From Bankrate.com:
A record number of credit card companies have built “universal default” clauses into their agreements, which allow them to raise your interest rate if you’re late making a payment — even to someone else!

The provision, generally buried in the fine print of your credit card agreement, basically says that if you are more than 30 days late on any payment to anyone, the interest rate on your credit card could shoot up and your credit score may be damaged.

The less sneaky banks send out these announcements in a separate notice, but most include it with all of the other info that comes with your monthly statement, which means you always have to be on the alert. You will usually have about 30 days from the date you receive the notice in your statement to close your account. You can close your account and not pay off the balance, and at least keep the same (sometimes adjustable) interest rate while you’re paying it off.

I’ve been told of instances where the rate has gone from 12% or so to 23%, or more, so don’t get caught napping. If you let the deadline for closing your account pass, you will be stuck with the high rate and no recourse.

Don’t let it happen.

If there’s a better run office supplies catalog outfit than Quill, I have yet to encounter it.

Among other things, they sell three-ring binders (zzzzz). But WAIT–These are three-ring View binders with sheet separators–for less than $2, with free shipping for orders over $45. How in the world do they do it?

Nobody else is even the neighborhood of that price, and that doesn’t even consider the specials they have for quantity buys.

Maybe I should have kept this quiet.

Sometimes it’s really hard to see the forest for the sleaze.”

It’s from the movie “Hitch” (starring one of my favorite actors Will Smith).

It’s uttered by Sara (Eva Mendes), the woman of his dreams, when she thinks he’s just another conniving jerk.

That line is too good for it to remain stuck in one movie. It’s an all-purpose mantra for politics, the UN, the financial planning industry, life in general on a bad day….

I’d settle for 1% of the $42 million Carly Fiorina got.

The Money/CNN sub-headline notes: “But windfall for former HP boss is less than the $65.5M in stock options she received in 1999.”

We feel SOOO much better now. That HP Board drives a hard bargain, eh?

One thing about Social Security (or SocSec, as I like to refer to it) that most people expect is this: the more you make (while working), the more you get (as a retirement benefit).

Further, they expect that if you have consistently earned double what another person made while working, your SocSec benefit will be twice as high as the other person’s.

Right on the first point (sort of). Dead wrong on the second.

The Mercer 2005 Guide to Social Security and Medicare (primarily meant for employers–click HERE for more info) tells us that for two individuals retiring this year at the Full Retirement Age:
- if Person 1’s average annual earnings (adjusted for inflation) was $36,000, his individual benefit would be a bit under $16,000.
- if Person 2’s average annual earnings was twice as much ($72,000), his benefit would be a bit under $23,000.

So…the person who has paid twice as much into the system gets a benefit that’s not even 50% higher.

Remember, I’m just the messenger.