financial astuity

yeah, astuity. did you like that? something about being astute. or wise. my own invention i suppose.

couple things for you happy readers.

1) always make sure your credit card has auto rental insurance so if you decline it (like i did) and hit a poor dalmation that runs out into the freeway after a ball (like i did) and it dents your car (like it did) (he ran off, btw :) then you don't have to call your insurance. i called my insurance to find my deductible & kinda by accident ended up filing a claim with them which i didn't really want. then i realized that i might have rental insurance on my mastercard and voila, i did. so i then filed a claim with them. we'll see what happens...

2) if you miss your credit card payments you can call & generally they'll credit the late fee or at least a portion of it. amex credits all of it when it happens to me (rarely). my fidelity mastercard that pops $$ over into my IRA (yea!) gave me a full credit the first time (this is $40! yikes) and this time gave me a 1/2 credit. plus they gave me back my finance charges, about $20. it's really expensive to miss a payment. i asked & found out that you can get a form to have auto payment of the total on the due date, so i've got that in the works. no more checking my online account balance in panic, did i pay that yet?

so far my credit cards serve me! i pay the balance every month. just got $300 worth of gift cards to LNT & crate&barrel from amex. and i get about $300/year into my IRA with my fido card. i pay no fees, get mostly credited for my mistakes & lately get auto insurance coverage. plus i have great credit, which should help my home purchase someday. (thank goodness that was in, well, not stocks.)

3) i use an online bank account (firstib.com) that i've had for nearly 10 years. they are super. also it serves me. no fees. they pay $6 of ATM withdrawal each month. and a little interest. i also use ING orange for my savings, no fees, good interest.

hey, just call me the financial wizard. instead of my financial providers making money off my fees, i make $ off of them. i may not be that rich, but i know how to get a good deal! :)

now let's hope i can keep all the savings, given this current market...