Obviously, I should have gotten a highly suspect mortgage two years ago, rather than actually reading the fine print and deciding NOT to gamble with my financial future. Had I done that, Super Government would save me, too!

EDIT: Proposed legislation. Reading it now.

Mind you, it’s 4:10pm when he talks to me. So since then, I’ve been “working,” all looking forward to my suddenly forthcoming review.

I know I did some rather good work in the last year, but the rumors I have heard have indicated that I should expect little, if any, financial reward — and no, I’m not in it for the money, but it doesn’t hurt. =]

He told me he would be ready around 4:45. Well, it’s now almost 5:30. He came by around 4:45 to tell me he wasn’t quite done. Which was fine, as I had had Mandrina ask me for a bit of assistance via voicemail while I was in the meeting, and then received a phone call from the police regarding the aforementioned PayPal spot of bother.

And I’m still sitting here. Still waiting. I have to leave here at 6:30 to make my bus. No stress. No sirree. In the back of my head, though, I remember people being fired at the end of the day on Friday, as they’re less likely to make a fuss. Fortunately, it’s Wednesday…

However, I decided I wanted my six hundred dollars back.

So I suffered through several hours of frustration with PayPal, my bank and my credit card company. Not the most pleasant way to spend my day.

However, I managed to discover the email address of the perp (the police offer who filed my fraud report informed me that “perp” is a East Coast term) with the help of one of the parties who had had items purchased from. A half hour later, and I have his birth date (as in, Month, Day, and Year), preferred email addresses and online aliases, interests, and HOMETOWN. He used the same email address for legal endeavors as he did for his illegal attempt.

Thirteen years old doesn’t excuse stupidity.

Here is the spiel, as near as I can recall:
“Attention all Visa and Mastercard holders! This month credit card companies may RAISE YOUR INTEREST RATES! If you’re interested in lowering your interest rates, please press nine now!”

I pressed nine, to try to get some more information. I was placed on hold briefly, then routed to someone who DID NOT provide any information, other than:
“Are you calling to lower your interest rate?”

“I don’t know, is there a number I can call back on…”

CLICK.

They hung up on me. I have no idea who they are, I got no search hits when I probed on the two terms I could cobble together quickly. Anyone else pissed off?

(Do Not Call Registry Violation, too!)

I have been a cardholder for nine years with this card; when I called to inquire, I was told that if I paid off over half the debt, they would INVESTIGATE lowering my interest rate.

INVESTIGATE, not do so.

I’ve been investigating my alternatives, but today just took the cake.

Today, I received the following in an email:

We are inviting some of our most valued customers to join Bank of America’s Credit Card Online Advisory Panel.

This is an opportunity to provide your opinions and feedback on services and new products you might receive.

HA HA HA HA. Pay back is a bitch.

I know you’ve all received the emails telling you not to buy gas on a certain day, and you’re all well aware of how just plain dumb that is. My plan is far, far better, and is GUARANTEED to affect how much you SPEND on GAS.

The most recent spin is that you should not buy gas from EXXON and MOBIL, as they’re the two most profitable oil companies, and so we should only buy from their competitors, so that EXXON and MOBIL will LOWER THEIR GAS PRICES, and the other companies will follow suit. Supply and demand and a bit of logic puts that one to rest. My plan is even better, and punishes ALL GAS COMPANIES, and will surely SHOW THEM we mean BUSINESS!

What are you PAYING at the PUMP? In my neighborhood, gas prices are nearing FOUR DOLLARS A GALLON! Inflation doesn’t cover that much of a change! Oil companies take ANY EXCUSE to RAISE PRICES, from storm damage from Katrina to unrest in the MIDDLE EAST. However, they don’t then lower the prices when the crisis has passed.

We have to SHOW THE OIL COMPANIES WHO’S THE BOSS!

The days of EIGHTY-NINE CENT GAS may be long gone, but we can certainly aim for ONE-FIFTY A GALLON!

Here’s how!

My car takes almost 16 gallons of gasoline to fill the tank. At FOUR DOLLARS A GALLON that’s SIXTY-FOUR dollars to fill up my car. If gas prices were only ONE-FIFTY a gallon, it would only cost me $24 to fill up my TANK. I’d SAVE FORTY DOLLARS PER TANK OF GAS!

We need to show the OIL COMPANIES that we have better things to do with that MONEY.

We need to UNITE and show OUR STRENGTH.

Look at HOW MUCH YOU CAN SAVE each week on gas if it only cost $1.50 per GALLON. Get a piece of paper out and do the math. Would you SAVE THIRTY DOLLARS? Forty dollars? Is your regular commuter vehicle a personal jet, and you’d SAVE HUNDREDS?

Here’s what you should do with that MONEY YOU’RE THROWING AWAY!

Take the amount you would save per tank of gas, and send it to me. Comment below for my address. I’ll gather up all the money, and TAKE THE FIGHT TO THE OIL COMPANIES. I will PERSONALLY go and SHOW THEM how we feel, and HOW MUCH WE WANT BACK. Together, we can force them to ACTION.

LOWER GAS PRICES!

I brought my auto insurance policy under FARMER’S INSURANCE. (I refuse to link to them, you’ll see why.) I have had a fairly good, personal relationship with my not-quite-local Farmer’s Insurance agent. They have a copy of our engagement photo in the office. I figured since I have my home owner’s insurance with Peggy Farrel, I could use the discount for having both policies with one company. I called, and my auto insurance quote was comparable to my GEICO quote, and then I got two 10% discounts — one on the home owner’s policy, and one for monthly payments on the auto insurance. Sounded good, and I switched over on Tuesday. My first payment was deducted that same day, and I cancelled my GEICO policy.

All good, right?

Thursday I get a phone call from one of the ladies at the insurance office — the underwritten policy as returned had a mistake — the correct information was submitted, supposedly, but the policy as returned had an error and needed to be updated: I had, in fact, been driving my car when it was in “the accident.”

Friday I get a followup call — due to the accident, my insurance rate needed to be adjusted upwards. I ask how much, they say FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS every six months. That’s $1000 in a year over GEICO. I was livid. So, I called GEICO, and they were very understanding, and reactivated my policy. I couldn’t get home owner’s insurance through them until I get the heating in the house updated, but that will be over the summer. So I still have auto insurance, I just had to spend a great deal of time to get it.

Now it gets funny. I paid FARMER’S INSURANCE (the worst insurance company imaginable) via my debit card. How are they refunding me the money? A check will be mailed. I might not get it for two weeks. Personally, I’m giving them one week, and then I want the cash in hand. Why? The last time they “mailed me a check,” I never saw it. I’m still waiting on it for seven months — the money it covered actually belongs to the mortgage company, so I’m not precisely missing $500, I’ll just need to deposit the check with the mortgage company when it gets here, but still. I paid them immediately, and they’ll take their time?

I — smiling — made a comment that if my money stayed in their hands much longer, I was going to have to begin charging them interest. She thought I was kidding. If I don’t have my money by this Friday, they’ll find out how much I’m NOT kidding…

Apparently, that’s the most expensive part of the razor. Buying a new charging power cord for the razor would set me back $30 — a new razor of the same generation as the one I currently own should set me back about $60. I’m not too sure on this decision…

It would be cheaper to buy a used razor on ebay, trash the rest of the gear, and just keep the charging cable. It would also be cheaper to buy a Auto-adapter charger, and charge my razor on the way to work ($12).

I just think that would be a bit, well… ghetto.

I decided to have a go at seeing how much I could save by putting my auto insurance and home-owner’s insurance under one policy. I’m waiting to hear back. In the meantime, I thought I would share with you two pieces of entertainment Geico provided me with today.

Now, let me assure you: GEICO has been a wonderful insurance company. They have been quick and fair in all their handlings, even leaving my “good student discount” on for longer than I was in school — though that may have been an oversight. They just did two funny things today:

1. Notice of Policy Change… “Under Exclusions, we included an exclusion for nuclear exposure or explosion and an exclusion for biochemical attack or exposure to bio-chemical agents.”
2. Confirmation number from my address change: “12B4-2DI34…” — Did you know B was a number? How about D, or I?

I’m done now.