Credit Card Roll Call

A number of PF blogs lately have been posting the question, “How many credit cards do you carry?” or “How many is too many?” I’m not sure there’s a correct answer to either question, but it made me think about how many I still have now that I’m more in tune with where my money goes.

This is a list of my open credit card accounts as of June 2007:

Bank of America Business MasterCard — Originally an MBNA account before they were bought out by Bank of America, I opened this account in March of 2005 when I started to divide my personal and business expenses and keep track of them separately. Turned out to be a great move as it was shortly there after I realized how much money I was bleeding on business expenses. This is currently the only card I carry, but I rarely pull it out.
Credit Limit: $22000
Rate: 9.9%

CitiBank AT&T Universal MasterCard — I opened this account in April of 2007 utilizing a 0% for 12 months offer. I wrote a $6000 check to myself, which I originally dropped into my ING Direct savings account to jump on the “arbitrage” bandwagon. Shortly afterwards, I pulled the money out to finance the siding project. As the original plan was to make money on this card, I do not carry it in my wallet.
Credit Limit: $6800
Rate: 0% until April 2008, then 13.81%

Chase Bank Visa Card — This was one of my first credit cards. I opened the account in 1998 and it was one of the cards that I ran up a considerable balance on before I got my act together. The highest it ever went was $12905 and that was in October of 2005. By August of 2006, I’d eliminated the balance, but continued to use the card for gas and the occasional purchase. Balance was always paid in full each month. In June of 2007, I took advantage of a 4.9% for the life of the balance offer to fund the siding project. As a result, I no longer carry the card for expenses.
Credit Limit: $19200
Rate: 4.9%

Bank of America NHL MasterCard — Another of my original credit cards originally opened through MBNA in 1997 for a free t-shirt. This is also another card that I ran up a 5-figure balance on. In May of 2004, it topped out at $10915. By November of 2005, I had wiped the balance out. Now I have my internet service provider automatically bill to this card each month, and like clockwork, I pay back the $42.95 automatically on the same day using an autopay set up from the MBNA days. I do not carry this card and have not carried a balance since November of 2005.
Credit Limit: $22800
Rate: 20.99%

Bank of America Platinum Plus Visa Card — Originally opened in March of 2005 as a failed plan to use balance transfers to consolidate balances at a lower rate. At first I transferred $5000 to this card. Evidently, not having learned my lesson the first time, I transferred another $5000 to this card in March of 2006. Luckily the rate was only 6.25% for both transfers. I wiped out the balance, which topped out at $6925 in March of 2006, in January of 2007. I do not carry this card and don’t ever plan to use it again.
Credit Limit: $14000
Rate: 18.24%

Bank of America GoldOption Loan — This was a loan for $10000 I took out in December of 2002 to, again, consolidate a few balances and put some much needed cash in my hands. At the time, it was LendingTree.com that found me the loan at 9.9%, and when the big check made out to me came in the mail, it was from MBNA. After a couple years of paying it down in regular $226 intervals, MBNA sent me a credit card attached to the account and started treating it like a credit card. With each month, the rate would rise another half percent or so. Not cool. I made my final payment in March of 2005 when the rate had climbed to 13.24%. I do not carry this card and don’t plan to ever use this line of credit.
Credit Limit: $13700
Rate: 24.99%

I guess I didn’t realize how many I still had even though I only carry one. I also didn’t really know, deep down, how much credit was actually available to me. Kinda scary, really.

Thank heavens I didn’t dig the hole any deeper than I did, around $26k, before figuring that I’d better start to climb back out.

Posted on June 19th, 2007 at 1:49 pm by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card, Finance | 2 Comments »

Sidestepping the Fee

Last week I mentioned that I’d set up an autopayment through my checking account to throw additional principle at my mortgage.

My lender, Countrywide, offers a few different auto-payment plans of their own, but they CHARGE for it?!

Bi-monthly payments get you a $4 service charge per payment. Total damage: $96/year.

Bi-weekly payments also have a $4 service charge attached. A worse deal, coming to $104/year.

Weekly payments have a $2 service charge. Even still, that works out to $104/year.

Makes you wonder why they don’t just come out and say there’s a $100 charge for the service… Oh yeah, because then they wouldn’t have any takers… The funny part is that they describe it as a “nomimal per draft fee”.

Maybe I’m just cheap, but $100 is hardly insignificant. Especially when just slightly more than that amount goes to the principle with every regular mortgage payment I send in. Countrywide claims that enrolling in one of these plans is like making 13 payments per year. But… subtracting interest and escrow, they’re taking one of those payments right back out in fees… It’s a terrible deal.

So, last week, I came up with the brilliant scheme to initiate payment from the opposite side — through my checking account at Bank of America by utilizing their BillPay system.

To test things I set up an automatic $25 transfer to go to Countrywide each Monday. This morning, on the Countrywide website, my transaction history indicated a $25 reduction in my principle. Woo-hoo!

Now, I don’t think this would work for paying my mortgage each month, since the payment went towards the principle only, but that was never really the plan anyway. I’ve no problem mailing a check in each month, but this will allow me to paydown the loan even faster without a fee or a noticable void in my wallet.

Posted on June 19th, 2007 at 10:37 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Mortgage | 3 Comments »

Do It Yourself?

This past weekend, my wife and I decided to take on a few home improvement projects ourselves.

Seeing how the siding contractors have gone around obstacles on the side of the house they’ve finished, it seemed like a good idea to remove and replace the obstacles we don’t really like, so when they go around them, they’re not leaving an eyesore up there.

The back porch area was the area we concentrated on — specifically the light fixture and the dryer vent.

The first project of the day would be the dryer vent.  When I bought the house in 2002, there wasn’t a dryer — just a 3 inch vent, with a bird nest, for one to hook up to.  When I finally purchased a washer and dryer, my mom cried as I’d no longer make laundry visits.  But the real problem I had was that the standard dryer duct was 4 inches — I had a 3 inch vent.  Nothing an adaptor couldn’t take care of, but it was always something in the back of my mind; make the dryer vent bigger.

The original wall mounted light fixture on the porch was one of those junky looking under-$10 types.  We went to our local Home Depot (we’re actually more partial to Lowe’s, but it’s farther away) and picked out a relatively inexpensive (around $40) motion sensor type of fixture.

Then we headed to the aisle with the dryer vents.  We picked up a nice plastic one that came with the 4-inch duct that would extend into the house.  There were all kinds of options to pick and choose from individually (duct & vents), but this one had everything connected already and kinda had the look I was picturing.  Total damage, about $5.

Now the problem would be drilling a 4-inch hole in the side of the house.  I knew my dad had drill bits like that, and I remembered exactly where he kept them.  Problem is, my parents retired to Florida a few years ago, so I’d have to get one for myself.

Off to the tool section and I couldn’t find what I was looking for.  They had what was called a 4-inch saw bit.  Not really what I needed.  My wife asked one of the associates and they said we needed that and a mandrell.  Hmmm… Barbara Mandrell is going to help me drill the hole, eh?

Nope, it was a mandril. Basically a normal looking drill bit with the ability to attach the 4 inch saw blade to.  Never saw one of those before.  I  thought a mandril was a monkey.  My dad’s big circle bits always one big piece.  Whatever, we needed it to make the hole and this was all they had.  Sucks that it was nearly $40 total for both pieces.  I’m not sure I can think of another place I’ll need to drill a 4-inch hole.  Ever.

Once home, the dryer vent was the first project.  My wife used a hammer to pry off the old vent.  One thing I’ve noticed on this house is that the previous owners had apparently never heard of a screw.  Everything is nailed on.  And then painted over.  Once she got the vent off, we saw what I’d guess was the original colour of the house: white. 

 

From the insides of the attic windows, we determined long ago that the trim was originally green.  White with green trim and brown cedar shingles.  That would have looked really nice.  Makes you wonder why they threw light gray shingles on top, painted the whole thing a baked bean shade of red, and then nailed plastic black shutters up.

Back to the task at hand…  Since it would be too difficult to use the drill to make the 3-inch hole a 4-inch hole without drifting, and the original hole was in an odd place anyway, we decided to make it a few feet lower and to the left.  We picked out spot and I started to drill.

Barely through the semi-rotten clapboard, it became apparent that an electric drill would be a huge advantage over the cheap Skil 12V battery powered drill I have.  It’s a terrible drill.  In fact, I hesitate to even call it a drill.  Screw stripper would be a more accurate name.  It died.

We recharged it and drilled to death about 5 or six times before we’d gone through the siding, the wood behind the siding, the wood lathe, and the interior plaster wall.  We luckly missed a stud by about an inch — something I hadn’t even thought of when I started to drill, but something I won’t forget for the next time I’m pulling holes somewhere in the house.

I was also surprised at how thick and hard the wood was, once through the old siding.  I was always a little skeptical about how solid the house was where it looks terrible, but just behind one of the worst places on the exterior, it’s as solid as solid can be.

We pushed the new duct and vent through the hole, connected the dryer and gave it a test run.  Success!  I didn’t bother to pull/push it flush against the house and screw it down yet though, as I’m sure the contractors will appreciate it having a little give for when they side around it.

Next up was the light fixture.  We turned off the power and pulled down the old one.  I was worried it was going to be like some of the interior wiring — ancient.  It was old, but not terrible.  The biggest problem we had was stuffing all of the connections in behind the fixture.  And then figuring out which setting to set the motion sensor on.  We also left a little give on it too — it’s not super tight against the house either for the contractor’s benefit.

Small projects, yeah, but we’re working our way up to tearing off the horrible wood paneling, and then plaster, in our entry room.  Small steps, right?

Posted on June 18th, 2007 at 10:30 am by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements | No Comments »

June 2007: Mid-Month Review

Not much movement on the bottom line so far this month.

Lots of movement within though, as I’ve been moving money over to my checking account from credit cards and my ING Direct account to pay the last two-thirds of the home renovation that should be complete over the next couple of weeks.

That’s when the bottom will fall out and I’ll be right back where I was in January 2007 hovering around a net worth of $50k and carrying a lot of credit card debt.

The difference this time? I have a nicer house, I have a savings account generating interest, AND, best of all, all of the credit card debt is at a low rate.

Though it’s now very unlikely that I’ll reach my 2007 goal, I’m still feeling pretty confident.

Back in September of 2004, my various credit card balances put together topped out at over $26k. And all of it was sitting there at 15.99% or higher. Oddly enough, I was never in a panic mode.

The situation I’ll find myself in later this month is nothing compared to that. My income has increased a bit since 2004 and my expenses have definitely decreased since 2004. (Oh, and have I mentioned that I own my own plane now too?)

This time, I should be able to chop the balance down over a few months, rather than a few years.

Just a bump in the road.

Posted on June 15th, 2007 at 7:44 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | No Comments »

Siding Project Begins!

I should have done this a long time ago.

Yesterday, when I arrived home from work, I found that the back of the house had been sided. Wow. Not sure I really expected it to begin so soon, but I’m not complaining either. I’m just glad we have the funds in place to make the remaining payments already.

The colour looks a lot better than I thought it would. I was a little skeptical… I dunno, I thought it might be too dark, but it’s not, it’s perfect. And the improvement is so drastic; I can’t imagine why I held off having this done for so long. Oh yeah… the cost.

On the negative side of things, it’s not seamless vinyl siding. I kinda knew that going in, but amazingly I’ll admit it’s not that noticeable. Maybe it’s the shock value of the house not looking like crap any more that makes me gloss over the seams, I don’t know.

Another thing I don’t really like is how plasticy and semi-squishy the side of the house is now. Again, I knew that was going to be the case going in, and it’s also the reason I’m not real fond of vinyl siding, but the difference in curb appeal will totally be worth it. Still, someday I hope to have an old home with read wood siding — and in great shape. It just would have cost too much to restore and maintain this one and make it look the way I want using all wood.

The contractors have been good so far — a definite improvement over the roofers. I’ll hold off on a final ruling because the roofers also appeared quite good until the last couple of days when they tore most of our screens, put a brick through a window and onto the hood of our car, and on top of it all, they left a dumpster in our front yard over the Christmas holiday (even though the project was complete over a week beforehand).

On the back of our house, there is an exhaust port for a fan in our kitchen. Basically a little spring loaded trap door, when it opens, the fan turns on and sucks whatever out of the kitchen. Well, they obviously tugged on the trap door from the outside and broke the chain that keeps the door shut — and the fan turned off — so when I got home, the door was shut, but the fan had been running for hours.

Thankfully, it was an easy 15 minute fix. No damage done.

Posted on June 14th, 2007 at 7:34 am by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements | 3 Comments »

Payments Begin

Yesterday morning the materials for our home improvements were delivered and are in piles all over the yard — the work should start very soon.

So it seemed appropriate that I’d start paying back all of the money we borrowed today. All of it is still sitting within the grace period, but I’d like to get started on chipping away at the balances.

First, I added my Bank of America checking account to the CitiBank card so that I can make automatic payments though their website. That’s the card that’s a 0% until May of 2008, so it’s not really a high priority, but after the promo rate expires, it will jump up to 13.81%. I’d prefer to have it’s balance at zero, or worst case, under $1000 for when the rate goes up. As of this morning, I have to wait 6 days for them to “verify” my checking account before I can schedule any payments.

Then I transferred $8k from my ING Direct savings account into the checking account for the next payment to the contractors.

Next, I set up a bi-weekly automatic payment of $150 to my business credit card. Right now, that’s the only credit card I still carry in my wallet — it’s not being used at all for the renovation. I generally only charge about $200/month on that card — though it should go up some because I’ve never used it for personal expenses. It will now include gas, the storage unit rent fee, and the occasional expense when I don’t have cash on hand to cover it. The automatic payments alone will cover all charges plus some. And I intend to continue mail monthly payments in whenever I’ve got some left over after paying the BIG credit card bills funding the renovation.

Then, because Bank of America boasts a list of “common payees in your area”, I also added Countrywide Home Loans to my list of payees and set up an automatic payment. Countrywide has always offered an automatic payment plan, but they also charge a $4 fee each month to participate.

That’s not about to happen, but I wonder how it works if I initiate it from the bank’s side instead. We’ll see — to test it out, I set up a $25/week auto-payment to begin on Monday.

I’m very interested to see where the $25 goes. Obviously, I’d prefer it be treated as additional principle, but the bank website doesn’t give you the option of choosing how the mortgage company processes it. Deep down, I have a feeling I’ll be canceling the future auto-payments on Tuesday.

And I know many PF experts say it’s foolish to pay down your mortgage, but I’m currently sill paying PMI at a rate of $85/month. I’m not that far off from eliminating that, and $25/week isn’t going to kill my budget, but it could take a couple of years off of the PMI charges. That, and regardless of what anyone says, the idea of potentially paying off my house by age 40 is very appealing.

(Oh yeah, for those interested, I did manage to pick up the private plane I purchased over the weekend yesterday. Yes, it’s totally awesome!)

Posted on June 13th, 2007 at 8:38 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance | 2 Comments »

Monday Musing

Slow day at the regular paycheck job.

Currently, I’m redesigning the company’s website, which is a nice needed change of pace from the regular daily grind. Unfortunately, it’s something I work on whenever I get a chance or things slow down, which isn’t very often.

It’s been a very productive day so far though — I’ve figured out how to prevent Firefox from looping an Adobe Flash file, when every other browser out there loads and displays things fine. It’s something I’ve been planning on sitting down and figuring out for a few weeks, but I finally did it this morning. I’d had a feeling it was something simple… and it was.

I’ve also filled in the content to two sections worth (16 pages so far). As I’m using a PHP template for this site, this part is really repetitive and *really* boring allowing my brain to ponder other things. If you hadn’t guessed, this is the project that isn’t bringing in any income that I’ve mentioned a few times in previous posts.

On the brain right now? Well, with the pending siding project nearing fruition, I’m starting to look even further ahead. The next potential obstacle to overcome for our homeowners insurance problem is the original knob and tube wiring throughout the house.

I removed some myself this past weekend, but it was all in full view. It’s the stuff behind the walls that’s out of my league. And lately, I’ve really been wishing that we had light switches like a normal house. (Most rooms have a pull chain fixture in the center of the ceiling.)

The greedy side of me would also like a sub-panel installed in the detached garage so we could have power out there again, but that’s just like extra frosting.

This week, I’ll dig up the number of the electrician, John Cyr, from when he upgraded the 60amp fuse box to 200amp service three or four years ago. He also wired a new outlet to the dryer and washing machine at around the same time.

Deep down, I know it’s not the type of project I can get a quote on, it’s understandably, as they say in the business, a “Time and Materials” type of project due to the number of variables hidden behind the plaster, but I think he charged me fairly for work done in the past.

That, and I learned a ton just from watching him and being a “stand-in” assistant. I’d be comfortable with him working in my house, really the most important thing, so I’m hoping he’s up for the project and some quick easy money for a job he can work on at his own leisure.

This will kill any chance of reaching my 2007 financial goal, but as long as I finish the year higher than I started, I’ll still be satisfied.

Saturday’s Cessna purchase is still ongoing as well. I was unable to pick it up today, but the plan is for a fellow from work to help me lift it into my wife’s truck tomorrow morning. The weather isn’t likely to cooperate, but I think it should be okay. For whatever reason, I’m pretty excited about getting it home.

Now I can honestly say that, “I own my own company, I drive a BMW, and I recently purchased a private plane.”

Hey — it’s true in a wacky sort of way.

All that’s left is for me to turn my house into a palace — and we’re working on that!

Posted on June 11th, 2007 at 2:21 pm by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements, Insurance, Life | No Comments »

Bargains to be had… or just junk?

Yesterday our local mall, which has been vacant for nearly a decade, had a liquidation auction as it’s scheduled for demolition later this year if everything goes as planned.

I saw it as not only an opportunity to see the inside of the old “crappy” mall one last time, but also as a chance to experience a live auction firsthand and maybe, just maybe, pick up something nice at a real low price.

Most of the items that were up for bid were from the insides of a Chinese Buffet restaurant. It was funny, there were three Asian groups there bidding on everything — once the restaurant was cleared, they all left. Some good deals were out there, though it kinda made me think twice about ever eating Chinese again.  The second hand equipment was not clean.  Not clean at all.  Really, my shoes still feel greasy.

Once out into the actual mall, I got more and more anxious as the auctioneer moved closer and closer to the item I had my eye on.

I had one rival bidding against me on the item. I raised my hand like an idiot a couple of times as we went back and forth, but quickly took on the role of a seasoned pro with a slight head nod to indicate my willingness to go higher. (Chalk it up to the years of eBay experience… no, this was a lot more thrilling.)

Sold to bidder number 40! My heart was racing. The item, as well as a quick high-five with my wife upon being proclaimed winner, generated a few smiles in the crowd. I’d won what I considered the pick of the lot.

Anyway, the item we bid on and won is pictured to the right.

Yes, a coin-operated kiddie ride. I barely fit into it. My wife sorta fits into it. So why’d I bid on and win it?

Well, even if I can’t get it to work (we haven’t plugged it in to test it yet. In fact, it’s still at the Mall as it was too heavy for us to lift), I still think it was a great value for something I’m positive that our future children will enjoy climbing all over and just plain sitting in.

If not, I know I’ll enjoy it. Though I’m not an airplane buff, I never rode this particular ride, and I’m not sure I ever even noticed it the few times I went inside this particular mall, I do remember when rides like this were outside of every grocery store, Ames, Zellers, and really any other department store that Walmart put out of business.

And what I remember most is that my parents seldom said “Yes” and supply a quarter to make the ride do it’s thing, so in a way, this is like the Speak-and-Spell I asked Santa Claus for and ended up purchasing myself 25 years later.

Posted on June 10th, 2007 at 8:26 am by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Retro | 3 Comments »