In the city, it is not a rare sight to have a line of people waiting to use the ATMs. Many of us accept it as the consequence of living in highly populated area. I am usually the orderly fellow to patiently stand in line just like everyone else.

But, it does drive me nuts when there is that one person who becomes consumed in the mindless fiddle with the ATM to complete a simple transaction that should take no longer than two minutes. Everyone else on line would’ve agreed with me.

If it weren’t for the privacy factor, I’d walk right up and try to help speed the process along.

That’s why I suggest all banking customers to get familiar with the ATM interface so as to avoid pissing off all the other people who are waiting on line. On the plus side, it saves time and helps prevent crime (such as ATM skimming).

Mastering the ATM

Being an ATM ninja may not be something to boast about but you will be grateful when it shaves off those few precious seconds when you’re in a hurry.

To the point: There are only three reasons to use an ATM – to make a deposit, withdrawal, or a balance inquiry. While technology has advanced greatly, ATMs can’t do much more than that, yet.

• Learn to navigate the ATM interface for the 3 basic transactions. Please don’t pick the ATM in one of the busiest streets in town to do this. Wait for a time with low traffic to practice making each of those transactions. Don’t be afraid to ask a bank representative to show you how.
• Set your ATM preferences beforehand. It can get annoying when the ATM keeps asking the same question every single time you are making a transaction (and you keep giving the same answer every time). You can set the quick withdrawal, language, and receipt printing preferences at the ATM or through your online account.
• Know what transaction(s) you will be making before you get to the ATM. We all are wasting time when we don’t know what we are doing. Get in, do your business, and get out.
• Don’t stare and sulk at how much little money you have in your account! Go do something about it.

Time yourself the next time you go to the ATM. A cash and check deposit should take only a couple minutes to finish.

Note: Please keep it green. Don’t print the receipt. Save trees and your time.

(Photo credit: TheTruthAbout)

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So I tried to access one of my free annual credit reports from Equifax yesterday and I was told they couldn’t give it to me because of a security freeze. Last year, when I checked my report before opening my first credit card, everything was fine. That moment of fear struck me, assuming someone had tried to steal my identity.

From a little research, a security freeze is a lock on my credit report so that new creditors aren’t able to access them, which would therefore prevent any new forms of available credit. But, many say that it is often requested by the person to freeze their credit and can be unfrozen with a certain PIN or password. I didn’t even know that I had a security freeze. How am I supposed to remove it then?

It could probably be anything such as a security freeze, fraud alert, or something other identity theft prevention method. I think I might have to give them a call and hope there is no major problem or there isn’t another Simon Zhen out there.

This is going to be a troublesome ordeal. Anyone experienced a similar situation or knows why this is happening?

Photo credit: blese

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Gosh it’s pissing me off! If you didn’t know already, our cell phone numbers have recently been released to telemarketing companies.

How is this financially related?
I have a cell phone under a prepaid plan. I pay $1/day for unlimited web surfing and texts and each minute costs $0.15.

Many would just tell me not to pick up if you do not recognize the number. But what if it was the credit card company calling regarding something important or if it was an emergency from a different number. No one can ever know for sure.

I’ve been getting these calls about 10 times a week and it is wasting my minutes along with being a major pain in the ass.

I’ve registered my number with the National Do Not Call Registry on July 31st but it states:

Most telemarketers should not call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days.

Still got a week or so for it to take full effect, so it says. I’ll probably still get some calls. It is just so annoying. It’s like having a hole in your pant pocket where you keep your coins.

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Ever since getting my eBay account reinstated after staying dormant for the past year, I’ve been excited to make some residual income with the many selling methods that I have. Sadly it seems that eBay has changed a lot during the past year. They’ve implemented many rules and restrictions that completely eliminated any means of me making some money.

What I Used To Sell

I used to sell “items” in a video game that was represented by electronic data in the form of pixels. So, that was totally removed from selling throughout eBay. Then, eBooks (electronic books in the form of PDF files usually) became a restricted selling category. All information products, which were delivered electronically, became illegal items for selling on the site.

These were the best items to sell because they came at no cost to the seller. Many sellers’ annual income came solely from selling on eBay. Their lives have been ruined. They must make their own websites to sell their goods but that will most likely fail due to the minimal exposure they’d receive.

Recently, I’ve came up with the idea of selling mod kits for the PSP on eBay and as soon as I purchased the materials to do so, eBay started removing those listings due to infringement of Sony’s copyrights (when all coding was actually freeware).

The Future of My Relationship with eBay

This company is bound to lose a lot of revenue from listings if it continues to restrict the selling of items on eBay. It seems to be a dying business model and its sideways-moving stock price in the past couple years seems to be supporting my case.

When eBay was first introduced it was great because it was a great place to sell/buy almost anything possible. Now, eBay’s high popularity is actually ruining its business. When I want to buy an item, I go straight to eBay. I do not go to Dell.com or visit a Gamestop store to purchase something.

Why pay retail when I can go to eBay to get it for less? Now all the big companies realize that eBay is actually causing them to lose money and threated eBay of legal consequences and rights just so that the big companies don’t miss out on the money.

For example: I represent Coach or Gucci. A seller is selling REAL handbags on eBay for a lower price than one would find at the retail store. I would tell eBay that the handbags are counterfeits and demand them to remove those listings immediately. Now, the money spent on the handbag merchandise by the seller is kept by me. AND, any prospective buyer would have to go to the store to pay ME AGAIN to get whatever item that person sought on eBay. By locking up the capital spent on the reseller, a future customer would have to come straight to me to buy something.

Anyway, I might be turning to Amazon or some other site to sell my merchandise. EBay is no good, anymore, for selling but it remains a great place to find bargains for other useful items.

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