Tag Archives: review

Check and Tidy Up Your Credit

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Take some time with your free credit reports and computer to clean up outstanding items.

I have very good credit and I work hard to keep it that way. I don’t ever want to be denied credit if I need it.

Start With a Clean Shop

The best way to keep your credit rating good is to follow a few simple policies:

  • Don’t sign up for a lot of credit cards. People (and, more likely, computers) who evaluate your credit look at the credit limits set up on your active credit card accounts to see what your potential total liability could be. $5000 here, $12,000 there, $9000 somewhere else — all that adds up, even if your outstanding balance is $0. After all, who knows if you’ll suddenly go on a credit card spending spree and max out all your cards?
  • Minimize personal loan use. A car loan is secured by a car. A mortgage is secured by property. A home equity loan is also secured by property. But personal loans aren’t secured at all. So if you go bankrupt, that’s just another loan a potential creditor would have to wait behind.
  • Speaking of bankruptcy, don’t go there. Declaring bankruptcy should only be used in dire circumstances — for example, you don’t have medical insurance and surgery or long-term treatment for something serious gets you in debt above and beyond your eyeballs. (Frankly, I think the government should provide medical coverage for these serious matters, but don’t get me started on that argument.)
  • Pay everything on time. Everything. Always. I’ve automated my payments through my bank account (not through my creditor’s billpay system) whenever possible. If online billing is not available, I set up to send a minimum amount to cover monthly bills so nothing is ever forgotten.
  • Don’t go into more debt than you have the ability to pay. This seems like a no-brainer, but people do it all the time. All your credit card minimum payments add up, you know. When they get to a point beyond what you can pay each month, you’ll be in serious trouble. And if you have a variable interest mortgage, remember that the monthly payments will go up soon (if they haven’t done so already) and you need to budget for that big increase. (If possible, refinance at a fixed rate or one that remains fixed for at least a few years. INGDirect has a great deal right now that you might want to check out.)

If you want to minimize interest expenses on revolving credit like credit cards, pay them on time in full every month. Not only will you save money — no interest! — but each month you’ll find yourself paying for just the things you bought in the previous month. Sure beats taking a year to pay off things you might not even have anymore.

Review Your Credit Report Regularly

Today, I took a few hours to download, review, and initial investigations for my three credit reports. It was an enlightening experience that gave me some peace of mind.

The U.S. government mandates that TransUnion, experíon, and Equifax must give you their version of your credit report once a year for free. To get your reports, go to AnnualCreditReport.com and follow the instructions that appear onscreen. You’ll have to provide your social security number and some other identifying information. You’ll then go to the Web sites of each credit report provider you selected (I chose all three) to request, view, and print your credit report. I got TransUnion’s and Equifax’s without any problem, but when I tried to get experíon’s, I entered a wrong number for a security question and was told I’d get validation info in the mail to proceed. Still, two reports were enough to get me started.

And no, you don’t have to subscribe to anything or pay $7.95 to get your credit score. (I was tempted to see the FICO number, but did not succumb.)

I found some incorrect information regarding my name (Equifax also has me listed as Maria Chilingerian, although I did not take my husband’s last name when we married and do not use the name at all) and addresses (both had a rental property I own as one of my residential addresses on file). Equifax had a bunch of former employers that were kind of scrambled up. I also found a number of outstanding credit card accounts that I’d opened in a store to get the 20% purchase discount (Old Navy, Pier One) that had never been cancelled. Equifax had a single “adverse accounts” item for an old Alltel bill I’d paid late after a dispute. Oddly enough, it was marked as paid, even though it showed up as an adverse item.

The reports color-code payment history, making it pretty easy to see how good (or bad) you’ve been at paying your bills on time. I was very pleased to see that all of my bills indicated that all payments were on time. I really do try hard.

Both companies offer online dispute investigation for items on the credit report. In each case, I logged in with special identifying information, navigated to the investigation page, and entered correct data or checked off items in a list. For example, I asked both to remove that rental property address and told them that a few credit card accounts indicated as open were now closed.

Prevent, or at Least Stop, Identity Theft

If I’d seen evidence of identity theft, there were boxes to check and forms to fill out to indicate that an item on the report wasn’t mine. This is the main reason everyone should review their credit report periodically. You can see what’s going on in your name and make sure someone else isn’t using your fine credit to finance their round-the-world cruise or new car. But in my case, although the reports were lengthy (I have a habit of taking advantage of those 0% credit card offers for exactly one year), I was personally responsible for initiating every item on them.

I should note here that I once did have my credit card number stolen and used for a handful of purchases before American Express, with the help of Sears, caught on. The whole thing took place over a period of less than a week and I was not held liable for the two charges that got through. No sign of this appears on my credit report. But if someone had opened a new account using my name and other identification information, that would have been very easy to spot.

Don’t Wait. Do it Today.

With identity theft running rampant and interest rates rising, it’s a good idea to go through your credit reports and tidy them up.

After all, who knows when you’ll want to refinance your home, buy a new car, or take advantage of one of those 0% interest offers?

eBay Auction Update

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Pretty much everything sold.

The AirPort went for the Buy It Now price of $79 — a smoking deal. Because I was away when the PayPal payment came in, I upgraded the shipping method to Priority Mail at my expense.

The Apple Annual Report from 1996 went to a buyer in Germany, making me wish I’d saved other annual reports throughout the years. (I might start saving them now.)

Even my spare copy of Mac OS X 10.0 in its original, sealed packaging went for a few bucks.

Only the Developer Preview of Jaguar remained unsold after a week on the block. I relisted it.

I might dip into my collection of Apple T shirts to see how those do. I believe I have one from eWorld that might bring back some memories for the Apple faithful — and a few bucks to cover my hosting fees.

24

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For what they’re worth, some of my thoughts about this hit television series.

I don’t watch much television. Frankly, I have better things to do with my time. And the commercials absolutely drive me bonkers.

We have a DVR — that’s Dish Network’s version of a Tivo. You set it up with the television shows you want to watch and it records them. You can then watch them any time you like. This is one of only two ways I’ll watch television these days because it enables me to fast-forward through all the commercials.

The shows I watch regularly include Boston Legal (which a friend told us about) and Monk (which I discovered on my own). Boston Legal is hysterically funny, but each episode gives you something serious to think about. Monk is pretty stupid, but I like the Monk character’s idiosyncrasies. We used to watch Stargate SG-1, but it appears to have gone off the air. I watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, although Mike doesn’t seem as interested in their brands of comedy as I am. I also occasionally watch Modern Marvels, Nova, Scientific American Frontiers, and various other shows on the History, Discovery, and PBS channels.

Netflix, Inc.Ad

The other way I watch television is on DVD. We’ll discover a show — like Boston Legal — decide we like it, then start renting previous season episodes from Netflix. When the disc comes, we’ll watch two or four episodes in a single night — a kind of television marathon. It isn’t bad, since each hour-long episode is only 40 minutes with the commercials stripped out. That’s 2 hours and 40 minutes of tube time if you watch all four episodes on a disc in the same night. We’ll do that until we’re caught up with the current season, then let the DVR take over.

24 was a bit different for us. I heard about it a bunch of places, but not having a water cooler in my office, I didn’t get much information about it. Then I heard an interview with Bill Clinton and he mentioned that he likes the show. Say what you want about that particular former president, but one thing that’s indisputable is his level of intelligence. He’s a smart guy and he likes the show. Maybe there was something to that. I decided to give it a try.

Apple iTunes

Of course, we didn’t want to start watching it mid-season. I knew enough about the show to know that it was a season-long story and coming in in the middle of it wasn’t the best way to get the whole thing. And I worried about the DVR screwing up recording and skipping an episode here or there — which it sometimes does, if you don’t monitor the timers. So we went straight to DVD.

The first season’s first four episodes arrived right before our trip to Howard Mesa for Christmas. Howard Mesa doesn’t have a television. It doesn’t have much of anything in the way of after-dark entertainment. So we brought along my MacBook Pro and, in the evening after dinner, set it up on a folding table in front of the sofa. And that was how I watched the first four episodes.

I could see the appeal. Lots of action and drama. A mystery to draw you in. Uncertainty about the motivations of many characters — who could you — or should I say, Jack Bauer — trust? And that damn ticking clock.

After the first four episodes, we were hooked.

But we weren’t hooked in a good way. Each episode’s cliffhanger made us want to watch the next episode, but on discussion of what we were watching, we agreed that it wasn’t all that good. There was a lot of secondary plot stuff that was obviously in there for fill. (This is truer about the second season than the first.) And the characters — especially Jack Bauer’s wife and daughter — did dumb things that got them into trouble. Really dumb things. Big trouble. It was hard to have empathy with them because they were such big screw-ups. In fact, more than a few times, I wished they’d just go away. (So the end of the first season didn’t upset me in the least.)

And let’s not even get into how implausible many of the plot points were. The idea that so many characters could do so much in a 24-hour period without dropping from exhaustion is very difficult to believe. Adrenaline only goes so far. I remember the last time I pulled an all-nighter and how I felt at Hour 20. The first season started at midnight, so you have to assume the characters were up since at least 8 AM the previous morning. So midnight is already at least Hour 16 for them. And what is it with CTU? Don’t those poor people ever get to go home?

I don’t want to go into plot details since I don’t want to spoil the show for people who haven’t seen it. Implausibility aside, the plots aren’t bad. Lots of twists — perhaps too many? — that lure you into trusting people who turn out to be bad guys (or gals). That in itself is very distracting. Once you get the rhythm of the trusted-character-is-really-bad discovery cycle, you start wondering which one will be next on the block.

Of course, all this might have to do with the way we watch 24 — four episodes in a single night, sometimes a week or more between viewings. No commercials, so the plot and action is packed right in. That’s definitely one way to catch errors in continuity — like lost cell phones that suddenly re-materialize (How is it that they can always reach Jack Bauer by phone in Season 2 when his daughter needs to speak to him?) and injuries that are serious in one episode but barely noticeable four hours later? And how about Season 2’s violence in Georgia that’s a big deal in one or two episodes and never discussed again?

And then there’s the character of Jack Bauer himself. A counter-terrorist superman who is a bit too human at the wrong times. Sure, he doesn’t have any trouble blowing away a character and cutting off his head, but when his daughter is on the phone, his brain shifts into neutral while he melts into his daddy role. It’s hard to believe that a man so toughened by his past can have such a soft side. And when did he get that tough past? He’s not that old and his daughter is in her late teens in that first season. Doing counter-terrorism missions for the government isn’t like going to a sales conference in St. Louis. It takes training and time. Can they really expect viewers to believe that a man like Jack Bauer could have a solid family relationship?

Whatever.

Last night we finished Season 2. Now we are debating whether we want to dive into another season. I was very surprised to learn that the show is already up to Season 6 (I think). I didn’t know it had been on television that long. (I really don’t keep up with these things.) It’s obviously a big hit. And it is entertaining. But I don’t like the idea of feeling that I need to watch every single episode of a television show.

I’ll let Mike decide.

In the meantime, I moved The Good Shepherd up to the top of my Netflix queue. We’ll take a nice, long break from the world of Jack Bauer. I don’t think we’ll miss him.

links for 2007-04-03

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Site Comment Policy

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I need to make a few things clear(er).

June 30, 2014 Update
I’ve finally gotten around to writing up the site comment policy on a regular page (rather than post) on this site. You can find it here: Comment Policy.

Although I discuss my comment policy briefly on the Contact Me page of this site, allow me to expand on what’s there in this post.

Comments Overview

This site allows comments on blog posts (often referred to as “articles” here). To enter a comment, fill in the comment form at the bottom of the post. If the form doesn’t appear, click the Comment link at the bottom of the post to display it. Registration is not required.

The name, e-mail, and comment fields of the form are required. If any are left blank or if the e-mail field is an obvious fake, the comment will be deleted.

First names only or handles are fine for the Name field, as long as they don’t use words that are in poor taste.

If you enter a company name or Web site name in the Name field, there’s a pretty good chance your comment will be deleted as spam.

Speaking of spam, if your comment was posted solely to advertise a product, service, or Web site, it’s likely to be deleted as spam. I have zero tolerance for spam or spam-like postings.

All Comments are Moderated

Because of the problem with comment spam on frequently-visited blogs, this site uses two types of comment moderation:

  • Automatic moderation through the use of spam prevention software. I use two different spam prevention software packages. One can automatically determine whether a site “visitor” is really a spambot and prevent it from posting a comment. It’s about 75% effective and generally catches 5,000 to 10,000 individual spambot accesses each week. The other spam prevention package uses established algorithms to identify messages that are likely to be spam. It holds these messages in a special moderation queue for me to review. But since there are usually 50 to 200 of these messages a day, I normally just delete them without an in-depth review. The best way to stay out of this spam bucket is to minimize links within your comment.
  • Manual moderation through the review of comments that have not automatically been identified as spam. If a comment makes it through the first two lines of defense, it’s put in a moderation queue. I read the comment and determine whether it’s appropriate for this site. If it’s not, I delete it. If it is, I approve it. If it’s spam, I mark it as such to help “train” my spam detection software. If you post a spam message on this site just once, I’m not likely to see any of your future comments, since they’ll automatically go in the spam bucket.

Please don’t expect your comment, no matter how appropriate, to appear immediately or even within a day or two. I’m a busy person and try to moderate comments daily, but that doesn’t always happen. Don’t post the same comment repeatedly; I’ll just have to delete the extras.

I’m always interested in reading the opinions of others, as long as they’re presented in a reasonable and friendly way. Rudely bashing me or other commenters is a good way to get your comment deleted — or, worse yet, marked as spam so I never see one of your comments again. I’ll allow comments with differences of opinion if those differences are presented in the spirit of friendly debate.

I also reserve the right to edit comments. I don’t modify content, but I might delete something I think is offensive or overly commercial if the rest of the comment is something other readers might benefit from.

I do want to remind all visitors that I am responsible for this site’s content — including comments. I simply won’t let the site be used for anything other than a place to share information and ideas. The site maintains a PG-13 rating in both content and language.

If you believe I’ve deleted your comment because I didn’t think it was appropriate, you will be wasting your time if you attempt to repost it or e-mail me about it. Your comment will not appear and I will ignore your e-mail. It takes only seconds to delete either one, so you’re not wasting my time at all. There are a lot of small minded, nasty people out there and I’m not about to waste my time dealing with any of them.

And That’s How It Is

While I realize that this policy might be harsher than the policies in place on other sites, this isn’t one of those sites. It’s my site. You’re my guest, and I don’t expect my guests to abuse my hospitality. If you have a problem with this policy, then you have a problem with me and my site and I don’t expect you to waste your time here.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Your comments are appreciated — really! You know where to put them.