Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 164 posts

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#101

Post by wccrawford »

reaperducer wrote: post #95
dazc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, my dad sometimes receives random scam bills via email from [insert well-known company name here] and I tell him to instantly delete them.

scam bills via email from [insert well-known company name here] Name and shame. The rest of us can't help people look out for scams if you're not going to tell us what to look out for.

It might be a particular company's name, but it's not that company. It's a scammer using the company's name. There's absolutely no point in naming them.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#102

Post by phonon »

half_way wrote: post #7
dusted wrote: post #2

paywalled

Turning off JS lets you read NYTimes articles. I use an extension (in Firefox) called Disable Javascript that makes it easy to do per site.

You can also do it directly from uBlock Origin, it's the closed tag icon.

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/25/ublock-origin-can-block-ja...

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#103

Post by locooon »

justin66 wrote: post #74
rosndo wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It was, which is why your comment starting with "As a business" was so bizarrely off-topic. What do you mean by off-topic? Businesses receive utility bills too, and might genuinely be required to keep records of those. As far as I can tell, barring some very special circumstances, individuals never need to keep such records.

> As far as I can tell, barring some very special circumstances, individuals never need to keep such records. This is blatantly false. Unless paying taxes is a "very special circumstance." People don't want these records at hand purely for their own amusement, which seems to be the assumption you're operating under here.

In what situation will an individual need to supply their utility bills to the taxman during an audit?

> This is blatantly false. Unless paying taxes is a "very special circumstance."

I’ve certainly never needed to pull up my utility bills while paying taxes as a private person.

It really feels like you’re just coming up with stuff, utility bills aren’t normally tax deductible (unless you are a business). There’s no reason you’d ever need them for the taxman any more than your grocery story receipts.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#104

Post by inetknght »

throwaway29303 wrote: post #76
inetknght wrote: post #24

It's not just old people with this problem. Many younger people who've been victims of online fraud, and now have trouble with online accounts, fall into the same category.

Interesting. Could you please give us more details about this?

Sure.

1. lose access to your email. this can happen many ways -- whether your email account was compromised or your domain was lost or you forgot your password.

2. ??? welp good luck getting those oh-so-important bills and notices. and good luck resetting your access

Here's another scenario:

1. lose access to your email ten years ago and have to go through all that. now you're averse to any service even ten years later wanting to exclusively do business online

Speaking from experience.

Here's a third scenario:

1. don't "lose" access to your email. instead, get inundated with spam and phishing attempts. to combat that, create new emails. good luck changing your email address! I still have banks that send notices to email addresses that were completely removed from the account and present that same email address as a second factor for authorization; I'm very not-impressed with Chase bank. I fear the day that email address ever gets deleted specifically because so many businesses either don't allow changing the email or still use the email after it's been removed from the account

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#105

Post by amflare »

SilasX wrote: post #96
phil21 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an American urban legend passed down from a time it may or may not have mattered. What did matter in living memory (thus passed down to at least this generation) is that saving utility bills for 7 year can establish credit. My parents still tell me to do this to this day, since that's how they were able to qualify for a home loan having not participated in the credit system otherwise. Nowadays most such transact…

Huh? Paid utility bills don't help to establish a credit history on your credit report even today.

It doesn't, but multiple years worth of rent/utility bills can be used as a substitute so long as you are willing to jump through a couple extra hoops and pay a little bit more in interest for the privilege.

My girlfriend just went though this process. She has no credit because she never got a CC and always saved up and paid for stuff like her car in cash. Over the winter she was looking to buy a house (didn't pan out for other reasons), and basically her only option was getting a loan manually underwritten. Part of that process was using a minimum of 2 years worth of bills as a replacement for a credit score. And the only loans available were several points more expensive than she could have gotten if she was able to do things the "normal" way.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#106

Post by joshstrange »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #99
akhmatova wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh , it does have to do with the digital world actually (in that everyone now seems to think that everyone is on their platform. Further, it has been been observed that digital systems promote cognitive fatigue and empathy depletion across the board). There's no need to be so dismissive. Sigh.

Indeed. There are many things computers are amazing at doing (that's why I find them fascinating and enjoy working on them from time to time)—but human empathy isn't one of them.

Computers didn't choose to close down a branch or limit its hours, humans did.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#107

Post by [deleted] »

kube-system wrote: post #58
Aaargh20318 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the mortgage giver already sends those to the tax authority. How else do you think they have all your mortgage data pre-filled when you file your taxes ?

I wish my tax authority did that... on any of my tax returns.

[deleted]

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#108

Post by fortran77 »

Macha wrote: post #3

I've had to assist an elderly neighbour after her phone company cut off her phone service. Why? The way she had paid for it for the preceding 40 years was she would get the paper bill in mail, and then go down to the post office and organise payment using the details in that paper bill. They switched her over to paperless billing with an email that they've done so but you can opt out. She either did not understand th…

My bank (Bank of America) has this "dark pattern" where they try to switch you to paperless statements and billing every time you log into their website. Each time you log in you get a popup about paperless billing. If you click the "default" big button, you've opted in to it. You have to look for a little tiny text link to keep getting paper bills.

I'm only 59, but without my paper bills, I've missed a few deadlines for credit card. I used to look for the bill in the mail as my reminder to pay it for the month.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#109

Post by Double_a_92 »

reaperducer wrote: post #89
jacquesm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think paper invoices should continue to be the way that this is handled unless otherwise requested, if only because you are - where I live - supposed to be able to prove this sort of thing for many years to the tax man. All these electronic records can disappear into thin air without you even realizing it has happened and good luck on your tax audit 7 years into the future.

All these electronic records can disappear into thin air without you even realizing it has happened and good luck on your tax audit 7 years into the future. I've never understood the value of "paperless" to the consumer. The benefit to the company is the savings of 3½¢ of postage and mailing expenses. But to the consumer...? I pay my bills online, but I make sure I still get my statements by mail. I also balance my a…

Yeah the paperless system is horrible unless you are a person that strictly organizes things. There are so many different places where you have to go to collect your digital bills, and sometimes you just end up forgetting.

In Switzerland we luckily have a system where companies can send their bills directly into your eBanking system so they are all collected there. But if a company doesn't support that, it's much easier to keep the paper bill.

Re: ‘I’m Old, Not an Idiot.’ One Man’s Protest Gets Attention of Spanish Banks

#110

Post by fortran77 »

adriand wrote: post #36
Macha wrote: post #3

I've had to assist an elderly neighbour after her phone company cut off her phone service. Why? The way she had paid for it for the preceding 40 years was she would get the paper bill in mail, and then go down to the post office and organise payment using the details in that paper bill. They switched her over to paperless billing with an email that they've done so but you can opt out. She either did not understand th…

I recently endured a Kafka-esque nightmare with my bank. I had this personal VISA card for several years but I rarely used it because I also have a Mastercard that I prefer. Anyway, two years ago when I started my current venture I opened a business bank account with my preferred bank for business banking (same bank I had the personal VISA through), so I applied for a business VISA. At the same time, I told them I wa…

It's a shame you can't get criminal charges against banks in cases like this. For people who aren't scrupulous about saving copies of transaction receipts, and memorializing transactions, you can be in real trouble for a long time!
Post reply on HN