Eff you Wells Fargo… I would never deliberately overdraw my account. After 10+ years of banking with you, with a near perfect banking transaction history… and you deny my fraud claim. I don’t have my MFing card – reported it stolen, and you still charge me up the ass in fees and expect me to pay for it. FUCK YOU!

Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union by far is the most user friendly financial institution that I have ever used!! I originally opened a loan through Zopa.com which service transferred (sold) my loan to AAFCU. I had the loan for 2 years without ever even considering leaving Wells Fargo or HSBC. Then, my financial situation this past year changed considerably… less overtime, more expenses. With both HSBC and Wells Fargo, I’ve always had high balances, was never overdrawn… then one day for the first time ever with both accounts, I overdrew my account… and was hit with $35 overdraft charges on both accounts. $70 is quite a bit of money when you are pinching pennies… and both banks, despite my excellent history with both, and having been with each institution for over 5 years, I thought it was absurd that they would not waive the fee for me just this once.

I started shopping around, but nothing really stuck out. For a non-interest bearing account, Wells Fargo was much better than BOA (I could not stand their service) and Chase. Since previously working there, I knew the ins and outs so it didn’t make sense to go to a competitor. Then, there was HSBC – My online payment account yields 0.85% with a zero balance minimum and the first 3 ATM fees are waived… couldn’t find anything better there either….

Finally, I decided to take a look at Addison. My first thought was, I’ve never heard of them prior to my loan, why should I risk it? I took the initiative to research this CU (credit union) and realized it has been around for sometime (not nearly long as WF or HSBC) but long enough for me to feel comfortable with leaving my money there. As I continued my research, these are the wonderful perks that initially got me to open my account:

1. Zero balance requirement
2. 3.51% APY if you make 12 debit card purchases, 1 ACH debit/credit out of the account per month, sign up for E-Statements
3. Large ATM network – I can use any Co-Op (almost all credit unions are apart of this network) and ATM in 7/11 stores
4. If I meet the #2 requirements, any ATM surcharge from a non-network ATM will be rebated to me
5. $5 to start membership (waived for me because of my loan transfer)
6. $25 to open the account

Considering I almost never carry cash, and I am a slave to my debit card… 3.51% definitely outshined HSBC’s measly 0.85%. I decided to deposit a small amount of money to see if the account had the same benefits of my Wells Fargo account. With WF, I knew how their processing worked, so for the most part, it was easy to balance my checkbook, understand when things would clear… etc. The downside was, their processing system (Batch system) debit card purchases could take anywhere from 1-5 business days to clear my account. If I didn’t keep a register, and update it regularly, I could potentially overdraw my account. Thank God I am very OCD about my checkbook register and I’ve only failed to keep up with it once (damn overdraft fee!).

Once I got the account I’ve noticed these benefits!

1. Most debit card purchases clear within 24 hours. Some clear as soon as 8! I went to a bar and used my debit card… with Wells Fargo, it would take 4 business days to clear, and the pending charge that was reflected on my balance would only show the charge without the tip. I used my card on a Sunday night, and it cleared with the tip total first thing Monday morning… I honestly will never have to balance a checkbook again!
2. Refunds on debit purchases only take 1 day to post to your account!! No more waiting 3-7 business days!
3. E-Deposits – This is by far the most ingenious thing for people who hate having to drive or walk somewhere to do a very simple task of making a check deposit! All I have to do is scan the check, upload and voila, my deposit posted that very moment. I just need to keep the physical check copy for 90 days.
4. The first $500 of every deposit is available immediately and the rest is subject to a 2 business day hold. This is better than WF because it was only $100 available, but the rest would be available the next day. This is going to make it very easy for me to deposit my paycheck to this account until my direct deposit changes take effect. I never need more than $200 after payday, so the 2 day lag isn’t terrible.
5. Best customer service ever! I love that with their secure mail feature, someone always gets back to me within 1 business day, and it’s a real response, not a copy paste. And, M-F you can always call a branch, and they will gladly help you.

Okay… the downside stuff….

If you want to take to a live person, it has to be during their business hours. So far, I haven’t had any issues after hours mainly because everything about this account is so very user friendly.

They even make it easy to qualify for membership! For the most part, you would have to work for HP or some other techish company (list is on their site), but if you don’t qualify that way, you can qualify this way:

If you are not eligible to join through one of our sponsor groups below, you can qualify for membership by joining the Financial Fitness Association. It’s only $5.00 to join this not-for-profit organization. To sign up, go to www.financialfitnessassociation.org, click “Join Now”, and follow the instructions.

I’m so happy about this credit union, that I’ve been telling just about everyone! Please check it out!

www.addisonavenue.com

It’s crazy… read here.

There is a great increase in suicides and murder-suicides due to our current economy. If you go to Google or Yahoo, you can find plenty of notable resources regarding this. I understand that America stands  out from other nations because we started the fundamentals of capitalism… but money, no matter how much, is worth a life or lives of others. All of these people will be in purgatory or Hell just because they could ride the wave of a bad economy. I keep these people in my prayers, and I hope all of you do too.

Money, although it can bring nice things into your life, is the root of all evil.  It was the greed of the banks, mortgage brokers and real estate agents who created this economic disaster (it’s not Bush’s fault like many of you would like to think). The mortgage business is deregulated, and no one ever stopped these people to issue subprime loans. Honestly, if someone is subprime, the likelihood of that same person making good on payments is slim to none. These are people who are ill-educated in finance and many of those who lost their homes, could NEVER possibly afford their homes. These businessmen only gave these poor people one side of the story, making interest only loans super appealing, never explaining negative amortization…. I can go on for days..

Anyhow, these people made LOTS of money taking advantage others, and I’m glad that their greed consumed them as well, because many of these people in the mortgage business are out of business and broke too. Just because you have money doesn’t mean you need to spend it extravagantly!

I’m getting delirious.. I need sleep.

Adieu

I was concerned that the most historical date of my lifetime would be Sept. 11, 2001 – the date that World changed: mass paranoia regarding safety, thousands of Americans voting to lose rights for the sake of safety, the legalization of racial profiling, a nation quickly reverting back to its discriminatory ways.

Then Nov. 4th, 2008 – Dem. Illinois Senator, Barack Obama, became 44th President United States of America. He is the first half African-American president of our nation. Tomorrow, he will be prepping his move to the Oval Office, and for the next four years, our country will see if he will actually live up to the many promises he made. Will he bring the change we can believe in?

Will Pres. Obama really close special interest corporate loopholes?

“Cut Pork Barrel Spending: Obama introduced and passed bipartisan legislation that would require more disclosure and transparency for special-interest earmarks. Obama and Biden believe that spending that cannot withstand public scrutiny cannot be justified. Obama and Biden will slash earmarks to no greater than year 1994 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public.”

Barack Obama on Fiscal Issues

Why do I pose this question? It’s pretty apparent for Obama to raise the money that he raised is well over the soft money limitations set in place during the Clinton Administration (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just google soft money, Clinton). Well, of the $600 million plus dollars Obama campaigners managed to raise, only 25 percent of those donations were under $200 – as reported by the Washington Post.

The rest of his donations did in fact come from large corporations and special interest groups. I know many of you are wondering, How can that be true? Obama said he didn’t accept any monies from such groups. The loophole lies in the McCain-Feingold Act. Soft money donations exceeding $2300 can be accepted as long as the monies are shared between the candidate, the party committee and the state committee. If that will actually happen, you can never tell until the IRS does an audit. Read more about this here. What is even more unsettling is that McCain’s contributions are all being reviewed, but none of Obama’s.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe Obama has the great potential as the President of the United States – but I don’t believe he will be as bi-partisan as he said he will be. Politicians will always play the political field with special interest groups.

Mr. President, I hope you don’t disappoint.

Yesterday (Sunday), I washed my own car for the very first time, EVER without any help. It was by far the most relaxing thing I’ve done all week. I must say, I feel very accomplished.

I’ve always paid for someone to wash my car at $30 bucks a pop.. until I realized how expensive and an unnecessary expense… then just a few months ago, I finally drove into one of those drive-thru gas station car washes… at $10 bucks a pop.. but no interior.. and my first time doing that was disastrous! Alot of the reason why I’ve never washed my car was because I’m super girly, and had no idea where to even start with the washing… and it was just easier to go to lunch and drop off my car while I ate at the restaurant, and have my car super clean when I was done with my meal… or I would convince my mom or one of my friends to get it washed for me.

Anyhow, I’m glad James introduced me to the world of quarter car washes… I got the interior and exterior done for $5 bucks. I admit, it was hard work considering I’m so short, but I did it, and I can’t believe my lazy ass didn’t do it before… considering at one point I was paying $30 every 2 weeks for 2 years… that’s $1560 dollars I’ve spent.. If I’ve only done it this way back then, I could have saved $1300 and probably wouldn’t have skimped on washing my car like I have been because I thought it was an unnecessary expense.

Anyways, just a random blurb since I can’t sleep. Go Me!