Bye Bye Ficohsa

I haven't written in a while. I guess mainly because there wasn't much to write about. Each month was just work work work, get paid, and go on to pay my debts.

 

This month I have somewhat good news. Good news is that today I received my credit card statement from Ficohsa with 0 balance. Also today I called in to confirm I had no pending transactions. There where none. I previously had a $2000 floating transaction due to a car rental thing. It was a small headache to get it cleared away but it was gone now. Also today I entered a request to cancel my credit card.

 

I was asked why I wanted to cancel it. I wished I had told them all of the little things that I hate about them. From the way they do their billing collection (collecting two payments when only one is past due), to their crappy internet banking for credit cards. I would make payments and they would reflect one or two days later. Also this car rental floating thing. I saw the car rental lady saw my card to reverse the deposit and the slip came out with the -$2000 value on it. Yet they don't reflect it on their system.

 

I had already decided months ago to kill that card. To do that I had taken some extrafinancing on my HSBC card that was offered at a rate about half of what I had to pay on the Ficohsa card. I also took a similar amount on my BAC card (also at about half rate of Ficohsa) to pay for that card and to pay for other important things, like my daughters' school. I wish I could say I spent it all wisely but it seems like appliances, wife and kids, know when one has money and they either break, need clothes or have a birthday comming up. Just in one day I had to spend $325 on my wife's car to fix the catalitic converter and replace two tires that were damaged beyond repair during the rains.

 

In any case I managed to send it all in at the last payment day. So it's done. Well almost done. I expect a call from Ficohsa tomorrow or Friday trying to lure me back. Even if I wasn't trying to get rid of my cards, their service sucks so much that I would cancel it anyway. Even the customer rep that I talked to told me he had the same problem with the floating charges on his card and he also cancelled it. He said it wasn't right that he should say that but he has to put the face to customers and he definitely wasn't putting up with that crappy card anymore.

 

So if you want to get a really crappy card pick a Ficohsa card. Sure at first it will all be nice and dandy, but one you will have a problem and that's when their true colors will show.

 

As a recap, i'm now down to my HSBC Card and my two BAC Cards. One of them is a Gas card, which wasn't what I expected it to be. And the other is the EconoMIA card which has worked as expected. My attempts now will focus on cancelling my HSBC card. All I have on it is the extrafinancing I took to get rid of the Ficohsa card. I don't like how they calculate the payment amount, they have a weird formula each month and their statements are hard to understand.

 

I plan to take a company coop loan at 12% and do some substantial damage to that card with it. I still don't have a set date when I will do that, but I hope it's sometime before October. I have some family things that might hamper that but right now that's the plan. The thought of divorcing my wife keeps floating on my head as i've found more and more that she's not the right person for me.

 

In any case, I know now that I have to figure a way to balance my income to be able to pay for my daughters school without taking any more loans. The older one has 2 years left of high school. After that the colleges here cost less or about the same as school, but she can take less classes and the monthly payment would be lower. On a related note she was offered a full 5 year college tuition on one college here for about $4000 which is about a quarter of what the total costs would be normally. Unfortunately she doesn't like that college nor do they offer the major she wants. She is starting to look into scholarships at the college she wants and so far her grades seems to give her a good option to get at least half a scholarship to start and then maybe move to a full scholarship later. I'm really crossing my fingers for that and i'm also trying to make everything possible to help her keep those grades in these last 2 years she still has to go.

 

Well you wanted an update. You got one. So i'm still hanging in there.

More on the Moral vrs Legal obligations

Look at this report here:

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-happens-when-you-walk-away-from-your-home-.html

 

This is the piece that's interesting to me:

 

"....There's a moral component to that decision, of course. ...... But remember that companies default on their obligations when it makes financial sense for them to do so, via the bankruptcy process. Even the Mortgage Bankers Association itself, in a flourish of irony, arranged for a short sale of its Washington headquarters. It's not personal; it's business. So think of strategic default as a business decision, and do a cold-eyed cost-benefit analysis of whether it makes sense for you...."

 

 

I see businesses making these "it's not personal it's business" decisions everyday, why shouldn't I be Iowesomuch Inc and do the same and forego my moral obligations and stay only with my legal obligations?

 

I hope to hear from you about this.

 

 

Interesting story

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bringing-expired-debt-back-to-life.html

 

Read this part :

 

"Some lenders say borrowers have a moral obligation to pay their debts even if they are no longer legally responsible."

 

I didn't know that debts had a statue of limitations from 3 to 10 years. So after that time they had to stop collecting from you. So the lenders say borrowers have a moral obligation? What if the roles were reversed? Does a lending company have any moral obligations to do something once the statue of limitations has run out? Would they do it?

 

It's interesting that some people feel the need for a credit card rather than a debit card, it must be a cultural thing because I still hate using a credit card to pay for stuff because I know I'm increasing my debt.

 

Also interesting is those rates, 19% for these new cards, and a national average of 13%. Even with the high rate that cards is still lower than the one I recently got to consolidate my debt, which is 22%. Everytime I hear those rates in the US I wonder if people here in Honduras ever get out of debt or just move it from one place to another until they leave the country or disappear into the informal sector of the economy.

 

I hope you are starting 2012 with no debt or at least on your way to debt free life.

 

 

Dodged a bullet or stood out among the crowd?

Today I got an email from the company president of my 2nd job. The one that I work over the internet.

 

He told me that he had fired all of the software development team, including the IT head that was basically inmersed more in development that IT. He said that he was keeping me because he liked my work and how responsive I was. Bless my little cellphone with email delivery!

 

So I started quite scared today. I'm used to my boss being that nice guy that I've known for a while, my friend that got the me recommendation for the job, and the other two guys that I work so close with. Now they are all gone at least from my workplace. I'm "all alone" to hold the IT fort thousands of miles away from where the action is.

 

The president also said that he would get someone local to help me with user support. I wonder if that person will eventually replace me or if it will really be a support person. Only time will tell I suppose. So far they've found it convenient that I provide support over phone, chat and email. I hope the trend continues.

 

I couldn't stop thinking what would happen if I would've been fired as well. This 2nd job has turned out to be a HUGE income to me, most of it pay debt, but also to help with cost of living. I hadn't notice how much my original job is now mostly all for the basics: groceries, fuel, utilities and housing. 

 

I'm really glad I'm in the right track to consolidate/eliminate all my debt, but something like getting kicked out of the job would really set me back a lot.

 

Now I have to see how the work dinamics (and the pay dinamics) will change now that i'm mostly by myself there. Who will authorize my purchases for stuff, how will my hours be clocked? etc. All those things I suppose I will figure out in the days to come but still is something that I'm glad I was told early today so I've had all day to absorb before going to bed tonight.

 

I was going to write about how I was going to have to keep that second BAC card for a few months until the TIGO auto debit thing cleared out, or how I was 6000lps away from completely paying my HSBC card, minimum payment was 400lps I paid 2000lps today. However you can imagine that I'm mentally tired by now.

 

Have a good night and steady income next year!

Free PORTABLE apps

As I am doing some year-end cleaning on computers, either servers, desktops, notebooks and netbooks I would like to remind you about Free applications for your computers. I'm going to narrow it down to 2 tips.

 

#1 The best place for free applications is www.portableapps.com , For starters they have OpenOffice. OpenOffice is like Microsoft office for about 90% of the things you do in MS Office. The 10% that's missing is the interaction of the complex stuff from a MS document to OpenOffice. If you mostly work with your own documents, spreadsheets and presentations I recommend OpenOffice for it's functionality and price: zero!

 

They have other apps for so many things, games, education, security, utilities, internet, music & video, graphics and pictures. It's amazing how much free stuff is there.

 

But the best part of portableapps.com is that all the apps they have can be loaded on a USB drive and carried around with you and used on any windows computer. Or you can just copy them form your USB to a hard drive in your computer, No installation required.

 

Maybe I didn't explained it well last time around. Most MS windows applications require an installer program, usually in a CD or downloadable from the internet. Once you install it, you don't need the installer anymore. Except when you move to another computer, either voluntarily or due to failure of the first one. Then you have to hunt for those darn installer programs again. Mostly likely you won't find them.

 

Another scenario is like this: Your friend likes that word process you are using, you would like for him or her to use it. You can't copy your word processor to his computer. You would have to look for the installer program.

 

In the case of www.portableapps.com you don't to look for installers. Just copy your portable apps over and be done.

 

If you have a small, medium or large computer classroom, portable applications make it so much easier to have everyone set to what they need to do. Just copy the apps over and over. Those that have had to deal with this will understand the relief that comes from apps that are just copied in vrs having to install them.

 

#2 Dropbox. Your computer will some day fail. Accept it now. Hard drives are mechanical things that have a high lifetime but eventually they will fail. Accidents happen, a dropped computer is so common. How about stolen laptops or desktop computers? has it happened to you?

 

In any case, there will be a day when you will not have access to that computer that holds those documents, and pictures that you need so much. What do to?

 

Well, theory says you should back up your documents regularly. Back up where? how regularly? Backing up documents is a pain in the ass. Doing it regularly is even more of a pain.

 

Dropbox is a way to back up your documents and pictures to Dropbox's servers. If you have more than one computer it keeps all the documents syncronized between them so you don't have to wonder where you have that spreadsheet with your expenses, or the christmas pictures. Best of all it's all done automatically whenever you have an internet connection. When you don't have one it waits patiently until you do.

 

You can even view the documents on a tablet, or via web at Dropbox's site. So if you left for a trip without your computer you can still get them!

 

So you had the expenses all done and then you mistakenly delete the spreadsheet, opps! No worries you can recover it at Dropbox's site and get it back quickly. It keeps deleted document for 30 days after you delete them. It even saves several versions of the same document so if you mess your letter to Santa you can recover the previous version and go from there.

 

Even over a slow connection it's a great tool for individuals or teams to keep backups, syncronize documents and share them. Do I seem like a Dropbox convert? That's because I am.

 

Did I mentioned it's free? You get 2GB of free space to save all those important things that no computer support or insurance of any kind can replace.

 

If I have convinced you to install Dropbox, send me an email to iowesomuch at gmail.com (you know it it's really written). Or put a comment below. I'll get you an extra 250mb of free space.

 

Ok enough slacking, gotta get back to work. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you a debt free and Happy New Year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Down!

I got the "finiquito" letters from Promerica and CitiBank. It's been a difficult road but it's so nice to see that I won't have to go to those banks again. I wish I could post the letters but they have too much personal information. They basically say that any document I have signed before is null and void, and that my credit history will be updated to the credit rating agencies in 15 to 55 days. I'm saving those letters in a safe place!

 

I requested closing one of my BAC cards and have had to go 3 days in a row to get it closed. One day it's one thing the next day is another. First I forgot the actual card, then I had to cash in my reward points, then I had floating transaction of $10 that I had to wait to have it posted in my account to pay.

 

Last thing is that since that card is debited for my phone and I have requested my phone company 8 times to stop debiting my phones from that card and haven't done it. So now they say they can't close it because it has a auto debit of my phones but they can put me on the exception list so I can proceed with closing the account. In 5 business days.

 

So I asked the Customer Service lady why when I went to BAC twice before to get help from them in stoping debit from TIGO of my phones, they said they couldn't do anything and refered me back to TIGO, that only the could close it, when now BAC can actually stop it. The lady was wishy washy and eventually said that "There was probably some credibility problem in the request to TIGO having been actually done". So basically they didn't believe me!?! I was a lazy liar.

 

She went on further to say that they get a lot, and I mean A LOT of complaints of people wanting to stop auto debit for utilities, cable service, cellphones, etc and it's rarely that the stop auto debit order goes thru. That teaches me a lesson not do to that ever again.

 

One more time i'm truly convinced I have NO moral obligation to them, only legal obligations. So what if they've give me ok service for years, I don't owe them to keep the card open. I have been warned that I will get a call from their "recovery" department trying to woo me back into keeping the card but with the new security tax laws that have set a yearly fee on credit cards plus the yearly insurance fees I'm happy to see them all go.

 

Meanwhile I have $70 in insurance fees in that card that would be reverted only if I close the account before Jan 1st, so the clock is ticking, hopefully nothing else will block me otherwise I will have to pay more to get rid of that card.

 

Last night I made the first payment of my new loan that has enabled me to close these and other accounts. I was able to pay even more than what was due. 1 down 47 more go to. HSBC you're next!

 

I wish you don't go into debt buying presents for your family and friends. I took it up myself to ask those around me to NOT give me anything for Christmas and instead give it to some charity. A tie or a shirt won't make me love them more or less and will only push consumerism into those that can probably afford it the least.

 

Here's wishing you have a debt-free Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Free stuff I use

I work in computers. So there are some things I use that have a free version or that are low priced.

 

Today I wanted to talk to you about some of those free things that some people are still amazed when I talk about them:

 

1) Google Voice: Free calls to any US number PLUS your own US number in almost any area code so you can also receive calls. Drawback? you have to have your computer on or get a complex setup like the one I have at pbxes.com (which is free up to 2000 minutes a month)

 

2) Dropbox: If you have important documents on your computer you have to know something: One day your computer disk will fail and you will loose all of that. Hopefully it will fail in a recoverable way, but most probably the vibrations and heat will make it die suddenly and definitely. You could pay an online backup service $50 a year or so (Carbonite) to back up all stuff on your computer. However if you worry mostly about documents, pictures and the like you can use the free version of Dropbox. They give you 2gb of free storage on their servers.

 

As an added bonus if you install the same software on other computers and use your own account, your documents will be constantly syncronized among all of them. So if you have a laptop, a desktop a little netbook or even an ipad or iphone, once you put a document on your Dropbox folder it will be available from all the other devices or from their website. and you can even share it with friends (vacation picture or the like). I have to say I don't know how I kept my sanity without it before.

 

If you do decide to use Dropbox please put a comment below so I can give you 250mb of extra storage as a referral bonus to you.

 

3) Portable Apps. I hate installing software on my computer. Some I just HAVE to install but given I choice I prefer software that just runs right away without adding menus and stuff to my computer and auto launching when I power it up. In comes Portable apps. These cool applications of all kinds only need to be put in a USB memory stick and you can use them on any windows computers. Or for a double punch you could put them on your Dropbox folder and have them quickly available wherever you go without even having a USB to carry!

 

4) Ted.com : For inspirational stuff that makes you feel like we still have a chance to make this a better place I urge to you watch the presentation on Ted.com. It's amazing to see the things they have to offer. You might not agree with Bill Gates or Al Gore on their beliefs of how to better the planet, but they are just two of thousands of presenters that can open your eyes to wonderful things. I can't recommend it enough as an inspirational/motivational site.

 

5) Twitter: I use it to track newssites like cnn or local newspapers. It's so easy and quick to read that in a few minutes I get a general picture of the news of the day without ads, popups and all the extra stuff that bogs one down. IF I do want to read further I can click on the link and read the whole report.  Succint and to the point. gotta like how a 140 character limit draws out the creative writing.

 

6) TeamViewer. If you ever wanted to go back to check something on your other computer located far away, you need teamviewer. Allows you to remote control all computers that have it installed, also transfer files to and from it. If you provide computer support or want to receive it, it's a really simple tool to avoid having to move to get the support needed.

 

Let me know if you liked any of these. They are all free and they all have great value to me and I hope to you as well.