http://www.ntwizards.net Thu, 15 May 2008 23:33:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's like I've been sucked into a parallel universe where everybody is a goddamned cook. http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/15/spoiled-broth It seems that I've passed the American Express financial review. Whew! My combined lines with AmEx are about 1/3rd of my available credit and more than double what any other issuer has granted me, so any adverse action could have been unpleasant... http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/15/survived I haven't shopped for car insurance since switching from Progressive Direct to Drive by Progressive 2.5 years ago, so I figured that it was about time to take another look around. Over the past several days I've gotten quotes from Allstate, State Farm, Geico, AIG, and Liberty Mutual. Some asked for ... http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/13/rate-shopping I ended up returning the pair of Westinghouse 24" L2410NM LCDs after about 3 weeks. The displays were stunningly gorgeous, and 24 inches would seem to be the sweet spot for using large non-overlapping windows, but this particular model of LCD had one terrible flaw — no sleep mode on ... http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/11/24-lcd-follow-up Got an e-mail this morning from Progressive that my renewal documents are available online. Like many insurance companies, they give two prices — one for making six monthly payments and another that is discounted for paying in full. For giggles I punched the numbers into a loan calculator and arrived ... http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/09/usorious Bumpage has finally kicked in, nine hard inquiries have prematurely fallen off of my credit report this week. TransUnion has been dropping one every few days while Equifax has suddenly started dropping one with every soft inquiry. At this rate they should both be free of hard inquiries in another ... http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/09/bumpage AmEx isn't the only credit card company suddenly showing me less love. I've got a WaMu card that just had its first anniversary, and to celebrate they announced on my last statement that the interest rate would be jacked up by a whopping ten percentage points. Closed. http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/08/jacked Last week American Express whacked me with a financial review, which is where they suspend your account and demand financial records, in my case an IRS form 4506T to authorize the release prior tax returns. It is a decidedly unpleasant process and while I don't think it's likely that they ... http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/07/twilight-zone Note to future self: When you get a new debit card, use it right away. Better to discover that your PIN doesn't work when the bank is open and you aren't in need of some immediate cash... Opening a second bank account may be one of the smartest things I've ever ... http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/06/pin-pain Another birthday goes by this week. I still haven't come to terms being 30. A friend from my teenage years pointed out that we're still young but she still has another year to be twenty-something. http://www.ntwizards.net/2008/05/05/31