MoneyStuffed

I used to love shopping at Macys.  Love it.  I’d go there during my lunch hour and just browse the store, specifically the fine china and crystal section.  When I would go to bridal showers and see people open gifts, everyone would be amazed at how much I was able to identify those gifts site.  I have since fallen out of practice, but I wanted a new platter for Thanksgiving dinner and thought today was a good time to revisit my old friend, Macys. 

Read the rest of this entry »

I went to a Lukoil gas station this afternoon as my next target on the gas station experiment.  Since Wawa reserved $75 for my last fill up, I figured that I would need to only use a few dollars at a time if I wanted to get more than two gas stations in my experiment.

Read the rest of this entry »

We recently made the decision to stop using our Capital One credit card and we’re both using my old Visa rewards credit card.

Capital One noticed this lack of activity on the card and sent us a letter asking us to call for a free upgrade to our credit card:  No Hassle Rewards, Improve Other Card Features, or Lower (our) APR.

Hm.  Well, it was nice for the hubby and I to use separate credit cards.  It was much easier to keep track of who made what purchase when they’re separated cleanly on separate cards.  Still, though, Capital One continues the practice of reporting the person’s highest used credit amount instead of actual credit limit to the credit reporting agencies.  The implication of this is that if you consistently charge $1000 a month, even if you pay it off every month, you’ll look like your maxed out on your credit card because your credit limit will consistently equal your current balance.  Not cool, since this will negatively impact your credit score.

Read the rest of this entry »

Per the experiment I referenced in my last post where Wawa reserved $75 on an AMEX gift card for a tank of gas when I only spent $31, Wawa has today returned the extra funds to my gift card and now I have the correct amount of $69 available. 

The purchase was made on Saturday and it took till Wednesday to return the funds.  That’s two days longer than I would have hoped.

When my next tank of gas is due, I’ll track down another big chain station and see what they reserve to compare.  Lukoil is big around here.  I’ll definitely have to check them out.

I’ve mentioned this before and have read tons on this.  When you use a card to pay at the gas pump, the gas station will reserve an unusually high amount of money and hold onto it for far too long before relinquishing that hold on your money.  This is a big problem for people that use their debit card for their bank account and need to worry about being close to any limits.

I recently received two American Express gift cards valued at $100 each that can only be used at gas stations.  In the paperwork that came with the cards, AMEX made it very clear to only pay inside and not at the pump because of this very reason.  When you pay inside, the gas station normally will only charge you what your actual cost ends up being, not this set amount higher than what you owe them.

I plan to keep close track of the balance on these cards so I figured, eh, let’s give it a try and see what my favorite gas station does. 

Read the rest of this entry »