Freezing in NH

With my NetBank account changing to an Electric Orange account, I opened a local account so I could easily deposit stuff and write checks.  (Electric Orange has only billpay, not paper checks).  And since local banks charge an arm and a leg for paper checks, I decided to order from Current, where I had gotten checks years ago. 

I placed an order at the beginning of the month, and the standard shipping is 10-14 business days, so by the time I started to get worried it was well into the holiday crazy at the post office.  Then post-Christmas, I was busy and today was the first day I could sit down and wait on hold with their customer service department. 

I should have known something was wrong when she asked me to repeat the order number from the confirmation email several times.  Long story short, despite getting a confirmation email with a confirmation number and a listing of what I ordered…Current has no record of my order.  The only thing they could offer was to retake my order over the phone.  And if I wanted my checks before the third week of Jan, I’d have to pay extra for express shipping. 

And the customer service email address (from the email confirmation) doesn’t exist.

Stay away, stay far far away.

Thanks HSBC for sending me an email today letting me know that you’re cutting the rate I get on my savings.  It must be hard writing a diplomatic email about how you’re still great when you are cutting rates more than other folks (e.g. etrade).  I need to take email lessons from you (since I wrote a decidedly non-diplomatic one at work today….)

Lazy Man and Money has a post on Lending Club, which I’ve been meaning to check out. I haven’t had the best experience with Prosper, so I’m a little cautious.

I think my first task needs to be figuring out where my money is (post Netbank disaster) and what I am going to need money for in the near (<3yrs) future.  Not too sure since my job situation is kinda fluid these days. 

Getting into debt can be a problem if you don’t know how you’re going to get out.  Debt can be a useful tool if you’re careful.  In general I think Loans are useful if you have a plan to use the money to do something that either generates more money or reduces your expenses.  I don’t think loans for things like vacations and eating out are a good thing.

Taking out a loan to pay for a college education makes sense because it means you’ll earn substatially more money over your entire lifespan, so it’s an investment in most people’s biggest money making asset - their career. 

A loan for buying real estate makes some sense as well.  Make sure you have a plan for how you’re going to make the payments.  Don’t buy a huge house because you want it if you can’t afford it (just open the paper to see how bad an idea that is).  Buying real estate for an investment can also make sense as long as you’ve fully researched it.  If you want to buy rental property, you should buy in an area that you know.  To learn more about the area and about how much work rental property is, join a landlord’s association before you buy. You can use a Homeowner Loan or home equity loan to get cash from your existing house.

Starting or expanding a business can be another good reason to take out a loan.  A small side business can provide a cushion in case of layoffs at your primary job and it allows you to try out a business before giving up the steady paycheck.  Unsecured Loans provide a way to get money without putting your house at risk.

Today I got an email from ING reminding me not to write any more paper checks from the Netbank account.  Paper checks written after Dec 7th won’t be honored.  Now I know this from a letter and email they sent, but maybe that reminder should have gone out Dec 8th, not Dec 11th. 

Also, I got my packet of ING info (new account number and such) for the Netbank account on Monday.  It was all put into the same login account as my existing savings and Electric Orange account, so I didn’t really need the packet, but if I had needed the packet I would have been much happier getting it Friday before the other account was inaccessible. 

It just seems like they’re a little behind, which I guess is understandable considering how many accounts were involved, but sending an email is pretty easy no matter how many people are involved.

I’ve discovered a quick way to reduce impulse spending and clutter: a website called Catalog Choice.  It’s a free service that claims to let you decline catalogs.  It can take up to 10 weeks, so you won’t see an immediate improvement, but it should cut down on the junk mail you get.  I “declined” a series of catalogs a couple weeks ago, and have only seen one more from one of those companies (which might have already been in the mail before I declined it).

I got a strange piece of mail yesterday, and almost tossed it since I get approx 3 pieces of campaign spam every day (the joys of living in NH…I’m guessing Iowa is the same).  Luckily I opened it, since it’s the form for claiming a piece of the settlement for Visa/Mastercard overcharging on foreign transactions.

Madame X of My Open Wallet has a post with more details.