So Poor...

Man. I have about $80 to last me two weeks. Hilarious. I keep telling myself that I'm making great progress on the bills, and honestly, my summer's been good. I'm paying off huge chunks of debt, and I'm having a good time, although I definately don't go out as much. It's just I'm SOOOOO poor.

June-August are going to be the hard months. After that, not only will the fun summer events be about over, I will have paid off MY CAR!! Thank you Jesus.

I hung out with my sisters in Milwaukee this weekend. We decided to do a "just siblings" weekend, for the most part, althought we spent much of Sunday with our mom. It was her birthday, so we took her to the Milwaukee Zoo. Zoos are great places to take disabled people, because they're very handicap-accessible. We got my mother a wheelchair and she had fun pointing out the monkeys and lions to my two-year-old niece. We kept it to a minimum, spending-wise. My eldest sister is in debt, also, and we've been good about keeping each other in check when we go out. She's a surgeon, but she's in her residency and doesn't make that much money yet, and she's accumulated a gigantic credit card bill. Even though she'll be making 500k pretty soon, she wants to get the credit card paid off before that, just to show herself that she can be responsible with her money. We discuss our debt with each other, and that helps us both.

But, $80!!!!! LOL. I'll survive. I'm off to do some grocery shopping to get a lot of noodles....

I just got access to my grades from last semester, so I can submit a claim for my books and tuition. It takes a while for that to process, but hopefully I can get that in a month or two. Goal for tomorrow--submit my tuition reimbursement information.

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Things Are Good

I know that's not the most exciting post, but it's my update. I'm OK. I have a good handle on my job: I'm doing well, and I'm productive.

I've fallen a bit behind on my writing. I've picked up a few other projects that have blossomed nicely out of control, which I just need to keep in perspective. They're not as important as my book. Also, I just need to get off the internet, so I need to use my non-internet laptop to get my writing done. I'm too tempted to swerve off course and just roam the net when I have access.

SO, goal for this week: 20 hours of writing, by Monday. It's a stretch goal, but I think I can manage.

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Why I Hate Wells Fargo

In response to my blog post of a couple of days ago, let me be clear, this is not the first time I've had a problem with Wells. The little things: I'm tired of them charging $2 to talk to a customer service rep, without telling you they're going to charge you. I'm tired of the little fees that pop up. I'm tired of 0.0000001% APR. I'm tired of the way they treat poor people--I'm not poor now, but I was when I got out of school, and they treat poor people like crap.

But let me tell you an honest-to-god story, that I think exemplifies this company:

A few years ago, I started a writing group, and in that group was a woman from the Wells Fargo call center in Minneapolis. I'll call her Tari. We got along at first, but the relationship headed downhill quickly. Tari bragging about the way she treated customers. Because they couldn't hang up on customers at the call center, Tari told us that they would just "smile-them-out," which meant they would use those idiotic, card-board-cutout bullshit statements until someone started to swear at them, at which point, per some manual, they were allowed to put someone on hold--indefinately. Tari bragged about putting people on hold for forty-minutes.

Tari bragged about the time, and I kid you not, a woman called in after her husband died. The husband died after a battle with cancer. In making preperations for the funeral, the woman accumulated overdraft fees that she could not afford. The woman was broke and destraught. After stonewalling her for a while, after listening to this woman cry on the phone, Tari told this woman:

"Mam, cancer is not a bank error."

I am not making this up.
Things rapidly deteriorated between myself and Tari. Then one day, in the middle of the writing group, Tari told the group I had an overdraft on MY account at Wells. She had looked at my account, and relayed this information to the public via my writing group.

I blinked. I had no idea what to say.

I went home and called some family members. They were unequivacable--they said I had to tell Tari's boss. I emailed Tari and told her my complaint, and she spun back a litany of self-rightiousness. In her response, she left her manager's name and telephone number. I sat on it for a day. The writing group was obviously shot--I had formed it, put over a year's effort in building it, and was pretty pissed that I didn't feel like I could go back. Eventually, I called Tari's boss. I explained what happened. I mentioned the woman with the cancer, and how I felt that was a pretty shitty way to treat a human being that way. I mentioned that I thought banking matters should be private.

They thanked me, and nothing, as far as I know, happened. last I heard, Tari continues to work at Wells. I never got a letter, a message, or any follow up on this incident.

Now, I know that this last thing I sent Wells, the complaint letter from a couple of days ago, isn't about anything as serious as this, but this time I'm not giving up.

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Some Round Ups Of The Month

Okay, so I didn't mention in my last post that I lost both my cash cards last week. My Wells card disappeared one day, so I had it cancelled and it's on re-order. My other cash card, which I use to access money in my work account, was used to keep a tab for drinks with friends, and I left (after one beer) having forgotten it was there. A friend retrieved it for me but we haven't been able to connect. I don't think I've ever lost a card before, so I'm chalking it up to dumb luck. I was using the Wells credit card because I can move money from my Wells savings to my credit card and instantly pay the balance, which I've been doing on a dutiful basis. My beef wasn't with the embarrassment, although that sucked, it was the asinine and frankly rude responses I was getting from Wells.

So...

WRT my last month: all the bills have been paid and I feel this enourmous sense of relief as I watch my car loan go down so quickly... What I'm really excited about is watching it go under $3000 next month. Buying that car was such a bad deal!

Anyway, my debt rundown:
$5077 in credit card debt
$17656 in school loans
$3375 for my car

TOTAL DEBT: $26,108

I have paid off $5,296, or 16.9% of my debt, in 4 months!

Yee-ah.

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Really Bad Customer Service

AHHH!!!! I had a HORRIBLE customer service experience with Wells Fargo. I'm giving you the letter that I am going to send them:

From:
xxxxx

To:
Wells Fargo Card Services Executive Office
PO Box 4134
Portland OR 97208

I am greatly disappointed in the service I was given this evening by Wells Fargo. I went out to get a cup of coffee and a muffin at a coffee shop this evening (5/16/07) and my Wells Fargo platinum card was declined. They ran it through again at the coffee shop, and my Wells Fargo platinum card was declined again. I did not have any payment due on my card. I had $100 charged the week before, but no payment was due on my Wells Fargo credit card. I called the Wells Fargo customer service to find out what was wrong, and I was told by the Wells Fargo customer service rep that everything was fine and that there shouldn’t be any problem. That customer service rep was sincerely apologetic.

Now, I only had my Wells Fargo platinum card on me at that moment. My Wells Fargo platinum card, at that moment, was my only form of payment. I was seriously embarrassed.

I had them run my Wells Fargo platinum card again, because the Wells Fargo customer service rep said everything would be fine this time. My Wells Fargo platinum card was declined again. I called the Wells Fargo customer service department again, and was told (again) that there shouldn’t be a problem with my card. I was then put on hold for over FIVE MINUTES before I hung up the phone. I was put on hold while I was waiting in line to pay for a cup of coffee and a muffin. I was put on hold when I explicitly told the Wells Fargo customer service rep that the store was closing, and that the cashier wanted to go home. I was put on hold by Wells Fargo as they cleaned up the store around me.

I had already consumed the coffee and a muffin, so it’s not like I could give it back. The cashier obviously thought I was broke. Because this wasn’t worth her time, she gave me the coffee and muffin for free. This is not the outcome I wanted. I can’t tell you how mortified I was, sitting on the phone with Wells Fargo for ten minutes, getting put on hold, and having my Wells Fargo platinum card declined three times. All for $4.

I called the Wells Fargo customer service department when I got home. The Wells Fargo customer service rep I spoke to the third time was not helpful. She told me nothing was wrong. She did not sound apologetic. She said she was sorry, but she was obviously just paying lip services to the words. She obviously just wanted me out of the way. I asked to speak with her manager. I talked to XXX at the Des Moine Iowa service center (ext yyyy). XXX, too, only paid lip service to an apology. He told me that everything looked fine on my Wells Fargo platinum card. I told him that I had been told that three times already. I asked him how I could trust that it wouldn’t be declined again. He told me that I couldn’t. He told me that it might be declined again, but that he couldn’t do anything. He told me that I would have to just try again, and call back while I was at the retailers, after it was declined, so Wells Fargo could figure out what was going on.

XXX was not helpful. At all. I felt like XXX was reading off of cue cards, and they were the cue cards for “how to handle a stupid complaint.” I felt XXX didn’t really care about my issue. I was appalled that Wells Fargo’s solution was for me to go out and get my Wells Fargo card declined again at another retailer, and then have the retailer call Wells Fargo so they could trouble-shoot the problem.

If I were the type of person to swear when I talk to customer service reps, or when I write a letter like this (and the only other time I ever wrote a complaint letter was when a mechanic literally stole money from me), I can assure you that my phone conversation and this letter would be filled with four letter words. I am completely disgusted.

I do not think Wells Fargo will take this letter seriously.

I am posting this letter to Wells Fargo on my FINANCIAL BLOG, for the entire world to see. I will not remove this letter. I will only record how you have handle this situation. Good day.

Sincerely,
YYYYY

I'll keep you posted as to their response.

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Planning Ahead For May Paycheck.

Okay. I'm doing some pre-planning wrt May. I have already blown about $78 of my next paycheck. I have very little money in my accounts to get me by, but I'm going to live off bread, water, and bicycles for a few days so I don't have to spend any more money. (I might loose a few pounds in the process--wheee!)

I will see about $2,711 next paycheck. Minus the $78 I've either fowarded or have to pay back to my Wells Credit Card, that leaves me with... $2,633.

I have re-organized all my payments to shift a small bit of cash--$64--to my car payment. I'm not including the car in the usual roundup, because it's now my Target Debt.

TOTAL BILLS
$30.00 AMEX
$31.00 PHONE
$74.00 DISCOVER
$500.00 RENT
$55.00 MACALESTER
$130.00 MOM
$120.00 WELLS DAD
$106.00 WELLS ME
$90.00 AUTO INS
$1,136.00 (TOTAL OUTGOING BILLS)


EXPENSES
$120 - Gas
$550 - Food (have to look at this-I think this does include some entertainment)
$100 - Going to Milwaukee to visit family
$770 (TOTAL EXPENSES)

TOTAL BILLS AND EXPENSES: $1906

With, (I hope!) $2633 on hand, I will put $720 towards my car. I've scheduled that amount as a recurring payment on my bill pay, so I don't fool myself into thinking I have it to spend.

That leaves me with:

After my monthly payments

SCHOOOL:
$12351 - Wells Fargo (my account)
$3405 - Wells Fargo (my father's account -- money he took out for me that I pay back)
$1900 - Mac Loan (money I borrowed from the school itself)

CAR:
$3375 @ 9% APR

CREDIT CARDS:
$0 - Wells Fargo Visa (wohoo!)
$0 - Chase Visa (wohoo!)
$3587 @ 0%APR – Discover
$1490 @ 2% APR - American Express (life of loan)

GRAND TOTAL DEBT!!!
$26108

$5077 in credit card debt.
$17656 in school loans
$3375 for my car

That's 17.6% of my car since last month!!! From here on out, I'm keeping track of the car payment from the $4095 number of last month, so I can gauge how far I've gone since I set the goal.

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Ha! I didn't realize people were commenting

Actually, I didn't realize people were reading this blog. I was just snooping around and saw that people had left a few remarks. Thanks :)

Millionaire Artist was kind enough to mention me on her blog, and that directed a few kind souls my way.

Also, wrt my quandary about whether or not to use credit protection, M.A. said she thought it was a scam, and I'm in agreement with her. I cancelled the credit protection on my credit card. Now remember, the reason I had the credit protection was because I have to make three purchases a month on my Discover card, or I loose my 0% APR. The credit protection counts as one of the purchases. SO, I have to now make another purchase. In order to do that, I've stuck with my cheep downloadable music format, and set up an account with Audio Lunchbox.

If anyone has suggestions for new music, I have to buy two more random songs in a week. I'll buy whatever anyone mentions, just to try something new.

Cheers.

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Just checking in

I've been concentrating on my book and other projects of late, and so I've deliberately set aside my daily posts for "Indebted 2 You".

So what's up in my financial life? Well, I'm a week from my paycheck, and completely broke. I think I have about $40 in my work account. My sister never came through with the promised $100 check, which I guess I better just write off. I put a $14 meal on my credit card last night, and I advanced $40 to my Wells checking account to keep that from overdrafting. Overdrafting costs me $10 a day and goes on my Wells credit card, whereas advancing the $40 cost me 10%, or $4. I have about $19 of that advance left in my Wells Account.

And to be honest, I don't know if this is the month that my car insurance withdraws on the 12th or the 15th, and if it's the 12th that's going to cost me another $10.

Also, I think I lost my cash card. I have to go home over lunch and double-check for that, and if I can't find it, I'll have to cancel it(I'm on hold with a Pizza shop I was at on Sunday, checking to see if I left it there).

It doesn't look great, but it's honestly not horrible, either. Next month I'll have to plan for about $140 in gas with our new and improved pricing, but I'm also going to bike to work, so I hope I can mitigate some of that expense (also good health, environment, etc).

I've been eating at home a lot more, and when I don't eat at home, I try and have an inexpensive lunch (grilled cheese and soup, baby! $2.77!).

More later...

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