Some New Blogs--Well, New to Me

This is essentially a wannabe retiree blog. As a result, most of my posts and much of my blog-reading is geared toward those saving for retirement, close to retirement, or already retired.

Thanks to Syd at Retirement Is A Fulltime Job, I have two new blogs to add to my blogroll:

First up is Analise,in Financially Free to be Me, a retired educator in her mid-fifties. I forgive her for being younger than me and for having larger savings than me. She picked a tough time to retire, but so far, isn't regretting the choice.

Another retiree's blog I've added to my list, is My Wealth Builder, a much more investment-oriented blog. I haven't read it long enough to know if I agree or disagree with the investment advice, but I particularly like this post regarding retirement during tough economic times. The author, having retired in October, 2007,(the peak of the market as it subsequently turned out) recounts mistakes made as well as what has worked out so far.

Color Me Cranky

Here's how NOT to be a good guest.

I've had an out of town friend spend the last three nights at my home while attending a training session. Understand that I like this person immensely, and I doubt she has any clue as to how she drove me crazy during her stay.

First thing: She came downstairs to my warm living room, threw open the french doors that close off the living room from the upstairs, and said, "It's cold upstairs. Let's get some heat up there."

Umm--let's NOT!

I deliberately close off the upstairs because I don't see the need to heat the bedrooms, especially when they are not in use during the day and there are down comforters for the night. I have oil heat, and though oil is coming down in price, it is still expensive. Why couldn't she see that all the doors were closed, and obviously I did not want the upstairs heated?

Then she took a shower, and suggested I get the water pressure checked because the shower was "slow."

Again, umm NO!

Both of the bathrooms in my home have low-flow showerheads. Get used to it. I have.

She picked up the phone to make a call, but discovered I was online. Yep--Grace still uses dial-up. My friend proceeded to tell me how much better a dedicated computer line is. Well, yeah, but it also costs a heck of a lot more.

Finally, she looked in my refrigerator for a Diet Coke. There was none because none has been on sale since I got back from my vacation. To be fair, every other time she has stayed with me, I've had soda but when I said it was too expensive, she made a comment about "not taking the current crisis so seriously that I deprive myself of small pleasures."

Sigh.

I know she means well, but I still found myself resenting her remarks. I wish that she had kept her observations to herself and assumed that I had rational reasons for doing or not doing what she thought should be done.

I'd be even crankier, if she hadn't treated me to breakfasts in restaurants three mornings running! Feed me, and I'll forgive almost anything.

Financial Limbo Rock

I'm probably showing my age here, but I still remember all the words to Limbo Rock, including the chorus:

"How LOW can you GO?

Do the Limbo rock!"

Not that I was ever much of a dancer, but financially, it's clear I can go pretty dang low.

Today when I checked my 401(k) balances, they were below $100,000.

Did I mention that on October 9, 2007 they stood at $174,518?

Did I mention that I've been faithfully depositing $1000 per month through December, 2007? And after that to this very day, I have been depositing $1025 per month?

Did I mention how very scary this recession is? And how worried I am that my projected recovery time of 9 years might not be enough?

I'm ready for THIS dance to be OVER!

Where Were You During the Last Financial Crisis?

This is NOT our nation's first financial crisis. This is NOT our nation's worst financial crisis.

So why does it prey so heavily on my mind?

Well, it IS the first financial crisis where I've been paying attention to my personal finances.

I wasn't around for the great depression of 1929. My parents were, of course, and it affected the rest of their financial lives in a positive way. But their caution did not rub off on their daughter. Maybe a financial crisis is something you have to live through in order to learn from?

But I was present for the oil price surge of 1973-1975 where stocks slumped 45%.

Of course, 1973 was the year I finished graduate school and got my first real job--I joined VISTA, the earlier incarnation of Americorps, and set out to save the world while earning $200 a month (and getting food stamps!). Being poor was noble, I had no savings, and nothing going on in the stock market really affected my personal life. If there was an internet, I had no knowledge of it.

The leveraged buyout bust (and subsequent 36% drop in the stock market) occurred in 1987. Where was I? Not saving for retirement, that's for certain. I was deep into motherhood, caring for a seriously disturbed child (with all the attendent psychiatric bills) and merrily charging up my credit cards. I vaguely knew there was a crisis out there, but, again, it didn't seem to affect my personal life.

Then there was the tech collapse of 2000-2002 during which stocks dipped 38%. I heard about that one, but I wasn't invested in tech stocks. In fact, I had just started serious retirement savings and was sticking close to index mutual funds. I got quarterly statements, but had no easy way to check on my 401(k) balances daily.

Then came 2007-2008. Suddenly, I'm worried about retirement, blogging intently, and really, really paying attention to the stock market and my personal expenses.

I need to remind myself that the cyclical return on stocks will occur whether or not I'm watching, and that what goes down, will (assuming the historical record is correct) eventually go back up.

Sticking with the Program

It gets harder and harder to just keep putting $1025 into my rapidly-dwindling 401(k) each month.

Intellectually, I understand that this is exactly the program I must maintain throughout our recession.

Emotionally, not so much.

But it helps to have Money Magazine on my side. In particular, I liked this response from senior writer, Janice Revell to a question by a similarly concerned reader. It helps to know that "in scary markets you tend to underestimate the risk of being out of stocks. In the long run - and that's what you care about - the risk of missing the upside poses a graver threat to your wealth than taking hits on the downside does."

Elsewhere in the December issue (but not online that I can find), the "Mole" (a regular columnist) writes, "Risk tolerance ebbs and flows. From 2003 to 2007, U.S. stock prices nearly doubled and international shares nearly tripled. During such good years, you tend to believe that you have a high tolerance for risk. At times like these [i.e. the current stomach-churning market], your willingness to take chances drops sharply."

No kidding!

I am squarely in the crowd these articles are addressing--I always thought I had a high tolerance. And for the time being, I'm hanging in there. But it's hard to keep the emotions out of the program.

Age 89? I Could Live With That!

Thanks to Meg at World of Wealth, I took this calculator to see what my current activities portend for my lifespan.

Their answer is that I should live to age 89. Sounds good to me!

The good news is that I was scrupulously honest in answering the questions even though it meant admitting that I'm a couch potato who snacks far too much. (Maybe I should have stayed in Japan longer, where veggies and fish are always available but Snickers bars are harder to find.)

After getting the calculator results, there is a link to suggestions for changes that could lead to a longer life. One suggestion surprised me--it said that taking iron supplements (which I do, both to prevent pica which I've had in the past and because my doctor keeps telling me my bloodtests show low iron) actually lowers one's lifespan. Something to ask my doctor about on my next visit.

Out of the Ashes

Wow!

Not that I recommend burning down one's garage as a way to make money (and such an action might provoke a pesky arson charge!) but. . .

I came home to a huge stack of mail. Midway through it was a statement from my insurance company AND a check. Now, understand that the company that rehabbed my garage also did an inventory, as best they could, of all the burned items they tossed in the dumpster. They got everything I could remember and a lot that I had forgotten. I was asked to price the items, which I did for those things I had either recently purchased or could remember. But with so much of it, like my deceased parents' 70's era furniture, I had no clue. So the company told me to leave those items blank and they would figure it out.

Boy, did they!

While I would happily have accepted a couple thousand dollars for everything, they paid me replacement (as opposed to actual cash value) costs, which came to an amazing $9000.

Again, WOW!

After I recovered from my shock, and got that baby deposited, I figured out where it was all going:

$2000 to two of my daughters who lost their items.
(That should teach them NOT to store their stuff at
Mommy's house);

$800 to bring my "baby steps" emergency fund up to
$1000, where it has not been since April;

$1600 to pay the property taxes on my rental house
at the coast; This will be the first time in years
that I am current on those taxes and will get the 3%
discount for paying it all off in a timely manner;

$2000 for Christmas. This is a large amount, but
I am the chief provider of presents for five daughters,
six grandchildren, two spouses and one sister, as well
as the one who buys the Christmas dinner, lights, trees,
etc.; and

$600 for heating oil--I am determined that this will be
the year I do NOT run the tank dry and incur repair
charges for clogging the lines.

So that leaves me $2000 to apply to debt.

Not to mention that my neighbor is now renting my garage from me, and providing me with an additional $250 a month in income.

Pretty good, huh?

Umm--I think you should put those matches down, NOW!

Sayonara Japan

Tokyo is our last stop--we spent five days there, but that included one side trip to Kamakura and another to Nikko.

Both Kamakura and Nikko are small tourist towns. Both were filled with Japanese tourists busy sight-seeing in their own country.

Kamakura is home to Daibutsu, otherwise known as the Great Buddha, and probably one of Japan's more famous images. It is every bit as awe-inspiring as its picture. What you don't see is that the bronze statue is hollow and can be entered, which, of course, we did. This buddha is somewhat smaller than the one at Todaiji, but because it is now outdoors (it's hall having burned down, as many wooden temples and buildings have, in Japan), it is the more breathtaking Buddha.

Nikko has many culturally significant shrines, both Buddhist and Shinto, all within a relatively small area that is easily walked (although, like many temples in Japan, they all seemed to be at the top of enormous stone staircases with no railings!). A number of families were at the Shinto shrines getting blessings for their three year old daughters. The little girls were made up like beauty pageant contestants with sprayed hair, make-up, and elaborate kimonos. But they were obviously three years old, running around and kicking their shoes off. They were having a great time posing for pictures, particularly for western tourists. Other school groups would accost me (but never my ethnically Japanese traveling companion) with little booklets containing questions with which to practice their English. "My name is Kosumi. May I ask you some questions, please? Do you like Nikko? Do you like Japan?" Of course they were so busy practicing for the next question that they didn't listen to my answers!

Tokyo is the New York of Japan--loud, lively, full of advertising. Sights are less important than people-watching. And the people-watching was great.

So what were my final impressions?

On the surface, the Japanese are wonderfully polite, their country is famously safe and clean, and they have assimilated much of western culture. But they remain inscrutably alien, which makes for a fascinating tourist experience.

What I learned that I didn't know--the Japanese drive on the left side of the road, like the British; their western toilets, whether in private homes or hotels or ryokans have heated seats, bidet functions, and will play sounds (rushing rivers or music) while being used; virtually every car has a GPS system, which in addressed-challenged Japan, has been very useful (some neighborhoods have houses or buildings numbered by the order in which they were built); and being treated with great courtesy everywhere makes one, in turn, more courteous. It just felt good being in Japan, which I attribute to the high level of politeness, whether or not it was genuine.

Financially, I made out like a bandit. I spent less than my budgeted $2000, due entirely to housing and meals provided by my friend's relatives. While Japan can be expensive (first-run movies are $18!), meals weren't, and splitting the hotel costs (which ran from $50 per person per night to close to $100 but often included dinner and breakfast) helped keep costs down.

I did wind up spending about $200 to buy Yukatas (Japanese cotton bathrobes) for all my kids.

I am so glad I went, even if it wasn't the most budget-conscious decision. I don't know when or if I'll get to the far east again, but even if I do, it is unlikely to have the same opportunities to be in local homes that this trip afforded me.

The Sushi Chronicles, Parts One and Two

These entries will be short, and may be incoherent, given that Japanese keyboards are just different enough to make me crazy.

Part One:

I`m in Kobe, Japan, having spent two days there, and one in Himeji at an onsen (natural hot spring) Ryokan. I should probably put some links here, and if I get a chance, I will, later. In the meantime, both cities are intriguing.

Kobe`s recent history is forever colored by the huge earthquake that devastated the city and killed nearly 6000 people in 1995. Thirteen years later, the city is almost entirely rebuilt, but the earthquake is certainly not forgotten.

This is where my traveling companion`s relatives live. An aunt and two cousins died in the earthquake. The relatives that are showing us around have very strong memories of the quake.

We visited the quaintly named Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Museum which is staffed by quake survivors who are anxious to tell their stories. There is also a highly effective movie, complete with special sound and motion effects to convey the chaos that the city endured.

Almost as good was another earthquake museum on the nearby island, Awagi, which is actually built over the faultline, which is covered with glass, so that one can follow it over the course of a hundred feet or more.

Using Kobe as a base, we visited Himeji Castle, which you may have seen if you watched Tom Cruise chew up the scenery in The Last Samurai. The six-story wooden castle was very impressive, even without Mr. Cruise.

In terms of money, I`ve spent fairly little so far, given that my friend`s relatives have been taking us everywhere. I should also mention that when it comes to food, the cliched Jewish mother has nothing on a Japanese housewife determined to make sure her international guests don`t starve.

Part Two:

I am now in Kyoto, having spent the previous day in Nara. I saw no women in kimonos in Kobe or Himejii except for employees of the Ryokan who wore Yukatas (cotton bathrobes) everywhere, as did we while staying there. But in Kyoto, there were a surprising number of women of all ages, wearing kimonos. And carrying, and using cell phones. Quite the ambiguous image!

The emperor was in Nara the same day we were but we were too busy trekking to various temples to see him. It is difficult to describe the combined effect of the temples in Nara and Kyoto. I expected to get templed-out at some point but it never happened. The spareness, the size, the sense of foreignness was impressive and awe-inspiring.

My Japanese language skills (dusted off after 30 years of non-use) have been laughable but I have yet to meet one rude person in Japan. Everyone has been kind and several strangers have gone out of their way to keep two middle-aged ladies on track.

This part of the trip, my friend and I have been on our own, so I`m spending more money. The exchange rate has not been in our favor. But I am still well within my original budget. I could, if I have to, use my Bank of America debit card, but with a five dollar fee plus a three percent foreign transaction fee, that`s one card I`ll avoid.

Next stops: Kamakura, Nikko and Tokyo.

Off on an Asian Tangent

For the next three weeks, this space will be devoted to GRACE--the Asian Edition.

It's not my intent to bore folks with a travelog and I will try to keep my focus on the financial aspects of foreign travel during a recession. I'm also thinking it will be interesting to watch the US election from foreign shores. (Yes, I already sent my ballot in.)

This trip is a dream for me, but the timing could have been a whole lot better.

Fortunately, I did save for it. Unfortunately, I may not have saved enough. We'll see.

My airfare was prepaid last March. My sister gave me a $500 prepaid VISA card for "fun stuff." I have $1600 of my own to cover lodging, train travel, food and expenses. I'll be gone 18 days, but lodging is covered by my travelling companion's relatives for six of those days. To the extent there is a cost for this, it's $180, my share of two Pendleton blankets we're bringing as gifts to the two families taking us in.

The most important thing, for me, is not to become obsessed with how much I'm either spending or not spending. That's my tendency, and it can ruin a vacation if I let it.

The Japanese Yen is very strong against the dollar. That's good for the Japanese, less so for Grace. I bought $800 worth of yen yesterday at a rate of 97 yen to the dollar. Two days ago, it was 107 yen to the dollar.

The Japanese know about recessions. They were in one for ten years and it destroyed the retirement plans of many individuals. So I don't begrudge them their current prosperity. In fact, I'm eager to see it.

Sayonara for now. Watch this space.

The Festival of Frugality is Up

The Festival of Frugality, hosted by Mighty Bargain Hunter is up and running.

My Tracfone post is included, along with a multitude of great money-saving posts.

On Track with Trac

I'm something of a Luddite when it comes to cell phones. I didn't even have one until my oldest daughter gave me a Tracfone for Christmas, 2006. She was so excited for me, she actually snapped a picture as I unwrapped it--capturing forever a shot of me with my best "What the heck am I supposed to do with this?" look on my face.

Over time, I have come around--no longer would I want to be without my cell. I particularly like the idea of having it available for emergencies.

Still, I'm not one of those folks you'll find chatting away on the bus, on the street, or even (much!) in my car.

I pretty much use my cell only to keep track of my kids (or to be more accurate, they call me to keep track of me!) or when I'm running late for appointments, or to be in contact with my office.

I don't routinely give out my cell phone number.

I apparently have the capacity on my Tracfone to text. I wouldn't really know because I've never done that.

I don't have a fancy phone--the $9.99 price for the Motorola phone is the first clue! It doesn't take pictures, it doesn't have fancy ringtones and I can't have George Clooney as my wallpaper.

But what it does do, it does well. It gets reception virtually everywhere. I notice that when I return to my old hometown on the coast, my daughter's Cricket phone stops working about an hour out of our city. And in spite of all those "Can You Hear Me Now" ads, her husband's Verizon phone doesn't get reception in many places in that town either.

Another of my daughters has replaced her phone three times while mine was only replaced once and that's because I ran it through the washing machine. (This is NOT recommended). Then, of course, my replacement was still $9.99. I have dropped the phone innumerable times and even cracked the back plate, but a small piece of duct tape later, it still works just fine.

The per minute price is high. A 60 minute phone card retails for $19.99. There are always codes to be found on the internet that will add anywhere from 20 minutes to 60 minutes to this time. The nice thing about the codes is that you can "try them out" if you use Tracfone's online site to refill the minutes. You can ignore everything Tracfone says about codes being 'only good for one use' or the dates they say the codes can be used. I always try the old codes and often, they continue to work. Oddly, last month, when I couldn't get my minutes credited on the website, I called Tracfone. The operator used the bonus code I gave her, which was supposed to give me an additional 30 minutes, and it gave me an extra 60 minutes. Go figure.

Target sometimes offers the 60 minute cards for $18.99. E-bay is often cheaper than that. My lowest price on E-Bay was $14.50 but that was some time ago. Lately, I haven't been able to get better than $17.50 at auction. I have never been burned buying cards on E-bay for my Tracfone. After the auction, and once my paypal account makes the payment, the seller e-mails me with the code off the card and I use it. I don't bother asking for the card to be mailed because that adds to the cost and so far, it hasn't been necessary.

But with any Tracfone, and even with discount prices and bonus codes, the per minute price remains high, around 16 cents a minute.

That would never work for my kids and some of my colleagues, who seem to run around with their cells glued to their ears--literally, for those addicted to Bluetooth!

However, for me, not having a two year contract or overage charges, actually saves me money. I've been tracking my expenses since January of this year. During that time, I've spent $74.50 for four 60 minute cards that have actually given me 400 minutes. Depending on my use, I need a new card every six to eight weeks.

Trac is keeping me on track with my money.

Syd Gets it Right--I Hope

If you're not reading Syd's blog, Retirement: A Fulltime Job, you're missing some interesting and timely posts. Her latest one on the current market (Syd did pick a spectacularly inauspicious time to retire) is one I particularly appreciate.

Of course, I do look for posts and experts that back up how I prefer to see what is happening in the stock market.

But I think that it is an advantage to have been on this earth for 59 years. It gives me perspective.

I have witnessed the stock market and the economy in general do a lot of crazy things. Heck, I remember having CD's that earned 15% and I remember thinking that was not nearly enough interest! I remember when a mortgage rate of 10% was not considered unreasonable. Finally, having worked in non-profits dependent upon public funding for many years, I am all too familiar with the ups and downs and political whims that have governed my paycheck.

This, too, shall pass.

I hope.

Trying Hard NOT to Hyperventilate

I knew better than to look, but it's kinda like being ordered NOT to think of a pink elephant--once someone brings it up, you just can't help yourself. Pink elephants are ALL you can think about.

So--

I looked.

There were my retirement funds: the ones that were at $174,518 last October; the ones where I've been contributing an additional $1000+ every single month since then;

And there I found my retirement funds as of yesterday: $129,626.

OMIGOD!!!!

I just keep telling myself to stick with the program; I'm getting a bargain on purchases of my mutual funds; I've got nearly ten years until I want to retire; It will get better. It will get better.

It had dang well better get better!

Credit Card Weirdness

This did not happen to me.

I don't have an American Express credit card.

But a colleague of mine does. Her husband is a physician who flies all over the world setting up temporary emergency hospitals, particularly in third world countries.

They use their American Express card alot. They tend to charge several thousand a month, particularly in airline fees for which they are reimbursed.

They have never been late with a payment. They are nowhere near their credit limit.

Yet this past weekend, my colleague received a telephone call from American Express demanding an additional payment (she had just sent in a payment the prior week) or their card would be suspended.

When she objected and pointed out their excellent payment record, she was told that American Express was calling on many of their "good" customers to make additional payments.

My first thought was that this was a scam, but my colleague called American Express this morning, and verified that the weekend call was genuine, and so was the threat to suspend the card.

I'm just amazed that this could possibly be legal.

What is going on? Fall-out from the credit freeze? Credit card companies running scared?

All in all, it seems foolish of American Express to tick off their "good" customers. And my colleague is plenty ticked off!

Silver Linings

The bad news should be that there was a fire in my stand-alone garage last month that caused considerable damage.

Oddly enough, burning down one's garage is turning out to be just fine financially!

Say what?

Well, not only is the entire inside reframed and painted (fortunately, the stucco outer walls and the two-year-old roof survived the fire) but my badly-graffitied garage door has been replaced with a pristine new one. While I wish the white panels didn't scream "Come On! Your gang sign belongs HERE!" quite so loudly, it really does look nice at the moment.

Who knows how long it would have taken me to replace that door otherwise?

To top it off, my neighbors across the alley approached me about renting the garage to park two of their vehicles. Don't ask me why the two guys who've lived there for years have six vehicles between them while I've been driving my solitary Dodge Caravan minivan for almost ten years.

I will probably go ahead and rent to them since I only use the garage for storage anyway.

So, far from being a financial disaster, I'm winding up with a newer, better garage and possibly, a new source of income.

Quarterly Net Worth--Yes, I'm Cheating and No, It's NOT Helping!

I'm computing my net worth as of today, rather than waiting until the true end of the month tomorrow.

From what I hear, now that the House of Representatives has turned down the bail-out plan, the stock market was way off today. So I'll cheat, and use Friday's closing rather than today's.

Not that it helps that much.

For the first time since starting this blog, my net worth is down: $12,680 to be exact, or (because somehow it sounds better when I put it this way!) I'm down two percent for the quarter. My current net worth stands at $587,096.

I'd feel worse about it, if much of it wasn't rather "phony" to start with. How can I seriously feel like I lost $14,000 on my home, which means that it is worth $378,500, when I purchased it in 1992 for $95,300?

And how about my first home, which I now rent out in a small coastal town? It just keeps going up in value. Beats me why that should be, given that the town's economy is so tied to timber and fishing, both of which are dying industries. Inexplicably, the house is now worth $7000 more this quarter than last.

Then there's my debts--nothing to be proud of, there. I am down slightly from last month (that's good), but last month I was up from the previous month (that's bad), and I'm still not back to where I started (that's really bad).

Onward to October! How could bats, witches and black cats make things any worse?

Red Light

I opened a letter yesterday from the city in which I reside.

It contained three pictures--two of my vehicle, complete with license plate; one of the driver that was impossible to identify.

Oh, and there was a citation for running a red light, with a price tag of $242!

My problem is threefold: I have no memory of ever running a red light, and certainly not on the day and time in question; I never let anyone else, including my children drive my car; and I do NOT have an extra $242 laying around!

I've gotten speeding tickets before--while I don't like them, I've never felt that they were undeserved. But running a red light? That's just something I can't believe I did or would ever do!

My court date isn't until November. I will appear in court because that almost always results in a lowered fine. I won't plead "not guilty" because my memory notwithstanding, I don't see how it could be anyone else driving my car.

Still I'm ticked off. The difficulty is, my anger doesn't have a target!

More Bad News About Retiring During a Recession

The best advice in Liz Pulliam Weston's latest column for MSN, How to Retire in Bad Times can be summed up in one word:

DON'T!

I have a number of friends who are in the midst of plans to retire. I must admit that I don't understand why they are so unwilling to put off those plans for another year or two to wait out the recession. These are not people who are being forced out of their jobs, nor do they have health issues so severe that they must retire. It's more that they have been planning for retirement day, they have their eyes on a particular date, and they are unwilling to let the current economy change their plans.

I understand the motivation. I understand the desire to be done with full time employment. But if working awhile longer would assure me of money to last through the NEXT recession and the one after that, while leaving the job field right now might endanger it--heck, I'd be working past that theoretical retirement date!

Are We Sure Our Banks Know What They Are Doing ?

I realize this is extremely small potatos, BUT. . .

I don't get my bank's attitude on the following siutation:

I was using my Bank of America debit card, as I usually do--this time to purchase time on a parking meter. It "declined" my card. I tried again. It "declined" again.

Then I took a closer look at my card, and saw that there was someone else's name on it! (The first name was Venus. Trust me on this one--I ain't no Venus!)

Then I searched my purse, and located MY debit card. Apparently I had been handed back TWO debit cards sometime in the last few days.

I had purchased coffee earlier that morning with Venus' card. I may well have been purchasing things for several days on her card. When I checked my account online against the receipts I had kept, I found about $30 worth of charges that did not appear on my account. I could only assume those were charges that came out of the mysterious Venus account.

So I called Bank of America to report the error. It was my intent to let them know what charges to transfer to my account.

But they were not the least bit interested.

I was told that the card had already been reported lost or stolen, and that Venus--whoever she might be--was not being charged for any withdrawals in the last three days. I was advised to cut up Venus' card, which I did.

OK--good for Venus.

But here I am, ready to actually pay the items I accidentally charged.

Apparently the bank has no way of doing that!

So the end result is that neither Venus nor I are paying for those $30 worth of items.

A good deal for both of us, I guess. But it doesn't make me confident as to how things are run at my bank!

Maybe Bank of America is too busy with their take-over of Merrill Lynch?