Fees!
Last week’s project was to track any and all fees that you’ve paid in the last month. What did you come up with? I am officially at war. Now, I was expecting a spike this month, due to my aforementioned bizarre and inhumane pay schedule, and this more or less encapsulates the Problem I’m Trying to Solve. That said, there were a couple fees I could have avoided. Here’s what I noticed:
- Now not only do I pay a fee if I use an out of network ATM from the bank that owns the machine, but I also pay a fee to my bank. As dastardly as this is, I remember now that I called my bank about it the first time I saw a double charge on my statement, and they told me that is their new policy. So I pay at least $3 every time I use the ATM, since my bank has none in my neighborhood.
- Late fee on my cell phone bill. More on this later, this was just stupid because I didn’t know which day the bill was due. Goodbye to nine bucks.
- Credit card fees. These fall into three categories for me.
- Late fees
- Finance charges
- Participation fees
Okay so now let’s break it down, what am I going to do about this?
ATM Fees
Well, I could have chosen a more convenient bank in the first place, but other than this I’ve been happy with them. So I need other strategies. Now that my memory is coming back to me, after that conversation with the bank, I made a list of my bank’s ATMs in places I go frequently. I keep a journal book with me to track expenses (though I’ve been backsliding lately), so that was a convenient place to keep those locations handy. But despite my best intentions, that doesn’t always work out. Other strategies…
- Cash back at the grocery store or other places where I can pay with a debit card. I don’t get charged for those transactions.
- Withdraw my cash budget at one time rather than making multiple smaller transactions. If I’m going to pay, I might as well do it once rather than over and over again.
- Use my debit card instead of cash. Or, in theory, I keep a cash budget, and my grand plan was that when there is no more money in my wallet, I don’t spend any more money, because I’ve spent my budget. I think I’m going to revisit this idea, simply for the discipline involved.
Late Charges on Utilities
Con Edison is on a monthly auto pay, which is great. In fact that’s a great fix for all the late charges, if you’re sure the money will be in your account. The fact that I didn’t know the exact date the bill was due is wrapped up in another problem, which is going to lead into next weeks project…my due dates are scattered all over the calendar month. Honestly, even though I’m blogging about it, I do have greater joys in my life than pouring over my bills. this is too complicated! I’m going to simplify, keep reading. But first…
Credit Card Fees
This is where I’m going to stage my battle, because these were huge. People who have the gene for financial responsibility and have never paid a late fee in their lives will ostracize me here. Have you noticed that some people just seem to love this stuff from the word go, and they never have these problems? I have. I can tell you from looking up the credit ratings percentages, they seem to be about 25% of the population. I’m not one of them, but I can subvert the machinery! Okay, so I’ve paid late fees. I suck. Let’s get over it. I can kick the habit.
First I’m going to cover the other two categories quickly. My finance charges are small, even though my interest rates are high, because I haven’t carried balances except when the university hasn’t paid me for six months and I’m just trying to eat. So I can live with that. They were miniscule. When my cash flow is straightened out, those will go away too.
Participation fees…these just bite, but I have to live with them for now. I was standing up when the music stopped in the last recession and my credit got trashed. I’m steadily rebuilding it, but that has meant taking card offers that are, well…decidedly subprime. In general, accept only card offers with no annual fee, and preferably a rewards program of some kind. I just qualified for my first rewards card with no participation fee, so things are getting better. At some point I’ll have to decide what to do with the bad ones. A significant component of the credit score is how long accounts have been open, so simply closing them may not be the best idea. I hope to negotiate when my credit score rocks.
Back to the big one, the late fees. My due dates are all over the map, and I missed a couple. The fees are HUGE! I hate that. So what am I going to do about it?
That brings me to this week’s project. I got this done while I was looking up the fees that I paid, so if you haven’t done it yet, kill two birds with one stone. I made of spreadsheet of each credit card, and each bill (electricity, cell phone), and I listed the due date. Those fees add up! My due dates are scattered all over the place, I have stuff coming due all the time.
There are two solutions here, and I like one better than the other.
- Set a date to pay all bills on the same day. Great in theory, but it didn’t catch everything this month. The one I like better is…
- Call your credit card companies and utilities and ask to change the due date. I’m all over that tomorrow. I’ll let you know if I hit any snags. I would rather have one big red letter day looming in my mind and know that I have to take care of everything before that day, than to try to time it all. They say you can’t time the market. I don’t know about that, but I can’t seem to time my payments, so I’m just going to mold my financial world to my will. And of course, one should pick a day that comes at a reasonable time frame after payday. While you have them on the phone, use the grand solution and put the cards on auto pay.
Also, one other note…if you do happen to miss that due date, and the nice person calls you on the phone from the credit card company the day after they have charged that fee…use the opportunity to not only pay the bill, but change the due date, and also ask them to remind you what interest rate you’re paying…and then ask what you can do to lower it. Kill a whole flock of birds with one stone. I just paid them thirty bucks, they can work for me a little!
And in case you were wondering, I really, really, really did not want to do this project this week, because I knew it was not going to look good…but you’re keeping me honest here and I feel much better for facing it. So thanks!
