Archive for July, 2009

Non-Frugal Screwups – Part Tres

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

A bit of background: I got chicken grease on a few shirts. They were sent off to the dry-cleaner at a cost of about $3.00 each.

WANT Small Tasty Bird!!!

Well, the dry cleaning didn’t get the grease stains out. In fact, it looked like it had set them in.

Three shirts = $60 new, or $30 on sale/used/discounted.

Big Ouch.
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Posted in Frugal | No Comments »

What If… The Other CC Companies Do What Chase Did?

Monday, July 27th, 2009

If you read the previous post about me firing Chase, then you probably also have read how a lot of people are getting similar notices from various financial institutions about closing accounts.

I’ve gotten a few for various reward accounts that I’ve left alone. These were accounts that I got “bonus money” for opening up. Now, the financial institutions are panicking the other way (during the boom, they gave money away; during the bust, they want it all back).

So, what will I do if more – even ALL – of my credit cards get cancelled? I mean, I did dare them to do it.

Well, for starters, I will laugh at them.

Mrrrr? Pookah is not playing for human entertainment. Why are you amused?
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Posted in Finances 201, Idiots | 2 Comments »

I Fired Chase

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

I’m back from dealing with the various body blows life has thrown at us. I’ve even got a good example of how living life like Pookah allows you to deal with “problem” credit card companies.

I had two credit card accounts with Chase. So, Friday evening, I got a letter from Chase:

  • Dated 06/02/2009.
  • Closed a credit card account I hadn’t touched since 10/2007 (October last year).
  • Reasons given were items on my Experian credit report: failure to pay as agreed, and past due history on one or more accounts.
  • Listed a phone number to call if I had any questions – but with no office hours on the weekend.
  • Website still shows the account as open and usable.

Here were the red flags:

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Posted in Finances 201, Idiots, Politics | 3 Comments »