#now unfortunately that is a rare occurrence but it is saved in my photos so I do see it whenever I scroll far enough thru the 4k rhea pics | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

paulckrueger · 3 years ago

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Dispute Your Overdraft Fee with This Exact Script (plus how to avoid fees in the future)

Banks like Bank of America, TD Bank, Citizens Bank, and Wells Fargo are notorious for overdraft fees, and it’s B.S.

Luckily, you can get your overdraft fees waived (using a simple negotiation script that we’ll provide for you) and beat the banks at their own game.

First, let’s take a super quick look at how overdraft fees really work and break down the exact charges you can expect:

What is an overdraft fee?

An overdraft fee is a charge from your bank that occurs when you take more money out of your checking account than what is currently in there.

Rather than simply decline a transaction for insufficient funds at the point of sale, a customer enrolled in their bank’s overdraft protection service will see the transaction approved.

Wow, really?

This can be a lifesaver in emergency situations when money is needed and there aren’t sufficient funds available in an account.

Most people just pay the overdraft fees without thinking twice about it. They reason that if the bank or credit union was nice enough to let the transaction sail through when it really shouldn’t have, then I’ll pay it, it is what it is.

But overdraft fees are a big problem for several reasons.

Though the fee will vary from bank to bank, here are overdraft fees from a few of the most popular banks as of 2021:

BANK OVERDRAFT FEE

Chase. $34

Bank of America. $35

Wells Fargo. $35

US Bank. $36

PNC Bank. $36

Citibank. $34

These fees might not seem that high for rare, accidental instances occurring just a few times per year.

However, these fees can stack up — and fast (and the banks know it).

One surprising fact is that overdraft fees are incurred per transaction AND can be incurred multiple times in the same day,

So, say you are out and about shopping and using the same debit card. All of the transactions are approved — but you are blissfully unaware that there were insufficient funds in your checking account.

This means that you would be charged separate overdraft fees for all of the approved transactions. This could be hundreds of dollars in fees all on the same day.

Luckily, you can negotiate to get overdraft fees waived if you have the right scripts. That’s why we want to show you exactly how you can get your overdraft fees waived with a simple phone call to your bank.

If you’re worried about your personal finances, you can improve them without even leaving your couch. Check out my Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance for tips you can implement TODAY.

How to get overdraft fees waived

Here’s a truth not a lot of people know: All bank fees are negotiable and can even be refunded.

Remember: Your bank wants to keep you as a customer. A well-executed phone call can often make a difference.

Call your bank and use this script

Here’s how I was able to waive an overdraft fee I got years ago: He called up his bank and the conversation went like this:

RAMIT: Hi, I just saw this bank charge for overdrafting and I’d like to have it waived.

BANK: I see that fee. Unfortunately, we’re not able to waive that fee. It was [some BS excuse about how it’s not waivable].

RAMIT: Well, I’ve been a good customer with the bank for X years now and would still like to get it waived since this is a rare occurrence. What else can you do to help me?

BANK: Hmm, one second sir. I see that you’re a really good customer. I’m going to check with my supervisor. Can you hold for a second?

[hold]

I was able to check with my supervisor and waive the fee. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

And just like that, he got my overdraft fee waived. This script works so well for a number of reasons:

I repeated my complaint and asked the bank rep how they could constructively help me.

I’ve been a loyal customer to the bank for many years, which you should always use to your advantage when calling to negotiate.

I was polite but firm. Nothing can force a negotiation to go sour faster than a bad attitude.

You can use this exact script in order to get yours waived too.

And it doesn’t just work for overdraft fees — you can use this for other bank fees too, like processing fees, monthly fees, late fees, and even ATM fees.

What do you do if the bank says no?

There is always the chance they still say no to your request — and that’s okay. When that happens, there are three options you can take:

Be persistent

Banks pay hundreds of dollars in customer-acquisition costs and don’t want to lose you. If you’re persistent enough and make it hard for them to say no, you’ll have the upper hand if they try to shoot you down.

Hang up and call again

Sometimes getting your fee waived is a matter of getting the right bank rep on the line. If the first bank rep keeps shutting you out, politely thank them for their time, hang up, and dial the number again.

Pay the fee

You’re not going to win all negotiations. Sometimes you’re going to have to just pay the fee. BUT if you have the right scripts and prepare, you can be infinitely more ready than you were before.

When it comes to overdraft fees though, the best system is the one where you don’t have to worry about them at all. That’s why we suggest learning how to avoid getting hit with overdraft fees entirely so you don’t have to concern yourself with negotiating them away after the fact.

How to avoid future overdraft fees

Prevention is better than a cure. So rather than deal with the consequences of overdraft fees, avoid them entirely with these four methods.

1) Opt-out of overdraft protection

When you sign up for a checking account, many banks try to convince you to sign up for automatic overdraft protection. It’s the policy in which the bank will cover you when you overcharge on your debit card, but charge you the overdraft fee for the trouble.

However, if you choose to opt out of overdraft protection, your card will simply get declined every time you attempt to charge more money than you currently have in the account.

Sure, it might be embarrassing if you’re on a date and it turns out you can’t pay for dinner because your card got declined — but it can go a long way in saving you money on overdraft fees.

TIP: Thanks to banking regulations put in place in 2010, it is illegal for banks to automatically enroll customers in automatic overdraft protection. Banks must give customers a choice to accept or decline enrollment.

2) Utilize account transfers

Some banks offer an overdraft protection service that works by transferring money from another account to the one you’re trying to take money from.

This can be from another checking account, a savings account, or even a credit card (depending on what your bank offers).

For example, say you’re using your debit card to buy dinner. Your debit card is linked to your checking account, which doesn’t have enough money in it. If you have an account transfer set up, it’s okay! If you’ve depleted the money in your checking account, money will just be transferred from your savings to cover the costs.

NOTE: Some banks charge a small fee with this practice as well — though it’ll be much lower than an overdraft fee.

3) Try the envelope system

This is a great system to help you keep track of your expenses for anything.

And it’s simple: At the beginning of each month, you allocate cash for things like going out, groceries, gas, and whatever else into envelopes. Once you’ve spent the money in those envelopes, you’re done spending for the month.

Of course, if there’s an emergency you can definitely dip into other envelopes — but that only means you have less money to spend in those areas.

You can set up your envelope system in three steps:

Decide how much you want to spend in each major category each month.

Put money into each envelope (e.g., $200 for groceries, $150 for eating out, $60 for entertainment).

Spend the money — but when the envelopes are empty, that’s it for the month.

You don’t even need to use physical envelopes. You can track your spending with a separate bank account and debit card while opting out of overdraft protection.

When the month starts, transfer around $200 into the account — and when you go out, only spend that money. Once the money is gone, stop spending.

Whatever system you decide to use, you just need to make sure to decide how much you’re willing to spend in each category (and that’s all up to you).

4) Get a new checking account

One great way to avoid overdraft fees entirely is to get a checking account with a bank that doesn’t have them.

My favorite: Charles Schwab Investor Checking

A few highlights:

No fees

No minimums

No-fee overdraft protection

Free checks

Deposit checks via pre-paid envelopes or via iPhone app (snap photos of your check — no need to go into the branch)

An ATM card

Unlimited reimbursement of any ATM usage

That’s right. There’s no-fee overdraft protection AND unlimited ATM reimbursement.

How often do you go out with friends and have to withdraw money from out-of-network ATMs? How often do you find yourself at a cash-only taco place at 3:30 am, needing to withdraw $20, but you hesitate because of onerous ATM fees?

Those fees can add up, and Schwab reimburses you for all of them. If you rack up $200 worth of ATM fees in a month, you’ll see a $200 deposit from Schwab before the month ends. This means you can use ANY ATM — corner stores, other banks, whatever — without having to look for some specific bank’s ATM.

Some people will balk at using Schwab because it’s an online bank. That’s fine, but we urge you to reconsider: It’s rare to find a checking account that (1) avoids screwing you at every turn, and (2) actually rewards you for using them.

5) Use a payment app

One way to ensure that your checking account does not get overdrawn and that the account does not incur overdraft fees is to use a 3rd party payments app, such as PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or CashApp, and to connect the app to your checking account.

So, if you pay for something with the payment app, and there isn’t enough money in the bank account that the app is connected to, then the transaction simply doesn’t go through — no overdraft fees, no problem.

These payment apps are convenient for P2P — paying your bestie back for paying for your Uber home last night — but generally cannot be set up to pay for bills or for in-store shopping. Because of this, they are limited, but they can be a great way to avoid surprise overdraft fees.

Master your personal finances

Once you learn how to avoid getting nickeled-and-dimed by your bank, you’ll be well on your way to living a Rich Life.

And you don’t need any fancy get rich quick schemes or snake oil. All you need is determination and the right systems put in place to help you get the most out of your financial situation and not have to worry about living “frugally” (aka sacrificing the things you love).

In our Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance, you’ll learn how to:

Master your 401k: Take advantage of the free money offered to you by your company … and get rich while doing it.

Manage Roth IRAs: Start saving for retirement in a worthwhile long-term investment account.

Automate your expenses: Take advantage of the wonderful magic of automation and make investing pain-free.

Enter your info below and get on your way to living a Rich Life today — and avoid overdraft fees forever.

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Dispute Your Overdraft Fee with This Exact Script (plus how to avoid fees in the future) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Surety Bond Brokers? Business https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/get-bank-and-overdraft-fees-waived/

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lilidgein · 6 years ago

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A little about the attitude to my works, work in general, depression and overcoming it

I have long noticed such a feature - I don’t feel sorry about my work. That is, if their further fate depends on me, then of course I will try to save them. But when I give them to the customer, I don’t really care what (s)he does with them. They can eat it or, if they want, put it on the shelf. Maybe they ‘ll bite it and throw it away. To my taste, sugar paste is not a particularly tasty thing, so I would not be surprised to learn that this is a frequent occurrence. When it comes to children, practice shows that the figure ceases to exist in the first minutes after presenting the cake, it hasn’t yet been cut, but the figures have already been eaten. Very rarely someone asks how long these figurines can be stored for as an element of decor. And I am always glad to hear such questions.

But the short life of my work does not deprive the process of their creation of the meaning. I have long ago decided that the process is for me, and the result is for the customer. Long ago - this is after a year of work when I had a depression on the topic “I'm doing nonsense, hack work. What kind of creative growth can we talk about here? What am I doing here at all?!” And accompanying creative turmoil.

At that time, I hadn’t yet fully mastered this technique and worked quite slowly and we had constant disagreements about this with my boss. For her, it was important to have the work done to certain time and it’s not very important how well it turned out in the end. I, seeing the clumsiness of the works made in the haste, became more and more upset.

And when I was told: "The boy is only 5 years old, you don’t have to try hard", it meant something like: "He won't see the difference in 2 minutes while he looks at the cake anyway, you can save your time and energy" I heard: "Make it quick, without pleasure, we have so little time."

I’m a perfectionist, unfortunately. Now I have more or less learned how to cope with it, but then it was a real trouble for me. As a result, my boss got tired of this condition I was in, and we discussed this problem. After that disputes still happened, but the mutual understanding definitely became better. With time I was increasingly becoming better, I managed to devote more time to every part, I got used to the material, resigned myself to the fact that in my works were often mistakes and I could have done it better. Often I told myself: "Well, yes, not my best work but how lively it turned out!" I began to rejoice at this liveliness and the occasions when I managed to do something better than before. After that the depression was gone. I found progress and creative growth, even though not where I expected it.

I almost stopped hearing this terrible phrase: "you don’t have to try" and if some variation of it occurs, then I answer that I do it for myself. Fortunately, there are no such problems with time now. And my boss doesn’t lose anything, my wage is calculated piecework, not hourly.

So, I try to do it as best I can, without worrying too much about whether it is necessary this time, whether anyone will see the difference and what they will do with my work later. The main thing is that I see the difference. " Yes, this time I did better!" - good words to raise the mood. In addition, I’ll still have photos to remember my works by. A lot of photos.

#my life #work #my way to learn english

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disabledpaladin · 7 years ago

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some world-building bits i’m super proud of ! this is for miscellaneous npcs, rps & tabletop rpgs, flavor text, and the like from the past 2 years

(from a homebrew D&D 5e game)

You come across a curious man, talking excitedly to the donkey pulling a merchant’s cart. Strange herbs and baubles are tied to the posts and to the sales counter on the side, as well as around the donkey. As he spots you, his elven ears perk up and he grins widely.

“Hello, my friends, hello! You’ve come from many places, and you must have a need to unload your wares and worries, right? You’ve found just the man!” He goes behind the cart and suddenly appears inside, bending over the counter at the window to beckon you closer.

As you approach, you can see a large variety of items crammed into the cart. Earthen pottery, beautiful jewelry, and toolkits for unfathomable professions line the walls. A large bookcase behind him only holds trinkets- a glass smokey orb, a golden ticket, and what may be a mummufied hand, and much much more. Before you can examine more, the merchant’s hand is thrust just in front of your face, awaiting a handshake.

“My name is Digiornos, and I am here to serve! How may I help?”

(hireling from a current Dungeon World campaign, with consent of players)

Meredith Hellswing: An excitable and slightly clumsy gal. She's young and impressionable, especially eager to go out and shape the world. Meredith works at the Green Acres Inn (Anstead) as a waitress to save up for good gear before adventuring fulltime.

(location from the same Dungeon World game)

Serendale: A prospering city that is a central trade hub for the many strange territories it borders. Many unique and interesting goods can be found through the market. Many products by the local Guild furnish stores with handcrafted furniture and weapons. The city itself is fairly antiquated- old buildings form the town, some dating back to a century prior with crumbling stonework. The government hosts a royal family rather than the usual council other cities have. Though none of the members have royal titles, their lineage is often cited as their rite to rule.

(various items/trinkets made for a game I was working on & scrapped)

Natalia’s Tears: A small glass vial of a floral and translucent pink liquid. While it looks beautiful, it is one of the most dangerous poisons in the realm. Once ingested, the victim’s body sprouts pale pink crystalline growths all over their body, until they are weighed down and crushed under the weight.

Amulet of Gods: An ugly, heavy brass necklace with a chunky and misshapen pendant that resembles a glassy eye. The wearer can store small items inside by reaching into the eye, revealing a hot, humid and moist chamber. Sometimes the walls and floors quake when something is taken out.

Tent For Two: The easiest tent to assemble in existence! Just throw it on the floor and watch it magically transform into a cozy abode for two. This comes with ASSEMBLY DUST*, poles, tarps, and a complimentary snack to share with your partner. (ASSEMBLY DUST does NOT disassemble, DISASSEMBLY DUST sold separately.)

Wand of the Ocean: It looks like a fish, and smells like a fish. A sea bass, specifically. Imbued with the very essence of the sea, your Mana will be channeled effortlessly through this wand. Also, it will leave your hands covered in salty brine.

(from a current Monsterhearts game, with consent of current players)

Dillard's Farm Fresh Beef was once the heart of the city in the early 1900s, bringing in new workers who often uprooted their families to live here. Anyone capable of working at the packaging plant was hired, especially because of the high rate of injuries caused by large machinery. Children often worked alongside adults in these harsh conditions.

Due to poor infrastructure and poorly surveilled land reports, in 1922, the blood that had been drained from the meat and under the factory floor had opened up a massive sinkhole underneath the building. The building crumbled into the earth on one fateful night. No one had been reported injured or killed in this incident, though the factory's loss was devastating to the local economy at the time.

The sinkhole is now filled in, though the former grounds and remaining structure serves as a historical marker and symbol of tragedy.

(from the same Monsterhearts game)

Gregory Grimaldis was the head librarian of the Lennox Achibald-Elswood Library before the Univerisity bought the building. The University offered Gregory a job to stay on and work for them, but only as a janitor. Gregory refused and left. Gregory now runs the Bookmobile, an old school bus with the original high school’s name blacked out. Instead, white, dripping paint on the sides reads simply “The Bookmobile.” Seats have been ripped out in place of bolted-in bookcases, books held in by belts of strong elastic. He makes runs through the city's residential district, and makes stops at a few of the preschools and nursing homes to exchange books (and promote literacy in the case of preschools.) While Gregory is all smiles, the look in his eyes is vacant and a little dead as he tries to move on from losing the best job he's ever had.

(from a mystery puzzle Storium game; this was the opening scene)

A rainstorm is passing overhead, and thankfully most of Mrs. Miles’ guests have made it into the house before the torrential weather has come down. Luna had welcomed these visitors into her house personally, leading them into the parlor. Unfortunately, the early bird turn out for this event was just a mere six people. Perhaps more would arrive before the first tour began.

The fireplace of the parlor is lit, despite it being a summer evening. The parlor holds its seven occupants without much crowding, though seating is another situation- a couch and two armchairs can sit five, six if everyone squeezes. Personal photos of her and Solomon sit on the mantle, and there’s two large bookcases lining the wall for literature if one was very bored. Naturally, one of them has a large section dedicated to Solomon’s work.

Luna Miles constantly weaves back and forth between the parlor and entryway, making sure everyone will be in order. She looks like a nervous woman on a mission, so maybe it’s not the best idea to talk to her right now. However, it would be a great idea to get to know everyone else, if you were a friendly sort of person.

(from a cyberpunk Storium game that was never released due to illness)

Robots and AI*: Artificial personalities in artificial bodies, and seen as tools by most humans. With artificial personalities becoming more complex, and robots seeming more human-like, sometimes it can be hard to discern they’re a robot… except for their designation card, that is.

AI* exist largely as the virtual version of robots, assistants to users of the Internet, Intranet, and MentalNet. It is very rare their programs get moved into a mechanical vessel (and becoming a robot), but sometimes “cracked” AI programs find themselves in highly illegal parts of the Internet for hacking, putting into a body, or anything else possible.

Some robots and artificial intelligences can be classified as androids or gynoids when they seem “human” enough, which is determined through a series of tests done by the original manufacturer. While it’s an uncommon occurrence, there have been cases of newly classed androids/gynoids being dismantled for holding vital information.

#dp's writing #world building

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uncompute · 8 years ago

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Huffin & Puffin like Sausage McMuffins

Based on several recommendations, including one from a former drug-runner we sat next to in a brewery while Dave’s Mom was in town, we planned a trip to Channel Islands National Park. The park is a series of islands off the coast of California near the Santa Barbara and Ventura areas. The only way to access these islands is via boat, so we booked a charter for a day trip to Santa Cruz island (the only open island during the time of year we visited).

We drove down the 101 early one March morning and arrived at the port. (Is it called a port?) The island we would be traveling to only has one water pump near where the boats drop you off and has no other amenities, so we packed accordingly: lots of snacks, healthy lunch, water, and two beers (for emergency situations). We hopped on the boat along with a middle school field trip group and began the hour-long trek across the ocean.

I was a bit apprehensive once we saw that we would be sharing the charter with middle-schoolers, only because several years ago I went on a family whale watching trip where the same thing occurred. Our family watched as the kids ran all around the boat, buying up all the food from the snack bars like cheese pretzels, cotton candy, over-cooked hot-dogs and candy. Unfortunately, the seas ended up being rough that day and we watched as the children slowly descended below deck, one by one, looking more and more green. Eventually, I ventured below deck with my sister-in-law Elise, only to find a wasteland of pre-teens and vomit bags covering the first floor of the ship. Our trip ended after we saw the tip of a whale’s tail and one of the chaperones demanded we return back to shore because “it wasn’t safe out here.”

Needless to say, I was worried. Fortunately, someone had the good sense to close down the snack bar until the return trip and my fears were quelled. We settled in for the ride. Only to be stopped after a few minutes. I looked around fearfully- engine trouble? already? would we have to swim back to shore? would we be taken over by pirate ships? were we being forced into slave labor on the oil rigs?

Not quite. Dolphins! HUNDREDS OF DOLPHINS swimming in the wake of our ship. The captain slowed the boat so we could watch as they playfully swam alongside the ship. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. We tried to capture a clear photo but those cuties are quick.

We began to move again and then almost immediately stopped.

For a whale. A real, live whale. I was ecstatic. Finally, an opportunity to see more than a brief glimpse of a tail! The captain assured us this was a rare occurrence and that it might be one of the grey whales that missed the migration because it was lost or potentially gave birth. He drummed up the engine again to move on. Until, a second whale appeared! It was like a dream come true. Apparently the momma grey whale had given birth and her calf was now coming up to the surface. “Well this is rare, folks! Enjoy it! We are gonna get going- these whales won’t stick around for much longer” the guide explained. Until the baby grey whale started BREACHING. Straight up jumping up and down in the water. Again, it was magical.

Every time the captain tried to continue the journey, the whale did something more spectacular. By the end, it was swimming right next to the boat, waving it’s flipper and singing that “Don’t worry about a thing” song. It was almost unbelievable. We finally had to say our goodbyes and head on to the island to ensure we didn’t end up stranded out there. We finished the ride and were greeted at the island by an adorable walrus seal basking in the sun.

Channel Islands is similar to other remote national parks in that they kind of pull a survivor on you- they bring you to your destination, make you aware of all the bad things that could happen to you, provide you with no resources except a map and tell you to come back to the docking area on time. Dave and I love this. We opted to go for a 7.5 “strenuous” hike to a place called Smugglers Cove where you land on a quiet beach. We booked it up a hill and headed on our way through gorgeous open fields with views of the ocean and the California coast. The island was gloriously quiet, save for Dave’s burps and sneezes.

We arrived at the beach in plenty of time to eat our lunch and drink our emergency beers. After resting for a bit, Dave suggested we hop in the 37 degree ocean (that’s my rough estimate of the temperature based on personal experience). I thought sure, why not. I headed to change into my suit when I ran into two adorable girls walking up to the beach.

Nice spot for lunch

“You two are fast! We left at the same time and you guys are already here? We’ve been ‘huffin and puffin like sausage mcmuffins!” I died inside. These girls were too cute. I assured them we were only quick because we were motivated by food and an emergency beer.

I changed and Dave and I went in the water. It was crystal clear and completely freezing. I watched the tops of my thighs turn bright red and decided to go under once and then run away. never to return. I did this while Dave stayed in the water and screamed several times. Finally, when he had incited enough pain, he hopped out and we headed back.

Dave freezing in the corner

We won the survivor challenge, made it back to docking area in enough time to catch cute little island foxes scavenge for food and have a reward beer on the boat. The end.

Documenting the impending sunburn

Little cuties looking for food

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netmaddy-blog · 8 years ago

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10 Things to Hate About the iPhone

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/10-things-to-hate-about-the-iphone/

10 Things to Hate About the iPhone

10 things to hate about the iPhone I took delivery of my iPhone at the start of September, the start of a trying month personally that saw me out of the office for very long periods and only in touch with the world via my phone. It was a baptism of fire for me and the device.

You will have seen the adverts, played with it in phone shops, looked over fellow commuters’ shoulders, borrowed your friend’s … great isn’t it? Or is it?

In this article I touch on some of the things about the device that have really irked me. Just a bit or quite a lot. And to maintain the celestial karmic balance I have a companion article on some of the things about the iPhone that I absolutely love. There’s enough material for both articles, I assure you!

So here we go, in reverse order, the 10 things that you should hate about the iPhone!

10. Grubby fingers and the onscreen keyboard The iPhone’s onscreen keyboard is surprisingly effective and doesn’t take long to get used to Stump Blog.

Just remember to wash your hands before you do so, however! This isn’t just cosmetic: For some reason I manage to leave a sticky mark under my right thumb that attract dust, biscuit crumbs, or whatever, right over the erase key. Usually the crumb lands there just as I finish the 2 page email and starts to rub out the whole message character by character! This is not an exaggeration!! It is, however, not a daily occurrence!!

9. External memory I went the whole hog and took the 16GB iPhone immediately. I don’t regret it! I haven’t been selective with my music collection and have more or less all my ripped CDs stored on the iPhone. That’s 14GB. Which leaves precious little room for real data.

On other devices this is rarely a problem and non-volatile storage is usually flash memory of some description, the size of which obeys Moore’s law and doubles in size and speed every 9 months or so and halves in physical size every 2 years or so with a new “mini” or “micro” format. I have yet to run out of space on a mobile phone or smartphone, even with an address book of over 500 names.

The problem on the iPhone is that there is no external memory slot and no way (short of wielding a soldering iron) of expanding the internal memory. A shame. The iPod Touch has recently spawned a 32GB version and I imagine that the 32GB iPhone is on its way. When that happens the legacy user base will be left wondering what to do next.

8. Battery and battery life The iPhone is sleek – barely a centimetre thick and enticingly smooth with those rounded edges. There are few buttons, no little doors to come open and break off in your pocket and no memory slots to fill up with fluff and dirt.

One of the reasons for the smooth design is that the iPhone does not have a user removeable battery. The battery can be changed by a service centre, and over the two years I will keep this device I expect to have to change the battery at least once, but I cannot do it myself. Also the battery is surprisingly small – it has to be to fit into this neat little package.

The price you pay for this is battery life. My device is now 6 weeks old and have been fully cycled about 5 times (I tend to keep the battery on charge but allow it to run flat at least once a week). If I am not using the device constantly, just checking the device twice an hour and answering calls, using 3G and Push, I can rely on a full working day of 10 to 12 hours between charges. If I turn on WiFi this drops to 6 or 7 hours. If I use the GPS without WiFi, autonomy drops to 4 or 5 hours. If I wanted to be really frugal and last a full 24 hours, I would need to turn off both Push email and 3G, and reduce screen brightness to a minimum.

For some people this is a major issue. For me, since I usually either have a PC on and can trail a USB cable, or spend the day driving with the iPhone hooked up as an iPod and being charged by the car, it is less of a constraint. But it remains an annoyance. I haven’t yet seen an iPhone equivalent of the Dell Latitude “Slice” – a battery “back pack” for the iPhone that could more than double autonomy with minimal extra thickness, but I assume that someone, somewhere, is working on an aftermarket device.

7. Document management There is no equivalent of the Windows Mobile File Manager or Mac Finder on the iPhone so there is no way of manipulating file objects on device.

Admittedly the iPhone does a credible job of shielding you from the need to do any file level manipulation: For example the Camera has a photo album that is also accessible in other applications that need to access images (for example, the iBlogger application I use to write short articles on this site). But there are still occasions when you need to manipulate individual file objects.

One is during installation and set up when installing root certificates for SSL so that the device can talk to an Exchange server: Unless you use Apple’s enterprise deployment tool (which locks down the device and prevents further configuration changes, so not always desirable), the only ways to set up the device for Exchange are to set up a temporary IMAP account and download an attachment that you open, or to set up a website with the root certificate and define the appropriate MIME types on the web server (I could not get this to work, incidentally!). How much easier it would be to download the certificate onto the device using Windows explorer (connecting to a PC via USB exposes the device’s memory as an attached storage device) and to be able to open the certificate file from memory on the iPhone.

The other key need for this functionality is when manipulating attachments on email messages. There is no way of saving attachments, or attaching documents selectively to a new or forwarded message.

6. Navigating through email folders I tend to keep a lot of emails in my mailbox. I archive once a year, and usually towards the end of the following year. I’m also fairly busy and work on a dozen consulting and business development projects at a time. That means two things: a lot of emails, and the need to organise those emails sensibly.

I organise my emails into trees – consulting projects in separate folders and these folders organised by client, all kept separate from companies I’m invested in and from my personal stuff. Probably 40 or 50 folders.

On Windows Mobile devices I can organise this quite cleanly, with the ability to expand or collapse sections of the folder tree. The iPhone recognises the tree, but gives me no means of collapsing the hierarchy. The Inbox is always at the top: Junk email is always at the bottom. Moving incorrectly junked emails means traversing the whole tree, which is a pain even using the classy flick scroll gesture. It’s clumbsy and unnecessary.

5. Filtering offline email content The other side of this complexity is managing how much of my “online archive” to take with me.

There is no need (and no space) to take it all with me: I am quite used to placing sensible limits on the section of the mail folder to take with me. Windows Mobile allows me to take 1, 2 or 3 months worth of email with me, to say whether I take attachments with me, all the email or just the headers. I can even select which folders to take or leave behind. And I don’t need to worry if I go away and find I am missing a crucial folder – I can change the parameters and the device will download what’s missing.

The iPhone is slightly less flexible. It won’t let me download attachments pre-emptively: It will only load the message header and leave the attachment behind unless and until I select the email manually. I can define how many days of emails I download from 1 day to 1 month, but beyond that I cannot specify a limit. I have a filter on the number of messages within a folder that I display from 25 to 200 messages but the interaction between this setting and the time limit is not entirely clear. If you are a light user this is less of an issue: For a heavier email user with a complex folder hieracrchy you have less control and can run into memory management issues as a result.

4. Message management and Exchange The worst problem with message management on the iPhone is actually specific to Microsoft Exchange.

I am an expert user and really love Microsoft Exchange. It isn’t just my mail server: It’s a full collaboration engine, with group and resource scheduling, rich address book, “to do” lists, journaling, contact histories etc. I don’t use it for fax and voice mail yet, but that is just a question of not having made the time to buy the interface box to the PBX and turn that feature on. So I am up there with the other 60% of enterprise mailbox users that are hooked on Exchange.

When the iPhone first appeared the Exchange interaction story was weak. It could do IMAP, but that’s just a fraction of the story. No problem, that wasn’t Apple’s intended primary audience either, but the enterprise users clearly wanted the iPhone, so Apple got to work.

To be fair to them, Apple have done a lot with iPhone 3G to improve the Exchange story. Most of the security protocols are there, including critical features like remote wipe and SSL, and it supports Push. Enterprise deployment is straightforward too with a dedicated enterprise setup tool that supports remote device configuration. Unfortunately Apple seem to have stopped halfway through the API and a lot of Exchange functionality is overlooked. Some of this, like losing some data richness within calendar and contact items, doesn’t affect all users equally. Other elements are more critical, however.

The best way to describe this is how you forward email messages with attachments. The Exchange API permits clients to forward the message without the message content being stored locally: You can forward the header and the server will attach the attachments and other rich content before forwarding. The iPhone doesn’t understand this: First it has to download all of the message and attachments from the server to the iPhone, then it has to add the forwarding address and send the entire message back to the server. Moving a message between folders is the same and involves the same telecommunications overhead. A nuisance for me, but no more than that: If you aren’t on a data bundle and pay by the MB then you need to be wary of this.

[Another side effect of this issue is that server-side disclaimers and signatures get placed at the end of the forwarded message, rather than under new message text.]

3. Reading HTML and rich text messages I love HTML emails. I know that is considered a cardinal sin in some quarters, but as someone once said, if email had been invented after http would email have been done any other way? HTML is ubiquitous, it is clean and it works.

And of course being the best mobile web device on the market, the iPhone should be a fantastic HTML email reader, shouldn’t it?

Well, it very nearly is. It does some things really well. It gets the layout, it renders inline graphics, it’ll even show some background. But what if the text is really wide? It’ll wrap won’t it? No, it won’t. It’ll shrink the text to fit. It’ll make the text really, really small. And you can’t cheat by rotating the device, making the screen “wider” and the font larger, because the mail client doesn’t support landscape presentation (why?).

Of course you can zoom in, because it’s HTML, but then you have to scan the whole line, whizzing across the page to the end of the line, then whizzing back again to get the start of the next line. Oh dear!

2. Task switching The iPhone is a lovely, clean design. And part of the cool, clean look comes from the absence of nasty short cut action buttons.

The iPhone has only three buttons on the edges of the device: the on/off button on the top, the volume up/down toggle on the side and the excellent single button mute button above the volume toggle. That’s it. The only other button on the device is the “home” button on the front, below the screen.

The home button stops whatever application you are engaged on and takes you to the home page of the device – the pretty page full of icons that start up each application on the device. Good job it’s pretty, because you see an awful lot of it.

There is no way to jump straight to your calendar, or address book, or email. Apart from the one “double click” action (user configurable to either select phone favourites or iPod controls), the only way to start a task is to go back to the home page and up again into the application you want. Find an interesting URL in an email that you want to look at in Safari? Memorise it well, or write it down, because unless the text has been created as a link you’ll have to go back to the home page, start Safari, type the URL, realise you’ve got it wrong, press the home button again, start email, open the email, find the URL … and start again.

Or you could just select the URL and cut and paste it into the browser address bar … except …

1. How on earth do you cut and paste? Once Xerox had invented the mouse, the GUI and WYSIWYG editing, it was up to Apple to take that technology and make it affordable with the Lisa and the Mac. And Microsoft to make it ubiquitous, of course.

One of the joys of using the mouse, or any pointing device, is that it gives you a third dimension as you move around the page. You aren’t constrained by the line or the word or the paragraph – you can jump straight to any part of the document. And you can select parts of a document by dragging over a word, a line, a paragraph, and do something with it. Like cutting it out. Or copying it. Or dragging it. It’s normal. That’s just what you do. You don’t have 3 hour seminars and training courses on using a mouse (or a stylus) to point and select, click and drag. You demonstrate it once, the student understands and does it.

But the company that helped the mouse escape from the lab and get into the shops seems to have forgotten all about it. Get out your iPhone. Write a sentence. Write another one. Oops – that second sentence would make more sense BEFORE the first one. I’ll just cut and paste the sentence. Oh no you won’t! Because there is no cut and paste on the iPhone. Hear that? No? Well, I’ll say it again! THERE IS NO CUT AND PASTE ON THE IPHONE.

Google around a bit and you’ll find dozens of articles on the subject. You’ll find surprise, indignation, horror. You’ll even find brave Apple gurus explaining sagely that you don’t need cut and paste because the iPhone gives you more direct ways of using information, like linking URLS, or detecting phone numbers, or, er, something.

The most likely explanation is that once Apple has decided to do away with the stylus, the only UI gesture was to use two fingers and drag that over the page to select some text. But that gesture had already been taken with the excellent pinch zoom movement used on large documents and web pages.

There is a way out, however. Some very credible proof of concept demonstrations have been put on the web showing how a sustained point and drag with single finger (like the stylus selection action in Windows Mobile) would be workable and not conflict with any other screen action on the iPhone.

Let’s hope that the concept demos work and we see cut and paste implemented in an upcoming firmware release. In the meantime, at least twice every day I bet every iPhone user will silently curse, shrug and give up writing that urgent memo because they just can’t be bothered to type it all again.

So that’s it. Please don’t get me wrong, I think the iPhone is a wonderful, iconic and transformational device. As with the Mac, it has changed our perception of what a mobile device should be. Mobile phones and smartphones will never be the same again.

It’s just that for all it’s brilliance, it remains flawed. The iPhone is the product of a prolific and brilliant yet highly introspective group of engineers. Left free to innovate, unrestrained by any notion of reality or practicality or what the user currently thinks he or she wants, Apple have created a concept device. I’m grateful they have, but I fear that it will be up to other companies, with a clearer grasp of what the user can use, in particular what ELSE the user is doing, to take the iPhone to the next step.

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andrewdburton · 6 years ago

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5 ways to avoid overdraft fees

Overdraft fees are total BS.

When consumers overdraft their accounts, it’s by an average of $24 — but then they often get hit with an average of $34 in fees.

In 2016, Americans paid $15 billion in overdraft fees. That’s more than 80 million Hamilton tickets, or three billion Big Macs (that’s a dozen Big Macs for every American).

Rather than just sit around and complain about overdraft fees, though, I want to show you how to beat the banks at their own game.

In fact, you can actually negotiate your fees away with a simple script.

But first, let’s take a look at what overdraft fees are exactly, as well as what a few banks are going to charge you.

What is a bank overdraft fee?

Overdraft fees occur when you take more money out of your checking account than is currently in there. When this happens, your bank will charge you a fee to facilitate the transaction.

Though the fee will vary from bank to bank, here are overdraft fees from a few of the most popular banks as of August 2018:

BANK

OVERDRAFT FEE

Chase

$34

Bank of America

$35

Wells Fargo

$35

US Bank

$36

PNC Bank

$36

Citibank

$34

Overdraft fees occur per transaction, which means you can do it multiple times a day. So even though $34 here or $36 there might not seem like a lot, you can find yourself saddled with $100+ in fees if you do it several times a day.

Even if you don’t do it multiple times a day, one overdraft hit is bad enough. In fact, getting an overdraft fee just one time is often enough to wipe out your interest gains for an entire year.

Luckily, you can negotiate to get them waived if you have the right scripts. That’s why I want to show you exactly how you can get your overdraft fees waived with a simple phone call with your bank.

The exact script to get overdraft fees waived

Here’s a truth not a lot of people know: All bank fees are negotiable.

Most banks understand that people are occasionally forgetful, so they’re very willing to waive a first-time fee if you ask. After the first time, it gets harder but can still be done if you’re determined.

Remember: Your bank wants to keep you as a customer. A well-executed phone call can often make a difference.

Here’s how I was able to waive an overdraft fee I got years ago: I called up my bank and the conversation went like this:

RAMIT: Hi, I just saw this bank charge for overdrafting and I’d like to have it waived.

BANK: I see that fee. Unfortunately, we’re not able to waive that fee. It was [some BS excuse about how it’s not waivable].

RAMIT: Well, I’ve been a good customer with the bank for X years now and would still like to get it waived since this is a rare occurrence. What else can you do to help me?

BANK: Hmm, one second sir. I see that you’re a really good customer. I’m going to check with my supervisor. Can you hold for a second?

[hold]

I was able to check with my supervisor and waive the fee. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

And just like that, I got my overdraft fee waived. This script works so well for a number of reasons:

I repeated my complaint and asked the bank rep how they could constructively help me.

I’ve been a loyal customer to the bank for many years, which you should always use to your advantage when calling to negotiate.

I was polite but firm. Nothing can force a negotiation to go sour faster than a bad attitude.

You can use this exact script in order to get yours waived too.

And it doesn’t just work for overdraft fees — you can use this for other bank fees too, like processing fees, late fees, and even ATM fees.

For more tactics on negotiations, make sure you check out my article on how to negotiate anything.

What to do if they say no?

But there is always the chance they still say no to your request — and that’s okay. When that happens, there are three options you can take:

Persist. Banks pay hundreds of dollars in customer-acquisition costs and don’t want to lose you. If you’re persistent enough and make it hard for them to say no, you’ll have the upper hand if they try to shoot you down.

Hang up and call again. Sometimes getting your fee waived is a matter of hitting the right bank rep. If the first bank rep keeps shutting you out, politely thank them for their time, hang up, and dial the number again.

Pay the fee. You’re not going to win all negotiations. Sometimes you’re going to have to just pay the fee. BUT if you have the right scripts and prepare, you can be infinitely more ready than you were before.

When it comes to overdraft fees though, the best system is the one where you don’t have to worry about them at all. That’s why I suggest learning how to avoid getting overdraft fees entirely so you don’t have to concern yourself with negotiating the rate away.

4 other ways to avoid overdraft fees

Prevention is better than a cure. So rather than deal with the consequences of overdraft fees, avoid them entirely with these four methods:

Opt out of overdraft protection

Account transfers

Envelope system

Get a new checking account

Opt out of overdraft protection

When you sign up for a checking account, many banks try to convince you to sign up for something called overdraft protection. It’s the policy in which the bank will cover you when you overcharge on your debit card, but charge you the overdraft fee for the trouble.

However, if you choose to opt out of overdraft protection, your card will simply get declined every time you attempt to charge more money than you currently have in the account.

Sure, it might be embarrassing if you’re on a date and it turns out you can’t pay for dinner because your card got declined — but it can go a long way in saving you money on overdraft fees.

Account transfers

Some banks offer an overdraft protection service that works by transferring money from another account to the one you’re trying to take money from.

This can be from another checking account, a savings account, or even a credit card (depending on what your bank offers).

NOTE: Some banks charge a small fee with this practice as well — though it’ll be much lower than your overdraft fee.

Envelope system

This is a great system to help you keep track of your expenses for anything.

Of course, if there’s an emergency you can definitely dip into other envelopes — but that only means you have less money to spend in those areas.

You can set up your envelope system in three steps:

Decide how much you want to spend in each major category each month.

Put money into each envelope (e.g., $200 for groceries, $150 for eating out, $60 for entertainment).

Spend the money — but when the envelopes are empty, that’s it for the month.

You don’t even need to use physical envelopes. One of my friends used to track her spending with a separate bank account and debit card, while opting out of overdraft protection.

When the month started, she’d transfer around $200 into the account — and when she went out, she would only spend that money. Once the money was gone, she’d stop spending.

Whatever system you decide to use, you just need to make sure to decide how much you’re willing to spend in each category (and that’s all up to you).

Get a new checking account

One great way to avoid overdraft fees entirely is to get a checking account with a bank that doesn’t have them.

My favorite: Charles Schwab Investor Checking.

A few highlights:

No fees

No minimums

No-fee overdraft protection

Free checks

Deposit checks via pre-paid envelopes or via iPhone app (snap photos of your check — no need to go into branch)

An ATM card

Unlimited reimbursement of any ATM usage

That’s right. There’s no-fee overdraft protection AND unlimited ATM reimbursement.

How often do you go out with friends and have to withdraw money from out-of-network ATMs? How often do you find yourself at a cash-only taco place at 3:30am, needing to withdraw $20, but you hesitate because of onerous ATM fees?

Some people will balk at using Schwab because it’s an online bank. That’s fine, but I urge you to reconsider: It’s rare to find a checking account that (1) avoids screwing you at every turn, and (2) actually rewards you for using them.

Master your personal finances

Once you learn how to avoid getting nickeled-and-dimed by your bank, you’ll be well on your way to living a Rich Life.

That’s why I’m excited to offer you something for free. I have an offer: My Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance.

In it, you’ll learn how to:

Master your 401k: Take advantage of free money offered to you by your company … and get rich while doing it.

Manage Roth IRAs: Start saving for retirement in a worthwhile long-term investment account.

Automate your expenses: Take advantage of the wonderful magic of automation and make investing pain-free.

Enter your info below and get on your way to living a Rich Life today — and avoid overdraft fees forever.

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5 ways to avoid overdraft fees is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Finance https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/get-bank-and-overdraft-fees-waived/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

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paulckrueger · 6 years ago