Finance Gets Personal

The latest cost of chronic lateness:

A speeding ticket yesterday morning.

78 in a 60, with a $150 fee. $300 if I want to get it taken down to a non-moving violation.

Ouch.

Co Signer Needed
Reply to: sale-746982363@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-07-08, 11:50AM CDT

I was going through a young and stupid time- co signed on stuff with my ex- and now I’m paying about $900 a month in debt payments. I can’t get a loan from the bank- to get settlements on my payments due- because of bad credit- from my ex not paying his bills. I just need a small loan to get settlements on all of my payments- or a cosigner on a personal loan. I do have two jobs, and I work very hard- I’m just still short. I’m just trying to get my life back on track and I’ll try anything. I would sign a professional contract with you- so that I would pay you everymonth. I would agree to an interest rate if you were to give me the loan or cosign the loan (so you will be making something on this- and I would add in cleaning every week, or painting your home, or something. Please, I don’t have a family to help me, I just want to get this paid off and put behind me so that I can move on with my life. I know this is a weird request, I just don’t know where else to turn anymore. Just please give me a chance.

Just to be clear, Finance Girl does not think anyone should co-sign this (or any other) loan.

It’s Saturday night and your team isn’t in the Final Four (or didn’t even get invited to the tournament - sigh).

Let’s find a way to drown your sorrows…

Presenting: Financial “I Never” with Finance Girl

In order to play Financial “I Never,” you first need to find the hard liquor of your choice.

There, that will do nicely.

Next, read the following statements. For each “I never” that you have done, take a shot. I’ll play along too. Here we go…

I’ve never bounced a check:

Damn.

I’ve never carried a balance on my credit cards:

Damn again.

I’ve never taken a cash advance on my credit card:

Who’s drinking now, bitches?

I’ve never borrowed money from relatives:

Give me a break, I was 17.

I’ve never co-signed a loan:

Thank God!

I’ve never financed a new car:

Whoopsies!

I’ve never had an Old Navy credit card:

Take that!

I’ve never taken a payday loan:

What do you think I am, stupid? Don’t answer that.

I’ve never borrowed money against my 401k:

Please - if I wanted to borrow money, I’d use my credit card. duh.

I’ve never had a home equity loan or home equity line of credit:

How else are you supposed to buy a house with no down payment?

I’ve never bought a pair of $100 jeans:

Well, I did once, but I returned them. Does that count? Fine…

I’ve never taken a refund anticipation loan:

Please. I’m too cheap to go to H&R Block in the first place.

I’ve never paid for a groceries with a credit card:

A girl’s gotta eat!

I’ve never charged up a bunch of concert tickets on my credit card and not gotten paid back for all of them:

If you tell me you’re going to go, you better damn well go! If you don’t go, you still owe me for the ticket (and the convenience fees - Ticketmaster ain’t cheap!). It’s also not my job to find someone else to buy your ticket.

Sorry, drunken rant…

I’ve never gambled:

I am probably the cheapest gambler ever to visit Vegas though. And I’m too scared to play the tables.

I’ve never signed up for a credit card to get a free t-shirt:

Dude, it said “College” on it. Like Animal House, you know? And I was in college! Get it?

I’ve never signed up for a “pay no interest ’til 2030″ credit card in order to buy a big-screen TV:

Watching Kansas or North Carolina lose tonight will be so much better in high-def.

Sorry, I meant to say, “I LOOOOOOOOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to find someone to hold my hair.

Photo Credits: no chase, bitches! and jr and amanda by theogeo, used under Creative Commons licensing

So here’s where finance gets personal.

I tend to cut it a little close in my bank account during the pay period that the mortgages are due. I fully realize that I’m doing it, because I keep track of everything in Quicken. But I usually check my accounts online daily, and transfer money from savings if necessary (look for my upcoming post: 10 Signs You Have Financial OCD).

Well, I kind of forgot to check my account for the last few days and got a little overzealous about purchasing my blog’s “official” domain name (www.financegetspersonal.com).

Then, my husband’s song purchases for our Rock Band party last weekend came through, and I had spent the cash he gave me instead of depositing it (see my previous post, Times When I Just Can’t Say No).

$75 in fees later, here we are. Yes, I know it’s my own damn fault. But $75 in fees for three little debit card transactions that all posted on the same day?!?

I called my bank to complain and to try to finagle my way out of the fees, and it worked to an extent. I got $50 of the $75 removed, and customer service agent got to say “Let’s see, you made a purchase of $7.15 at GoDaddy.com” out loud.

So there you have it. You are officially the reader of a personal finance blog whose author paid $32.15 for the privilege of using a domain name without the word “blogger” in it.