April 03, 2008
Credit Card Rates=Credit Reports
Several years ago I decided to earn some extra money by becoming a Secret Shopper. I was retired and did not want the restrictions of a part time job so I thought becoming a Secret Shopper sounded like a nice change of pace. I found several companies who were hiring at that time and became a fairly regular shopper with one of them. Unlike what most people perceive, shopping does not have to be in a department store where you make a purchase and evaluate the service you received. This is how some secret shoppers work, but was not what I was expected to do.
My first few jobs were at fast food restaurants where I was expected to evaluate the food inside, the food at the drive-up and the rest rooms, along with the maintenance of the grounds. This required the completion of a very long form and the compensation for all of this work was exceptionally poor. After two fast food assignments, I knew this was not for me. I would not be returning to fast food shops until their pay increased dramatically.
Eventually, I contacted a company who had a different type of shopping requirement. They wanted people to shop financial institutions and ask specific questions about a variety of aspects of banking. The evaluations were of the service received from the greeter to the person who answered your questions and provided information regarding specific products. Each shop required I ask certain questions and record the answers I was given. I had to time how long it took to be welcomed in the bank and how long before I received attention from the person I needed to speak with. The most difficult part of the shop was that the form you had to complete required the names of the people you came in contact with and a description of them. Employees were supposed to be wearing badges with their names displayed, but some did not. It was hard to memorize the physical details of everyone who spoke with you without taking any notes. There were times when I would come in contact with as many as five people. A great deal of concentration was needed to match all of their names and descriptions while still carrying on conversations with them.
Bank shops were very interesting, paid well and you were able to visit several branches in one day, enabling you to receive a better rate of pay for your time invested.
One job was to inquire about checking accounts. You had to ask for interest rates, minimum balance requirements and specific charges relating to the accounts. You always had to provide a different name which was the part I really didn’t like. It’s hard to respond to a new name when someone addresses you that way. They also required that I leave a telephone number for follow-up. Although I didn’t like leaving a phone number (I left my cell number) and the false name, the rest of the shop was pleasant and easy to perform. I found that I could do several shops in an area and earn a very good salary.
Other shops had me inquiring regarding mortgages, investment of retirement funds, savings accounts, CD rates (both IRA and regular), car loans and home equity loans. All of these came with individual questions which had to be responded to by the bank employees while I was evaluating their responses and how they treated potential new customers. Several shops also required you to express displeasure with some information (such as rates) and record the reaction of the person you are speaking with.
The bank I was a shopper for was very specific regarding their requirements. I had to wear a watch and time how long it took someone to greet me upon entering the bank. I also had to comment on who was present when I entered the branch and available to assist me at that time. A specific person was supposed to greet me and, if not, someone else was expected to substitute for that person temporarily while asking me to wait for the information I was trying to obtain. The bank demanded a great deal from their employees and, in most cases, was not disappointed. I was very surprised at how quickly I was greeted when entering the bank lobby. Only twice was I disappointed in the service I received. This was out of approximately 25 visits and shows that the service provided by this organization is exceptional. I was very impressed with how they treated their customers and would eventually like to bring my financial business to this organization.
Posted by juliusp at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2008
Debt is not fun
Why is it that every big purchase you make, you take a loan? Everything costs more that the average person can afford on their own, so aren’t we really asking people to constantly go into debt?
The average car price is about $25,000, while the average home price is about $430,000. Yet the average household income in the US was found to be $48,201, in 2006. The cost of gas today is upwards of $3.15 per gallon. When you look at these statistics something just doesn’t add up. As a person making a median income, how are you expected to stay out of debt? You can’t. So you borrow money from the banks and take auto loan, home loans, and mortgages, to be able to live the American dream.
The American dream should really not include going into debt for the rest of your life. People need to take a stand against the constant cost increases that are taking place. In 1970, the median family income was $9,870 per year. The average cost of a new car was $3,900 and the average home cost about $26,600. The cost of gas was .36 per gallon! If you look at these figures, you can see that the salaries that people are making are not keeping up with the rising costs in the housing and automobile industries.
In 1940, the cost of an average house was $3920 and the cost of a car about $800 and gas was about .11 per gallon. The average income was $1725 per year.
Do you see the trend? The price of the average new home has risen 109.69% from 1940 to 2006. The price of the average car has risen 31.25%. The cost of a gallon of gas has risen 28.64% while the average salary from 1940-2006 has gone up only 27.94%.
Is it any wonder why people can’t afford to be without debt? Why is our society so hell bent on living above our means. I would like to buy a house and I am working toward a career that will allow me to do such. I am worried about taking out a mortgage and making a promise to pay it back for the next 30 years. Or a car loan for the next 8 years. It seems tough to predict what the future will hold and it does not seem feasible to commit for that long a period of time, that things are going to be stable enough to keep paying.
I have been hearing a lot of reports on the news about all the people losing their homes with the stress in the US economy and I really feel for these people. Most are hard working, some have been laid off from jobs that they thought they would be retiring from. Some are our poor reserve people who have been sent to war for months and sometimes years at a time. Their families left to struggle and pray for their return. They need to be home with their families, helping to pay the bills. We love and appreciate them for fighting for our country, but we want them to come home.
If we would stop fighting this war, we could maybe focus on getting our economy back on track and headed in the right direction. The reason our economy is in such poor shape is because we are spending billions of dollars to fight and rebuild Iraq. Granted we do have an obligation to clean up our mess over there. We go through our lives for the most part ignoring the war that we are fighting everyday. It used to be that you would hear all about the war on the TV news programs daily. How often are we getting updates now? We have been at war now for 6 ½ years, it is no wonder our economy is showing signs of fatigue. Let’s not let our government continue this war. Let’s stop paying for a war that as Americans we no longer believe in. Let’s bring our innocent troops home and let them regain some sort of life again, for those who it is possible for.
The war has not just affected the soldiers, it has affected all of us. Everyone of us is paying more and struggling everyday to stay out of debt. Our government is taking the money out of our pockets to fund their own agenda. If they really want to protect us, then let them stop this thing now. Wrap it up and bring the men and women of this country home.
Be careful, I feel that things will only get tougher from here on out. Be wary of those lending and finance companies offering to “help you out�. Mortgages, car loans, and borrowing and spending need to be kept to a minimum at this time. Spend as little as you can and avoid borrowing unless absolutely necessary. You will need to save some money and put it aside for a rainy day, I fear the rain is coming soon.
Posted by juliusp at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
The People with ARM Loans are OK for now
I just heard today on the news that the government will be dropping the interest rate on mortgages again. Do they really think that is the only reason that people are not buying houses? The world is a mess with this war and all the money this country is sinking into rebuilding Iraq. We don’t have any money to spend on new homes. We can barely afford the homes we have now.
So many homes are being foreclosed on and so many people are in so much debt, ever bankruptcy. Some people are taking out second mortgages, just to pay down their credit cards. Some are taking loans to pay off other loans. Money is just tight all over this country. No one can afford the proverbial pot to piss in, much less a new house or car.
As a country, do we believe that we can improve this country’s economy without ending this war. We are spending trillions of dollars on fighting a war for another country. Sure they told us this was the war on terror, but who attacked us, wasn’t it the Taliban in Afghanistan? So why is it that we are in Iraq, oh that’s right it’s the whole hidden agenda that our government has. I have no problems helping out the Iraqis, but at what cost.
Our banking and finance companies in this country are dying. The stock market is plummeting, interest rates are dropping the value of our money is falling, and gas prices keep on rising. Everyone is raising their costs to cover the costs of transporting goods. The post office is upping the price of the stamp another penny this year, because they are supposedly in debt, due to the high gas prices. Give me a break, they are a government institution, maybe if the government didn’t have us in this war, then none of us would be in debt.
Financially, how we will come back from this if we can’t even figure out how to get ourselves out of the war? How is it that our country can function in a deficit? Have you ever questioned that? Can you? I don’t think so. Go to the grocery store and get a cart full of groceries and see if they let you out without paying. Do you really think that they will understand when you tell them you are functioning in a deficit? The same rules that apply to them don’t apply to us.
So they promise to send the people an extra check this year, to stimulate the economy. Well, I heard them say in a news report that we should give this money only to the unemployed, because they have more time on their hands to spend it. Sure, we are all trying to get blood from a stone, and now they will send us some extra money, so that we can spend it to stimulate the economy. After all, don’t save it, that won’t help. All you people who can’t afford to take care of your bills, just take this money and go on a shopping spree, that will fix everything, don’t you think?
Will the changing of the President fix our problems? Look, I think that at this point, no matter who you want for President I am not sure that there is any easy answer. We have to start from here and no matter who you will be voting for, and I do believe that the candidates are well intentioned, but I just think that there are limits on power and their choices. I mean this can’t be solved overnight. I do believe that we need to take steps to get out of Iraq and to fix this nations economy, but I don’t think that anyone can make these repairs instantly. We have spent the past 7 years getting ourselves into this mess, and now it is going to take a while to get out of it. In any case, things need to start moving in the right direction now. We can’t wait any longer to start fixing this thing. We need to be ready just in case we need those troops elsewhere. We can’t continue to turn our heads to our mistakes.
I support our troops and I feel that we all should. They went abroad on what they believed to be a necessary mission of protecting our country and the people of Iraq. They must be commended by the people of this country and by our government. We must make sure they are treated like the upstanding human beings they are, brave and compassionate. We must make sure that we don’t allow them to be tossed aside like our Vietnam Vets.
It is time to take action, both as a country and as human beings, to protect and serve our people. Let’s get our people home and secure and on a better financial track. Now is the time, it just can’t wait anymore!
Posted by juliusp at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
Hard Times for Business in the US
Real Estate agents must be really suffering with the economy being so out of whack. I mean what was probably a very profitable business, real estate, now must be sinking quickly. I really feel for these people who are probably used to living off a 6 figure income and now are probably having trouble making an occasional sale. Interest rates on mortgages are going down, but I don’t see how anyone can really be comfortable making such a large purchase in such shaky economic times.
People are probably not taking out as many loans with the instability of the stock market. More people may be taking out government loans for things like college. Thinking that if they get a degree that will help them with the value of the money in this country sinking. I don’t know if having a degree will help you. I am hoping it will since I am working on mine right now. It is really hard to determine which businesses will be profitable in a few years. Lots of people in all different industries and large corporations are suffering. To pinpoint which jobs will be the hardest hit will be a tough thing to determine. I mean there is so much corruption that even a company that is seemingly making good money, can turn out to be running a scam. Once that happens, it will crash, before you can get out.
I guess the haves in this country will be investing, maybe in the stock market and maybe not. That has been a little shaky lately as well. I am sure some people will be tucking their money away in a bank, especially with many banking institutions now compounding interest daily, it may be a safer route to take.
My mom told me that back when I was born, she had interest rates of 5.25% on her checking account and 6.0% on her savings account and that interest was compounded daily. She says that money market and CD accounts were all above 7% depending on the term some turned as much as 10% interest. Now a days you are lucky if you can find a bank account that will pay you 3% - 4% and that is usually on a CD. Why is it that interest rates took such a sharp decline? And how is it that your bank accounts pay minimal interest, but the credit card companies charge you a 20% interest. Why is it that borrowing our money doesn’t cost the bank much, but if we want to borrow their money, it costs us a lot. They are making a 17% take on your money for loaning it to someone else. Maybe, we should just start to loan money to each other, and skip the middle man, it seems to me to make more sense. Then you could charge someone 10% to borrow your money, they would be paying half the interest they would on a bank loan, and you would be making more than 2x the amount the bank would be paying you. I really makes a lot of sense doesn’t it.
And for that matter, organ donation is the same thing. Your loved one dies and you donate their organs, and then the hospital turns around and sells them and makes money on them, yet you are not allowed to sell organs. Think of how much less things would cost if we stopped making the government the middle man. We could pass the savings on to each other and the additional profits as well.
We need to start thinking of financial alternatives in this failing economy. The answer is not maxing out the credit cards and borrowing more money. The answer is truly to start tightening the belts a little. Cut some of those extras out of your life. Start keeping track of every dime you are spending and see if you can’t put aside some extra money and start paying down your debt and put aside a little for a rainy day. For instance, let’s say that every morning you spend $5.00 at Starbucks. Then maybe the answer is to buy a travel mug and a coffee pot and carry your coffee to work. It would save you $150.00 per month which is about $1800.00 per year. One small change and all that money goes back in your pocket. I know we are spoiled and don’t like to give up our little extras, believe me I am too, but I tell you what, I switched my cell phone off a plan and to a prepaid one 6 months ago, and in that time I have probably saved about $600.00. Prepaid phones don’t have a lot of extra charges like roaming and long distance and on the average I am now paying between $15-$20 per month for my phone, where before I was paying between $80-$130 on average per month to my cell phone carrier. So a small change and a big payoff. I also switched my car insurance and now instead of paying $163 per month I am paying $64 per month. Extra hundred a month just on that switch. Sometimes it is not a matter of giving up, but shopping around to find the best deal. If the best deal is where you’re at then don’t make a move. Chances are you can find a way to cut back somewhere and hang on to that money for the future.
It doesn’t really make any sense to me how the economy has gotten so messed up. My thought is that there were other problems that we didn’t see that have been working their way to the surface for a while now. We need to look out for ourselves and prepare for anything this world throws at us.
Posted by juliusp at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)