Blogging Away Debt

Update on the ING Direct Savings Bonus Referral Links That I Have

EDIT: My links are gone, but I have listed a few referral links from other bloggers.

I’m almost out of ING Direct Orange savings account bonus referral links so I wanted to announce on here in case you were thinking about opening an account but haven’t done it yet. As of right now, I have 3 ( EDIT: My referrals are gone, but click here for referrals that I am hosting for others) referral bonus links left. I will probably have more in the future…I’m just not sure exactly when.

As for the deal, when you sign up for an ING Direct Orange savings account using the referral link, you will receive a $25 bonus (and I receive $10) if you open the account with at least $250. If you open the account with anything less than that you will not receive the bonus, so only use the bonus links if you will be opening the account with $250 or more.

I did a little comparison between the two online savings banks that I use back in May, Virtual Bank vs. ING Orange Online Savings Accounts. At the very bottom of that post are the $25 bonus referral links.

Thanks again to those that have already used my referral links!

It’s About Time That I Received My Doctor Bill from March

by Tricia

I guess I should rephrase that title. I haven’t actually received my doctor bill, but I have received my benefits statement from my health insurance provider. It took almost 4 months to finally know how much I am going to have to pay for my doctor’s visit in March…$163.00. My health insurance doesn’t cover doctor visits, so I have to pay for all of that out of my own pocket.

I can’t complain about that fee, though. This visit was the one for my miscarriage and the doctor did spend a great deal of time with me. He spent at least and hour talking to me and suggesting things to do if I we were to plan on trying to have another child later. That time doesn’t even include the time he took to examine me. For once, I feel like I got what I paid for when it comes to medical care. I was thoroughly examined and counseled.

Now that I know what to expect, I can budget this bill in and pay it. The financial side of my miscarriage will be taken care of.

Emotionally, though, I needed some sense of closure to that day in March. Every time I thought about our finances I’d think about those bills and I’d think about that day. I am naturally a worry-wart and having a bill that I know is coming, yet I don’t know the amount, causes me a great deal of stress. Combine that with what the bill was for, and well, all I can say is I looking forward to paying it and moving on.

I know there have been some of you commenting about negotiating my medical bills and trying to get them to accept a lower rate. Part of me wanted to, and I had most of the money to pay the biggest bill (the hospital portion) for some time, but I was trying to get up the courage to negotiate with them. Just last week I finally sent the check out. I never did discuss it with them. I really wanted to see if I could save some money, but I didn’t want to even go in the building to talk to the billing department.

This is definitely an example of how your emotions can affect your finances.