Cancel the ID theft protection on your credit cards.

• Frugal ideas - Siren
  • First rule: Know your prices. sm - linda
  • make your own laundry detergent - pennywise
    • Don't know about that one - Old part-timer
      • It actually does save me a lot - sm - pennywise
        • Sounds interesting - Old part-timer
  • Quit Smoking and Don't Play The Lottery!!! - NM
    • yeah well it's only wasting money when you lose - personally I think $1 twice a week is
  • Buy motion-sensored exterior lights - NM
  • Change your own oil. This is so easy whether your a guy or a girl - MTinMT
    • Coupons - RadMT
  • Wear your clothes more than once before washing or - dry-cleaning
  • Ditch the paper towels... sm - Valerie
  • We put in a wood stove - I haven't used natural gas - in 3 years! - nm
  • My best way to save -- my mom and I share - shopaholic
  • Have your spouse cut your hair - Sara
    • No way would that save me money -- - shopaholic
    • I know that you are talking about females - mtmomof2
      • It would be easy in my house. He would tell me to never cut - it.
  • Replace the windows in your house. - GabbyChick
  • Dump the gym membership - sm.
  • Drop your cable TV - Old part-timer
  • Negotiate lower interest rates on your credit cards - sm
    • DH paid off credit card. Now I'm paying him back. No - interest. Yes, it's pathetic..
    • Plan out your dinners for the week. - NM
      • Share a meal when you’re out to eat - sm
        • yes! order an appetizer - they are huge, enough for 2 (or more). NM - anon
  • Use every last drop of dish soap...sm - CheapSkate
    • Rachael Ray has a segment from time to time - mtmomof2
    • Try Out Red Box for renting movies. - NM
  • When gas was over $4/gall I started riding the bus. sm - MT and worn out
    • Increase your insurance deductibles - personal opinion only
      • Wash your car yourself. - I now hate car wash places,
  • Cancel the ID theft protection on your credit cards. - You don’t need it.
    • Transfer your banking business to a free checking account - Sara
      • Better yet, see if you can join a - linda
  • frugal ways - meMT
  • frugal sm - Anonamiss
    • Buy and install a programmable - thermostat
  • I am using Angel Food Network for help with food (sm) - MeMT
    • I also stopped some luxuries....sm - MeMT
      • Good place to shop is Salvation Army Superstore. sm - PM
        • We have the best Goodwill store in my town - Thrifter
          • Just Lysol inside the shoes - lol nm - MeMT
        • By small, I mean size 7 or under. I only wish I was. - PM
          • Why would anyone dump on you for that? I love those types of stores nm - MeMT
  • Hang out your laundry if possible - Old part-timer
    • be careful if you have environmental allergies - this can exacerbate them
      • OUTDOOR ALLERGENS - MQMT1m
        • Man - Siren
    • Thanks for the info. - jss
      • I heard the same ads - Old part-timer
  • Unplug anything possible. - jss
    • Wow guys - Siren
      • buy generic - mtmt

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I had a credit card with a high balance. I got a second mortage to pay it off. I called the credit card and got the payoff balance and my bank sent a check to them. I kept watching on line to make sure they got it and when they did I noticed that there was a $95 credit. So, I called and said how do I get my money back. They sent me a check and when I got it, I called and closed the account. This was about two weeks ago. Today I get a statement from them with a balance due of $45! Huh??? I called and they keep telling me it is a finance charge. I got pretty steamed and finally ended up saying that I would pay it, but no more. Well, I wrote out the check and put in in the mailbox, but I'm still stewing about this. If I still owed them money, why did they send me a credit?? What is the finance charge on if I had a credit balance? I suppose I will just pay it because they will only keep tacking on even more charges, but it is really bugging me. Has anyone else had any experience with this??

I will say one thing - NO MORE CREDIT CARDS EVER EVER EVER. REALLY. I mean it this time.

If you call your credit card companies, they can set you up with a plan to help. I was in the same boat. Low to no wages and a very large hospital bill, plus household expenses.

I have 5 credit cards. Up until the hospitalization,  I paid on time or paid more than the minimum, as I used to use them for work-related items.

Sadly, all were maxed out during the hospitalization and subsequent rehabilitation.  Of course in the meantime, during the time I couldn't contact them, my interest rates went from 9% to 21-29%.  I didn't know about their programs...a well kept secret. 

I'm still hurting, but now my credit rating isn't being dinged and 1 card is back down to 12%.

BUT, you must agree to pay the amount they set for you faithfully every month. If not, you lose the advantage. When you have a little extra, put it on the bill, even if it's only $1.  I have the payments automatically deducted from my checking account. That way, I KNOW they're being made on time as I sometimes don't know one day from the next (if you know what I mean) and if I have extra at the end of the month, I hand write a check to one of them (preferably the highest amount of debt).

Don't need credit counseling. Just work with the companies themselves. It's a pain to make all the calls, but it's worth it.  Good luck.

i've had several credit cards throughout my time and all but four are paid off.  i don't plan on using the other credit cards ever.  they do show up on my credit report.  i would like to cancel the ones i don't use, but i've heard that it looks back on your credit report.  anyone else have info about this?  i think it's a better idea to cancel the cards you will never use again because of the identity theft going on.

Especially when I never use it anyway, and really never wanted it?

With all the bank rearranging going on in the past few months, one of my accounts was tranferred to Bank of America. I was sent new cards and a new agreement, new interest rate etc...

So I called them up and cancelled but before they did, I had to listen to a spiel about how this would negatively affect my credit report.

Huh?? Why is that?

there's just so much identity theft out there that it's scary to have too much info out there.  i think that is really good advice to save and buy with cash.  i do think it's good to have a credit card for an emergency like the other poster said. 

thanks for your input 

If this will help prevent identity theft, then I think it may have some good points.

I don't like the idea of electronic tracking. I read the part of the bill dealing with the Real ID and it said the "machine-readable element" is "to be determined". That is a little ominous. I think visual inspection should be enough. I really don't think electronic tracking is justified.

Yesterday, I got a call from QVC.  I had ordered a GPS system for my hubby and QVC called to say they were unable to complete processing of my order because my credit card wouldn't get through.  QVC said the address I gave them as the billing address did not match the billing address of my credit card.  I asked the rep to hold on while I pulled my credit card account up on line.  When I did, I saw that my address and phone number had been changed to somewhere in TX (I live in PA).  I told QVC I would have to call them back.  I immediately called the credit card company.  They pulled up my account and said that yes my address had been changed just a few days ago.  When I asked how, they couldn't tell me.  They did not know if it was done on-line or by telephone.  This, I don't understand.  If someone called in to change it, shouldn't that be documented?  Furthermore, if it was changed on-line, wouldn't there be a computer trail? 

At any rate, it was changed, and my cc company tried to contact me to verify it by calling the new phone number given.  (Makes no sense).  Having received no answer, they sent a letter to me, which I have yet to get.  One day after changing my address, someone made a $10 on-line purchase with cc account, which went through.  Immediately following that, a $4500 on-line purchase was attempted to be put through.  This one the cc company did not allow (thank God for small miracles). 

After having all of this explained to me, I was then transferred to an Identity Theft Specialist, who would help me close this account and reopen another one as well as put into action security alerts for me.  For the next 7 years, my credit report will be flagged as a "fraud alert", meaning that if anyone tries to open a new account in my name, the lender will have go through extensive verification to confirm it's me.  I'm told this will not affect my credit score. 

I also had to file a report with my local police, which I doubt will accomplish anything.  Local police are not trained in the same manner as state police, and I don't see how they have any jurisdiction over this since the offender is out of state.  We will see.

I did, however, write down the address and the phone number that my account was changed to.  My husband called the number last night from his cell phone and no one answered.  He left a message stating he was looking for "my name" and to please return his call to "his number".  They immediately called back, but when my husband answered, they said nothing.  They called back again later that night and did the same thing. 

Here's the real kicker, when I called QVC back to give them a different credit card (which I immediately verified all of my credit cards after this incident), the lady asked if I knew what happened.  I told her that apparently I was a victim of identity theft.  She said that's what she sort of figured had happened especially with the credit card company I had.  I said what do you mean and she proceeds to tell me that there have been a lot of "account takeovers" with this particular company and that it was determined to be an "inside job".  This left me feeling less than secure about setting up a new account with that company.  It also makes me wonder if that's why they weren't able to trace the original address change.  My husband says as soon as the new account is set up, we're going to cash in our reward points and pay off the balance and close the account. 

Fortunately, this cc company has 0% identity theft liability, so we will not be responsible for the charges that did go through.  However, the bigger concern here is that this person obviously has enough personal information about me to set up new accounts without my knowledge; hence, the reason for the fraud alerts on my credit report. 

I am so furious, if I ever get my hands on this person, I'll likely wring his neck!  My husband and I have worked hard all our lives to have good credit and some skuzbucket thinks he can just come along and take it.  I don't think so.  I intend to pursue this fully.  If it is an "inside job", I will make sure that this credit card company does something about its current employee background checks. 

So, take a minute today and call your credit companies or go on-line and check to make sure that noone has changed your address and phone number.

why let ANYONE intimidate you?

http://www.elfyourself.com/

This is from OfficeMax - free e-cards that you put your picture and/or family/friends and they dance.  It's really cute!

Can you give hints? g o m d t . c o m