfortunately, in order to dispute a transaction, they have to send paper documents to my house - and apparently can't send them to a temporary address. So, all in all, I'm stuck with a rather large double bill for the next freakin' month until I get home.

At least I have enough money to carry it for now - good thing it wasn't my plane ticket or car rental - then I'd be in real trouble.

Returned Statement Fees, Returned

To follow up from an earlier post, I did indeed [finally] receive a reply from my bank about the returned statement fees that had been accruing in my account. You see, after the first month, I switched to e-statements...but then I noticed I continued to receive a monthly fee for returned mail! Fortunately, the bank admitted their mistakes and refunded the fees in full. Another score for the little guy.

Always remember - the only one looking out for you is you.

A new APR of YourArmAndYourLeg%

Welcome back from the break in December! With the holidays and the 'real life job', I took a month hiatus, but I imagine I'll have plenty to gripe about 2010. With that said, let's welcome in the new year with a rant that is affecting many more than me, I'm sure.

I got two lovely letters in the mail a few days ago from my bank. One was informing me of new legislation that had passed that imposed limits on banks from arbitrarily raising APR's or minimum payments, which goes into effect in June 2010.

The other letter was informing me that my APR was being raised by over 300% in February 2010, unless I chose to protest the raise and close my account.

I hopped online and did a bit of research, and found I'm not alone. Many banks pulled this in the second quarter of 2009, and a second wave hit at the end of the year. I'll refrain from ranting on the idiocy of passing a law that essentially forced the banks' hands instead of restraining them completely (I do try not to get too politically involved here, for now), but I will pass along the tips I learned in my research:

Don't completely close your account. Go ahead and pay down or transfer your balance if you can, and for heaven's sake DON'T charge anything new to your card. Once you protest the APR hike, you can continue to pay down your balance at your OLD rate, so long as you don't purchase anything new. Once your card is paid off, leave the account open but unused. Every six months, make a small purchase and pay it off completely that month. This way, your credit rating is saved by still having the 'active' account, but the greedy bank gets nothin' from you.

In the meantime, I'm looking for a credit union.

Returned Statement Fee

Today I learned that, in addition to the absurd overdraft fees some banks are applying to their customers (remind me to tell you the story sometime about how I accrued $280 in overdraft fees for being $10.01 over-drafted after my direct deposit from work got delayed...), some banks are now charging a fee if the statement they send you in the mail gets returned.

Yes, that's right, you can get charged $5.00 if the post office forgets where your house is, and the statement gets returned to the bank. I'm not really sure how that's my fault, but I will let you know the logic behind that one when the "Online 24/7 Costumer Support!" gets back to me in their average four day return time.

Regular Office Hours

Whether you view it as a regular "nine-to-five", 8am to 5pm, 9am to 6pm, or something in between, you know what I mean - that time of day, Monday through Friday, when you're at work. Some are fortunate to have rotating schedules, work early or late shifts, or maybe even have a three day weekend. But in the US, most of us are condemned to sit in our cubicles from mid morning to early evening.

Why, then, do so many companies who depend our business only make their services available when we can't be there?

You've probably already read my rant about standing in line at the post office on Saturday mornings. But the same is also true for a variety of other much-needed services: banks, pharmacies, the DMV, etc. When the hell am I supposed to cash my checks, mail my letters, pick up my allergy meds, and get my freakin' voter registration card renewed if you're not gonna open until after I have to be at work and then close before I get out?!

Some may say, "Oh, but you've got time on your lunch break, and there's always the drive-thru!" Ok, have you guys actually been to any of these places lately? Here's a few true stories.

+ I was out of town a few weeks ago for work, and as I'm leaving to drive back home, I stopped at the local branch of my bank to deposit the paycheck I had received from that week. I had looked up the bank hours that morning, and found that while the bank didn't open until 9am, the drive-thru was open at 8:30. I arrived around 8:40, and the entire place was closed. I walked up to the front doors, and noticed a small print-out, informing me that due to budget cuts, the drive-thru hours were now matching the inside hours. So I sat around until 9am, watching a few other customers pulling up, looking at the sign on the door, cursing in a variety of colorful ways, and driving off to work. At 9:07, the bank teller finally arrived, went inside, and locked the door behind her! At 9:11, she returned to the door, to let me and two other pissed customers inside to do our business.

+ The line at my local post office has a current speed record of 43 minutes. I have an hour break for lunch, and it takes me about six minutes to get from the door of my work place to the door of the post office (and vice versa). You do the math, and tell me you want to swallow your lunch in that amount of time.

+ Two weeks ago, I left work and had to drive to four pharmacies in the area to find one that was open past 6pm. And even then I had to argue to get the pharmacist to fill the prescription before they closed at 8pm. Why it takes a degree and an hour and a half to put pre-packaged medicine into a little white paper bag is beyond me, but that's a rant for another day.

If I wasn't already running a small business, I'd start one like this: I'd make a new chain retail store that offers all of these services, but at the times when we need them. The store hours would be 5am - 9am and then again from 6pm - 10pm. Maybe I'd even give in and have a drive-thru window open during lunch hours and on weekends. So hey, you there - yeah, the one sitting at the computer desk reading this and eating Cheetos. How about you? Go ahead and steal my idea - you don't have to even give me credit for it. Just build a branch in my neighborhood, ok?