Stephanie, Author at Poorer Than You

Identity Theft Week: Pre-Game

By Stephanie, updated July 21, 2007 1 Comment
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Get ready everyone, because for the next week, we’re going to talk about nothing but identity theft here on PTY. Why? Honestly, because I have a bunch of posts pent up about identity theft. But more importantly, because it’s about the scariest thing that can happen to you financially. It’s one thing to dig yourself into a hole – it’s another thing to have someone else do it for you.

So be excited. Identity theft, yay! (Well, no, not really. Boo to identity theft!)

If you want to go ahead and bookmark this post, I’ll be updating it with links to all of the identity theft posts I put up this week. Or, you could just make it easy on yourself and subscribe to my RSS feed in your handy-dandy feed reader.

Identity Theft Week Posts:

Jury Duty and Other Identity Theft Scams
High Schoolers: Beware of Identity Theft
Tips and Tricks to Get Your Identity Stolen!
Identity Stolen! Now What?

and more!*

*Maybe

The Tale of the Airplane Announcement

By Stephanie, updated July 19, 2007 11 Comments
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Gather around the campfire, everyone – I have a scary story to tell you. *Puts flashlight up to her chin, illuminating only part of her face.*

Imagine for yourselves, a wary traveler. She has spent 7 hours sitting in an airport, because her flight was to leave at 6:30am, and she was leaving from an airport that was far from her home, so it was hard to find a ride there past midnight. Think of this tired traveler, who has not managed to even nap yet.

Picture her tiredly checking her two bags of luggage, after having diligently watched over them all night in the airport lobby. And now, see her taking her backpack and laptop through airport security, and laughing at her travel companion when he has to go through the “special” security line. Oh yes, she laughs now, for she does not know what is coming.

Another two hours pass as the traveler and her companion sit at the gate. They try to access the intertubes, but Buffalo/Niagara International Airport tries to demand a fee of $6.95. The traveler and her companion scoff at the idea of paying for wireless internet in an airport.

Finally, the time comes to board the first of their two long flights. The traveler and her companion settle down into seats 5E and 5F, and as soon as the plane begins to roll along the runway, and the safety video begins to play, the traveler drifts off to sleep.

Content in her rest, the traveler feels safe. Until, suddenly, an announcement comes over the loud speaker.

Oh no! What important airplane announcement must be so loud as to wake our gentle protagonist from her slumber? Have we hit a batch of turbulence? Did we lose an engine? Did we lose an entire wing?

No, my listeners, the horror about to attack our travel was far worse. The announcement over the speaker was… was… was…

An advertisement for a US Airways/Bank of America credit card. You could get 20,000 miles just for signing up! And you’ll also get miles for the flight you’re on right now!

Come back to the fire, my listeners! Do not run away in fright! You are safe here by my blog campfire, the airline mile credit cards cannot get you here. But I must release an important secret I have been hiding from you. Yes, you must know: I was that traveler!

And I don’t appreciate being woken up on an airplane just to be advertised a Visa card. It was a pretty good card, too, with a no-fee 0% balance transfer offer that I could have used. But I decided that because they’d woken me up, they didn’t deserve my business.

P.S. – They did it again on my second flight. Luckily, neither of us were sleeping that time.

$100 Bonus – Hard Credit Pull and 45 Day Wait

By Stephanie, updated July 15, 2007 20 Comments
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Update: It appears that Citibank has dropped this offer down to a $50 bonus instead of a $100 bonus. Everything else in this post still applies, however.

A few months ago, Citibank offered a $100 bonus for opening an “Ultimate Savings Account” with them. I snapped at the offer, even though the accounts 4.75% APY is slightly lower than many online savings accounts. And now, Citibank is handing out this $100 bonus offer once again.

If you interested in an easy $100 like I was, you might be interested in what I learned from my experience:

~ You need to have never held a bank account with Citi before in order to qualify for the bonus. As far as I know, this refers to checking and savings account, but not credit cards.

~ The account is pretty standard as far as online savings accounts go. There is no minimum balance required and no monthly fees. I used $1 as my opening deposit and just left it there.

~ They ask for an awful lot of information when you’re opening your account. It’s been a few months, but I seem to remember having to run out of the room to track down paperwork and look things up. Also, they will do a hard credit pull (a credit check that will slightly lower your credit score for about a year).

~ The offer says the bonus may take as long as 90 days to appear in your account. I recommend marking your calendar three months from the day you open it, and if you don’t receive the bonus by then, to start writing some emails or making some phone calls. My $100 took 45 days to appear in my account.

~ The current offer expires on 8/31/07, so if you’re planning to take advantage of the offer, be sure to apply for your account before that deadline (probably at least several days before, just to be sure).

Now that my $100 bonus is finally in my account, I’m going to buy a Wii! Just kidding. I’m probably going to let it sit in the account for as long as I can, let it earn a little interest, and then throw it at my debt. Yep, I’m boring and practical like that.

[Hat tip to Jonathon at My Money Blog for pointing out Citibank renewing their $100 bonus offer.]

How To Live Without Television – Part II

By Stephanie, updated July 12, 2007 5 Comments
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Glorious Part I of Stephanie’s “How To Live Without Television”

I’m sitting in my living room, a cautious eye on the Time Warner guys that have come out to my house to deliver what I refer to as “the demon signal” (aka cable). I’m not a giant fan of cable to begin with, but Time Warner and I have a torrid past to boot, so I basically loathe the company. But I’m being polite to the install guys, because, hey, it’s not their fault. Also, it wasn’t my idea to put cable in this house.

But the real reason I’m giving you up-to-the-minute updates on my cable installation is to share the details of a rather odd piece of paper that was placed on my dining room table – the work order.

Installation and service fee: $72.80

Whaaaaaaaaaaat? Lame.

Monthly service: $61.56

…

Now, I’m not here to tell you what entertainment you should or should not put your money into. But I’ll run the numbers: if instead of getting cable, my family took that installation fee and invested it, and added that $61.56 every month, and got 8% returns… we’d have $36,849.02 after just 20 years.

I’m just sayin’.

Be Cool – Buy Your First Car from a Grandparent

By Stephanie, updated July 9, 2007 8 Comments
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n1358640013_30001258_7240 It doesn’t necessarily have to be your grandparent, but buying your first car from a member of the elderly community has some awesome perks. My car (nicknamed Fity Thou’) serves as the example of what a sweet deal you could land.

Why My Granny Car Ownz:

I got it for $2000 and was allowed to pay monthly, with no interest. Grandmas are so sweet!
Low mileage. I got it in November and it didn’t even hit 50,000 miles until yesterday (see the sweet picture I forced my passenger to take).
Taken care of well. When my grandfather was alive, he made sure it saw regular checkups. My grandmother continued the trend, and she didn’t drive it much anyway (see “low mileage” above).
All leather interior.
Random perks left inside, specifically for me. I think she gave me two ice scrapers and three boxes of tissues.

If you’re shopping for a first car for yourself or (heaven help you) a teenage child, consider moseying your way up to the nearest retirement community.