No longer a Bank of America credit card customer

Following the change in terms letter I received (and wrote about earlier), I proceeded to call them to reject the new terms.
The process is quick and painless. I called the number mentioned in the letter. It is fully automated. All I needed was my account number and to press 1 to confirm the rejection. Voila!

Bank of America increasing my APR… So long BofA

I received a “Changes to your Credit Card Agreement” letter 2 days ago from Bank of America.  I always read them.  They include terms in these that they hope you won’t find out about until it’s too late.

What is in store from BofA?

Annual Percentage Rate: We are raising APR on your account.  We will use the Variable Rate formula with a margin of 12.95%.  The index being used is 4%.

What it means for me: my APR is jumping from 7.90% to 16.95%. Ouch!

Transaction Fee: We are adding or increasing certain transaction fees.  New fee will be 4% on the following: Balance transfers, cash advances and equivalent, etc.

What it means for me: These fees used to be (as for the majority of credit card companies) at 3%, with a cap anywhere between $50 and $100.  No mention of a maximum is made, so I have to assume there is none.  For me, it doesn’t mean much since I’ve never done any of them with that card.  But if I was thinking about doing any balance transfers, I now know I won’t be doing it.

Foreign Transaction Fee: The definition of what constitute a “Foreign Transaction” is expanded to include transactions in US dollars if they are made or processed outside of the United States.

What it means for me: again, not much.  I don’t use this card outside of the US.

Bottom line

Big mistake on my part: I have a (quite considerable) revolving balance on my BofA card.  My finance charges for the past few months has been around $50.  The APR increase means I would see the finance charge more than double.  Thank you, but no, thank you!

First step is to convert all the points I can to cash.  Then,  I go hunting for the “How to reject these changes” section.  And I find it.  I can call (877) 432-9925 or write to FIA Card Services, NA, PO Box 15088, Wilmington, DE 19850.  The deadline is May 1, 2009.

Next step: pay this off!

Conclusion

I have been trying with a passion to avoind Bank of America.  I don’t have anything against it particularly, but it’s just too big a financial institution for me.  MBNA was bought by BofA within a few years of me getting this card.  Now Countrywide (my mortgage company) is being bought by them as well…  I guess next is my list will be to get rid of that loan.  This just never ends

Update and Boston EITC Campaign

I won’t even try to apologize for not keeping this blog up-to-date. I would spend my time apologizing.

I wanted to write a quick note about Boston Earner Income Tax Credit Campaign (EITC) for which I am volunteering this year. The EITC campaign is design to help low income family preparing and filing taxes.

As a volunteer, I had to go through an 8-hour training at Suffolk University, and pass the IRS VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistant) Basic certification, which I did.

I also promised 20 hours of my time during tax filing season.

If you are interested in learning more and volunteering, go to: http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/eitc. There are still training sessions going on until the end of February.

If you are interested in learning more about the IRS VITA program and getting certified, go to: http://www.irs.gov/app/vita/index.jsp.

Physicians are too busy…

I am trying to find a family doctor.

First, because I have been denied life insurance coverage due to elevated levels of white and red blood cells in my urine and I need this cleared up soon to get that coverage.

Second, because I just need a family doctor/primary care physician, period.

No big deal, right?

Wrong…

I called about a half dozen practices today. The first thing that irritated me is that no one is there to pick up the phone between noon and 1pm. They are all gone to lunch (or maybe golf?).

When I finally got someone on the phone and explained my situation, they first asked what insurance I had. What? Not: what is your name? Or, how are you today? Or, where are you hurting?

None of that. Just “what is your insurance?” Is that really all they care about?… Scratch that. Rhetorical question.

I tried to call a few more later in the afternoon. What was I thinking? Off course their offices is closed past 4pm…

I should have been a doctor…

Simple Syrup

This is a little handy-dandy thing to make in advance.  You can use simple syrup for a varieties of things.  From sweetening cold drinks (iced tea for instance).  Some recipes also call for it.  It’s a super simple and quick time and money saver.

Simple syrup is just water and sugar.  It doesn’t make caramel because the concentration in sugar is much less than it calls for in caramel.  I use 1 part sugar and 1 1/2 part water.  Now for the hard directions

1. Bring the sugar and water to a boil.  Boil for about 5 minutes.
2. Let it cool off and bottle up for later use

There you have it folks!  Enjoy

Why I’m thinking about dumping my Facebook account

I signed up to Facebook sometime last year. I’m not big on that whole social media trend, but it seems that nowadays, you have to have at least one Facebook or MySpace account. So there I am, opening my account.

Cool! I look for people I know, send a few friend requests. Hey, haven’t seen that guys since I left elementary school. And her, we went to junior high together. Sweet.

I browse through the groups and networks (the stupidest, the better). Find a bunch of fun applications. I get the ball going. “Yeah!” I say to myself. “This is neat”.

I log in every day. See who’s there and what they’re up too. One of my “friend” is getting mildly annoying already: he keeps leaving big hints that he’s the best of the best, makes all the money in the world, lives in a community where people own very expensive cars (so he must too *wink*wink*). “Ok, relax… Not such a big deal.” That’s what Facebook is for: bragging!

Let’s get personal

You might have noticed I don’t spend a lot of time writing about my personal life. I’m simply not comfortable enough to do that – or shall I say: I wasn’t!

Heck, why not? Well, one of the reason is that my life is not super interesting – at least, I think not. (Feel free to disagree )

I live in a suburb North of Boston called Wakefield. It’s quiet, nothing ever happens in Wakefield. I work for a startup, in Cambridge. Next to MIT. That’s gotta be interesting. Well, nah, not so much actually.

I like to garden, read, cook, poke around on my computer and the internet for fun stuff.

I’m actually looking for a job right now. I have been for the past year or so. I’m not aggressively looking because I don’t hate where I work now. I’m just looking for the next logical step. That really great opportunity that I can’t pass up.

On the personal side, I’ve been married for 1 year 1/2. I don’t like to say how long because it makes it sounds like we’re a brand new couple. Hubby and I met in 2001 when I came here from France after transferring from a business school in Lyon, France. And we’ve been together almost ever since.

We’re working on a baby!! Actually not working as much as not avoiding having a baby. I’m very bad at that whole “getting my cycle right” thing, the temperature, and ovulation days… Don’t get me started! We’re just letting it happen.

I’m also learning Spanish using a podcast I found on iTunes called Coffee Break Spanish. I took it way back in junior high for 2 years. I didn’t like it at all. I’m happy I’m going back to it now.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll post of few more “personal” post from now on. This was really just an introduction to ease my way into talking and writing “closer to home”.