Frugal Living

One of the many obvious and effective marketing and selling scheme continuously used by department stores, electronic shops and appliance centers is baiting customers into buying their wares through installment payments. Credit card companies’ logos and supposed “easy installment plans” usually lures customers into buying things that they simply couldn’t afford.

Yes, if you cannot afford to pay for anything in cash and in full, and you have to make monthly payments for some items, it simply mean you cannot afford it right now.

I know alot of people who one way or the other had have horrifying experiences with credit card companies. Years ago, when I was still carrying a Citibank Credit Card, I have had experience when I was charged 6 times for a magazine subscription– Oprah magazine in fact. After receiving the credit card bill, I quickly noticed the numerous times I was charged, I quickly called their hotline number and the CSR told me to file a dispute claim by downloading a dispute form from the website of Citibank and fax the form along with the statement of account. Needless to say, Citibank quickly remedied the problem and they credited the other transactions and I was only charged once for the annual subscription of Oprah Magazine.

While it’s not always possible to avoid credit card disputes, here are some more tips for dealing with them:

•Get promises in writing. Save receipts for big charges. Also ask for written confirmation of when the item will be delivered and what services are provided as part of the purchase.

•Know the rules. The Fair Credit Billing Act gives consumers the right to dispute a credit card purchase or withhold payment for a card purchase – but only under certain conditions.

Disputes must generally be filed in writing within 30 days after the bill is sent. While disputing a charge, the card holder will not have to pay the contested amount and won’t incur interest on it. If the dispute is lost, the card company is allowed to charge interest back to the date you filed the dispute, after a standard grace period.

•File the dispute carefully. Banks classify card holders’ disputes into nearly two dozen categories, such as “merchandise not received” or “canceled recurring transaction” (just like what happened to my Oprah Magazine subscription), but generally, if filed as an “unauthorized transaction” – as long as it is unauthorized – you’ll have more protection.

•Be prepared to arbitrate. Most disputes are settled between the merchant and the consumer. But your credit card issuer could also try to resolve it with the merchant’s bank. If that doesn’t work, the final step often is arbitration, where the issue is decided by Visa or MasterCard.

It’s rare for cases to go to arbitration: At Visa, only one-tenth of 1% of disputes are decided in arbitration, spokeswoman Randa Ghnaim says.

Credit card disputes can last up to 270 days, including the arbitration process, although 99% of card disputes are settled much sooner, says Monteiro of MasterCard.

•File a complaint elsewhere. If you feel that your dispute hasn’t been fairly decided, file a complaint with the Department of Trade and Industry. You can check the SOP in filing a complaint, here. Filing a lawsuit is also an option.

Ofcourse, nobody wants to be bothered with credit card irregularities and there are alot of ways in avoiding this kind of problems. But here are things you should be aware of:

• Be careful of divulging your credit card information. Do not give out your information over the phone or the internet.
• Be aware of phising scams in the internet.
• If possible, be present while the cashier is swiping your card into their machines. Ensure that your card is only swiped once. You do not want double or triple charges into your account.
• Keep all receipts of every transactions until your statement arrives and you have double checked each transaction.

If this article bothered you so much, heck, you can always get rid of those cards and switch to debit cards! Here is my take on the advantages of credit cards.

Salve at Money Smarts has made a couple of compelling entries about what to do when your pre-need company fails. Amidst numerous collapse of pre-need companies not only in the country, these kind of failure makes decision making regarding educational, health plans and the like more complicated.

So what should you do when your pre-need company fail?

1. As soon as the closure of the pre-need company has been made kown to the public, make sure you double check with the Securities and Exchange Commission for official announcements regarding your pre-need company.

2. Ensure your documents are in order. Locate all original documents and obtain copies of plan contract, certificate of full payment or receipts of payments you have made so far.

3. As per the advise of Money Smarts, planholders of Legacy Consolidated Plans, Inc., Scholarship Plan Phils. Inc., and All Asia Plans Corp., must file a sworn complaint on or before March 31, 2009 . This will increase your chances of getting back your money, so do this as soon as possible. I have yet to confirm if there are class action suit against these companies as of yet…

4. You also need to present your updated and complete mailing address and contact numbers. Go to the Non-traditional Securities and Instruments Department of the SEC. In Ortigas, the landline is 584-6058 and the head of the department is Director Jose Aquino.

5. Once the courts have approved the dissolution of the company, the SEC will appoint a liquidator and it is with this company that you will claim what is due you under your policy contract.

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Do you have some old denim jeans lying around unused for months in your closet? Here is another way of making something out from old clothing! Thanks to Green Daily, here is a DIY tips on how you can create your very own quilt using old clothing.

Do you have other frugal tips? Share them with us at Pinoy Frugal Living.

Have you tried making pizza by scratch? I have and I did it only once, and never attempted to try again. The kneading is just too much for me, and it is ven easier to just use the phone and call in Pizza Hut for delivery then making my own pizza at home.

But that was before I have learn from Life Hacker that there is a more simpler way of making your very own no-knead pizza dough! Here is the link to Tasting Table.

Like alot of Finance Bloggers, I also encourage the use of the “envelope system.” The envelope system is a budgeting method wherein your spending money is divided into budgeting categories and cash is designated for each category. I use an small accordion envelope for this purpose. But if you do not use cash, but use debit or credit cards, then Money Folders will certainly help you track down all your spending / expenses per category.

Lynnae of Being Frugal have a splendid review on the Money Folders and she gave out several reason why she liked the Money Folders. To read her review, click here.

The desktop application is worth $29.95– yes, sad to know that it is not for free, but there is a free trial version available, so you can try before you buy. Also, it comes with a 30 day money back guarantee, so you can be sure of your purchase. And thanks to Lynnae– if you enter the code ” beingfrugal “, you get 25% off the purchase price, bringing the total down to $22.46!

Are you currently using any accounting or budgeting tools? Share your experience with us here and win some cool prizes courtesy of who else? Me!

SpendingDiary is another simple, functional web-based expense tracker that tags expenditures, generates reports, and gives good data on your money flow.

The site has a completely functional demonstration account available-a nice touch that makes it really easy to test drive without handing over an email address. SpendingDiary has a simple interface-for every entry you assign a name, a category, and the amount you spent. You can generate reports for the day, week, month, or a custom date range, and your expenses displayed in a slick pie graph, broken into the tags you’ve set up. Your data is also exportable to other formats, including the ever-friendly CSV. For more mobile expense tracking, check out the previously reviewed Xpenser-an SMS-friendly expense app.

One of the challenges of having to work at home is the fact that children are around me all the time. The main room has 1 PC and a laptop, and I sometimes have to use the PC as it is connected to the internet. Sometimes, my son, who is three years old and my youngest daughter who is one, likes to play with the keyboard whenever I am not around to ward them off.

Boy, was I glad to find this from LifeHacker! Crazy Little Finger is a nifty program for Windows XP. It ables you to lock all the keys on the keyboard, except for the ones you need to use to exit the program. I love the fact that whenever certain keys are pressed, the PC will emit animal sounds and the screen will display a goat or a cow. Not only that, you can add your own images and music. Neat huh?