Search found 16 matches

by CHXRAVEN
Mon Dec 04, 2023 2:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: House with three HVAC Systems
Replies: 20
Views: 2669

Re: House with three HVAC Systems

I have 3 heat pumps for a house in Maryland. Don't bring in an HVAC pro for a maintenance check. Agree with other posters it's generally not cost-effective, especially with multiple systems. Along with changing filters I suggest flushing condensate lines periodically. I had a prior house with two gas furnaces where we were had annual HVAC maintenance checks by a pro. My recollection is we got a 50% discount for the "second furnace" inspection -- Buy 1 Get 1 at 50% off. That seemed reasonable.
by CHXRAVEN
Thu Jun 08, 2023 1:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Setting up banking for a new college student
Replies: 18
Views: 1275

Re: Setting up banking for a new college student

Consider back up accounts for both bank and credit cards. Recently had an instance where a bank froze my DS college student's only bank account due to suspected fraud. He was told by the bank it would likely take 7 to 10 business days to resolve. I helped him get it unfrozen in two days but that was a wakeup call to get extra accounts in place. For our college student children we provided them with joint bank accounts from our primary bank, making it easy to transfer funds with a few clicks. Also made them authorized users for our primary credit card(s). And yeah, the college kids love Venmo and Zelle.
by CHXRAVEN
Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:27 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Frustrating experience with Ally - can anyone relate?
Replies: 28
Views: 4174

Re: Frustrating experience with Ally - can anyone relate?

An update to my recent frozen accounts issue... I was successful in getting the accounts unfrozen today. Total frozen time was approximately two days, but without persistence and strategy it certainly would have taken much longer to fix. The key factors, I believe, to getting relatively quick action in my particular case were: the freeze was impacting a 20 year old student without other available funds; multiple calls with both general customer and fraud dept staff politely explaining the facts and seeking escalation; mentioning I had filed a CFPB complaint to get faster attention, and asking to speak to the bank's Chief Compliance Officer (finding his specific name online), or one of his direct reports. Ultimately a fraud staff member said...
by CHXRAVEN
Thu Apr 27, 2023 1:09 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Frustrating experience with Ally - can anyone relate?
Replies: 28
Views: 4174

Re: Frustrating experience with Ally - can anyone relate?

Working through an issue now with Ally now where they froze some joint checking and savings accounts I maintain there -- those that serve as my 20 year old college student's sole access to cash and payments systems (aside from a credit card). The student attempted to send money via Zelle. It was flagged by Zelle and/or Ally as potential fraud. When he called Ally to sort it out he was told he had been flagged due in all or some part to having changed the phone number in his profile recently (nearly a month ago), which resulted in Ally not willing to use the phone to authenticate him, which further led to Ally being unable to authenticate him, which led to frozen accounts. All this transpired early yesterday. I've spoken to at least 8 custom...
by CHXRAVEN
Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:45 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: EE Bond redemption - 2 months and no payoff?
Replies: 26
Views: 2765

Re: EE Bond redemption - 2 months and no payoff?

Here's a recent data point. I sent off to TD back in early September a redemption request for 20 or so expiring HH savings bonds. I received an email notification of receipt about two weeks after dropping them in the mail. The email provided a case # and estimated it would take "up to 13 weeks for review and processing." We're now pretty close to conclusion of that 13 week period and I haven't received any further communication from TD. Also, for those submitting large numbers of bonds, keep in mind that Form 1522 streamlines the amount of paper work you and/or a redeeming bank must complete for redemption requests involving multiple bonds (i.e., you don't need to sign & certify each bond -- just include all the bond serial nu...
by CHXRAVEN
Mon Oct 31, 2022 5:06 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital One is at it again
Replies: 389
Views: 89763

Re: Capital One is at it again

I very recently "pushed" (via ACH) $100k from a CO Performance Savings acct to an Ally savings account. Funds arrived at Ally w/i 2 business days of transfer request. Concur that dealing with the various ACH limits, including distinctions such as push vs. pull is a pain...and a moving target pain at that. This is interesting. If they allow 100K then they're back in town to become my hub. My primary concern was they'd only allow 10K/day on ACH initiated at CO. Did the CO ACH prompt let you read the terms and conditions or displayed what your limit is? I am looking to check for this myself when I'm able to try ACH. I don't recall any on-screen prompts. I also initiated a further ACH "push" of $50k from CO to Ally this pas...
by CHXRAVEN
Mon Oct 31, 2022 2:19 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Capital One is at it again
Replies: 389
Views: 89763

Re: Capital One is at it again

Do they really cap ACH at 10K/day? https://www.mybanktracker.com/news/ach-transfer-limits This is very low if true. Perhaps for a push ACH, but I was able to pull $25k out of CO to fund an account at another bank for a bonus earlier this year. Edit: Upon double-checking, I pulled from the old CO360 Money Market account, not from the current Performance Savings account. Someone else will have to chime in about Performance Savings. I very recently "pushed" (via ACH) $100k from a CO Performance Savings acct to an Ally savings account. Funds arrived at Ally w/i 2 business days of transfer request. Concur that dealing with the various ACH limits, including distinctions such as push vs. pull is a pain...and a moving target pain at that.
by CHXRAVEN
Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:26 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Anyone negotiate a car lately? Any room as consumers?
Replies: 177
Views: 24768

Re: Anyone negotiate a car lately? Any room as consumers?

Findings on Minivans Honda dealers won't negotiate MSRP. Then, Honda increased MSRP on minivans by $+-1000 this month. All are adding delivery fees, +- $1600. Some are adding paint protection, rust protection, etc. You now, junk fees for about $2,000. Others have fees of fees because fees are good. There are no cars in stock. Paying cash doesn't make a difference, even at low APRs and high inflation. Most Toyota dealers didn't bother answering my emails. Some will only sell to local buyers (future maintenance income) or will only attend in person visits. Kia is MSRP plus junk fees and a 6 month waiting period. No cars in stock. This means overpaying by $5 / $8 K on Honda Odysseys - not sure on Kias/Toyotas. The sad part is that I may have ...
by CHXRAVEN
Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:43 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Emotional risk of losing $$ on a house purchase
Replies: 37
Views: 3639

Re: Emotional risk of losing $$ on a house purchase

SchruteB&B wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:55 pm
JBTX wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:42 pm Prices don’t tend to go down much in real estate unless you are on the coasts. People don’t like to sell for a loss, so they stay put.
I disagree, live in the midwest and bought a home in 2001. Based on actual sales in the neighborhood, everyone who bought from 2000 to 2007 and then has sold from 2008 to now has sold at a minimum loss of 25% and that isn’t including remodeling, improvements, landscaping or inflation. So it’s not just the coasts, and you can try to stay put but if you are moving for a job, at a certain point you capitulate and sell.
+1 .....north Chicago suburbs
by CHXRAVEN
Wed Apr 15, 2020 7:47 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Government stimulus payments]
Replies: 361
Views: 36759

Re: Report when you receive your stimulus check here

BV3273 wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 7:37 am Just checked the IRS website. It said the following “Payment status not available” I guess that means I don’t qualify.
I got the same message, and I'm pretty certain I qualify. So keep checking till the message is more definitive.
by CHXRAVEN
Mon Apr 06, 2020 7:08 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Comparing ACA Options in Maryland
Replies: 5
Views: 517

Re: Comparing ACA Options in Maryland

Our family has been enrolled in the Md Carefirst PPO plan, via the Md Health Connection, for the past three years. The PPO network is pretty extensive and thus it has been easy to stay in-network for our relatively minimal medical services needs. Carefirst claims processing has been fine. I recall the Md Health Connection website has decent tools for comparing the various plans. We qualify for an ACA subsidy, which makes the PPO plan very affordable. Without the subsidy the PPO "Gold" plan would cost approximately $33k/year in premium payments for a family of four.
by CHXRAVEN
Wed Jan 01, 2020 9:11 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Unusual need to book a smallish capital loss by year-end
Replies: 29
Views: 2647

Re: Unusual need to book a smallish capital loss by year-end

I've been following this thread with interest because I faced a similar situation -- potentially falling over the Affordable Care Act premium subsidy cliff by several thousand dollars (i.e., MAGI exceeding 400% of poverty level). My subsidy is over $30k so long as I stay under the income cap. No capital losses to harvest. Retired, with all income arising from interest, dividends and those sometimes unpredictable mutual fund capital gains distributions. Fortunately came in just under the income cap. I am familiar with exchange-traded equity options and would likely have used a strategy very similar to the one used by MLBerk. MLBerk's "trade" was sweet and simple in that he placed it on Expiration Friday (third Friday of the month),...
by CHXRAVEN
Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:06 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: send in driver's license photo for new Capital One credit card
Replies: 57
Views: 54102

Re: send in driver's license photo for new Capital One credit card

I'm a longstanding CapitalOne Quicksilver card member and was required to send CapitalOne pictures of my drivers license, as a condition to sending me a new card --- the context being reported fraudulent activity on the existing card. I was caught off guard by the request and initially refused. This thread helped me reach the conclusion that CapitalOne asks for this info at least somewhat routinely. I agree this info is at least somewhat relevant to authenticating customers. However, I was told that upon submitting the drivers license a review period could last from 7 to 10 days. What?! Several reps confirmed this is their official script, but thankfully in my case I had a new card within 48 hours of the reported fraud.
by CHXRAVEN
Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:55 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Does anyone have a dishwasher they recommend?
Replies: 161
Views: 14620

Re: Does anyone have a dishwasher they recommend?

Over the last five years I have owned/used Miele, Bosch and KitchenAid dishwashers. The Miele was great but stupid expensive. The Bosch (mid-tier, likely 300 series) is pretty quiet and cleans great. The KitchenAid (high tier) is super quiet and cleans well. Purchased all through Abt in Chicago, which has a good website for comparing brands/models, with reviews.
by CHXRAVEN
Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Rollover a old Fidelity 401k to existing Fidelity T-IRA?
Replies: 8
Views: 638

Re: Rollover a old Fidelity 401k to existing Fidelity T-IRA?

I just did this about a month ago. Called rep, he connected me to rollover specialist. 5 minutes on phone, rollover completed 2 days later. Depending on size of 401k, you may want to call rep and ask for rollover bonus. Their policy says they don't give one for 401k they manage, but when I asked they did so as a retention bonus. Just tried tried to get a "retention bonus" on a the rollover of a Fidelity Netbenefits-managed 401k acct to a Fidelity IRA account. My request was declined. The rep said Fidelity stopped the retention bonus practice around March of this year. I told the rep I was inclined to accept TD Ameritrade's offered bonus ($2,500). That didn't change the answer. Some trading commission breaks might still be availab...
by CHXRAVEN
Sat Feb 20, 2016 2:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: How long does TreasuryDirect take to convert paper I bonds?
Replies: 137
Views: 51011

Re: How long does TreasuryDirect take to convert paper I bonds?

Gwaelyn wrote:I submitted EE bonds in early December of 2015. After a month I contacted TD and asked why there was no status on my bonds and was told that due to backlog there is a 15 to 20 WEEK delay in converting bonds right now. Is it just me, or is this really unacceptable/crazy? On the website it says 18 days - there should be some kind of warning that tells you it may take longer. They should also have it set up to e-mail you when the bonds have finally been converted. :annoyed

The same 15 to 20 week delay also currently applies to saving bond redemptions. My recently matured HH savings bonds proceeds are earning 0% during this unreasonable delay. [OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek]