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Apr 21, 2014    |       21 comments

Fighting Mad

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Arrrrgh, I am SO MAD at Wells Fargo!

As you may recall, I recently paid off my Capital One credit card (which had been my highest APR), and have moved onto focusing on my Wells Fargo credit card (my second highest APR).

A few days ago I received a credit card offer from another bank. It offered 0% APR as an introductory rate for the first 24 months. To be clear, IN NO WAY do I want to open a new credit card account. But I thought maybe I could use this letter as leverage. I called Wells Fargo to see if I could negotiate a lower interest rate.

I’ve read advice on how to approach the subject, and I tried to reason with them.

“Hi! I’ve been with you guys for over a decade and really like you! But I just got this 0% APR offer for 24 months. Can you match this deal on my current credit card or, if not, do anything to lower my current APR?”

What should have been a simple call turned into a total nightmare!

I was transfered multiple times. At first, they tried to send me to the sales department, so they could get me a new credit card with an introductory APR (to which I respond “No, I don’t want a new credit card. If I were to do that, I’d just go with this other bank’s offer.”)

Then eventually I’m just told “No, we do not lower APRs….ever.”

Ummm, excuse me? Never? What are you talking about? You don’t do periodic credit reviews and adjust APR as a result? I know my APR was hiked up in the past (as a result of one of these reviews), you never lower it again when credit improves????

“Can I talk to a manager?”

*Another transfer and loooooong wait*

Finally…I’m talking to the person who can make some decisions!

And, again, I’m told no. There is nothing they can do.

GRRRRRRRR!!!!!! I swear I was on the phone close to an hour by the time everything was said and done!

There is one thing that jumped out as interesting. One of the people I spoke with had said something that indadvertedly implied that maybe something could be done if I went into an actual branch. I could be reading into the conversation because she certainly wasn’t giving me advice or trying to help me out, but during our conversation about “how on Earth do you never lower APRs? I swear this has been done before!?!” One of the girl’s replies was something along the lines of “No, never, not as long as I’ve worked here. Maybe if you’ve gone to a branch they could’ve lowered your APR in the past??” It was more of a question than a statement, but still….

I’m tired of my efforts resulting in wasted time (Exhibit A:  Trying to negotiate credit card APR; Exhibit B:  Trying to negotiate lower medical bills), but this APR is so outrageously high that it could be worthwhile to go into a branch if it actually makes a difference (and has the potential to be extra-frustrating if it results in nothing).

Has anyone else had SUCCESS getting a credit card company to lower your APR? Is there any difference if you go into the branch as opposed to calling the company? Advice? Tips?

 

Edited to add:

So many people are saying I should take the 0% offer that I wanted to say something further….

The offer was one of those mass offers that lots of people get. They would still have to run my credit to see if I qualify (and I may not). Also, I’m trying not to run my credit right now because I want to try to refinance my car loan for a lower APR in the next month or two. Last March when we bought the car our credit was dinged from multiple inquiries (shopping around to get the car – I’ve always heard you have a 72-hour window to shop around, but our credit still took a hit regardless). So I’m trying to avoid having my credit run right now.

I love the advice and suggestions! Given this information, would you still suggest I apply for the 0% card?? Should I wait until after I try to refinance the car? Not sure if those offers expire??

Apr 21, 2014    |       26 comments

Making a Meal Stretch

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This past week our pantry has been a bit bare, but I’ve been making it a priority to eat what we have instead of making an extra trip to the grocery store. I divide our grocery money into the number of weeks in the month (4 or 5) and try to stick to that amount – no more. We had already used our week’s allotment of grocery money so I was going to have to get creative until the following week.

One night for dinner I decided to pull some enchiladas out of the freezer. Whenever I make enchiladas I always double the batch and freeze the extras, so this was the “extra batch.” Generally when I make dinner I try to make a little extra so I can have leftovers for lunch the next day, but this was a small batch – only 5 enchiladas. My husband ate two, I ate 1 ½, gave the girls ½ and we had sides – refried beans and a side-salad.

For lunch the next day I was totally stumped. We didn’t have enough leftovers to feed me and both girls (only 1 enchilada left), and we’d been eating grilled cheese or PB&Js for the past 3 lunches in a row. I desperately wanted to run to Chick-fil-A or call in some Chinese take-out. I debated it for awhile, but ultimately I decided I needed to figure out a way to make our leftover enchilada stretch into a meal for 3.

What did I do?

Well, although there was only a single enchilada, there was actually a good amount of beans leftover. So I made a little enchilada “pie.” On the bottom of our plates I put a hefty layer of beans, then I cut the enchilada in half (half for me, half shared by the girls), and put it on top. To beef it up, I added some avocado we had on-hand, a little extra grated cheese, and a small dollop of sour cream.

It wasn’t the best or most exciting meal. It was probably 70% beans with a little enchilada and other toppings. But it was a good source of protein (beans), fats (avocado) and dairy (cheese, sour cream). And it filled us up for free as opposed to spending money at the drive-through.

I’ll call that a “win” any day!

 

How do you make a meal stretch? What are some of your favorite budget recipes that you can make from mostly pantry staples?

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