Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 8:57 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #47

crazygringo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not. It was easy to look at statements when they arrived by mail. But with paperless billing, you've got to conscientiously log into your credit card site each month. If you have four cards, that's four logins. Who's going to do that? Not many. The only reason I review my transactions it's because it's easy through an aggregator like Monarch (was using Mint before it shut down). And the only reason I do th…

Maybe I'm unusually anal retentive about this, but I have every bank account, PayPal, Venmo, both credit cards, every brokerage, 401(k), HSA, IRA, mortgage, everything... in Quicken, which I check every single day. 1. Start Quicken, 2. Hit Update, 3. Get Coffee, 4. Review everything in boldface to make sure it's not a surprise. I have the next month worth of bills and paychecks "below the line" as future transactions…

Post by nunez » Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 9:00 PM UTC

ipince wrote: post #52

crazygringo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not. It was easy to look at statements when they arrived by mail. But with paperless billing, you've got to conscientiously log into your credit card site each month. If you have four cards, that's four logins. Who's going to do that? Not many. The only reason I review my transactions it's because it's easy through an aggregator like Monarch (was using Mint before it shut down). And the only reason I do th…

Autopay is evil. I have nothing on autopay. Instead, I have a monthly reminder to pay my bills every month, with a list of all the bills/sites that need to be paid. There's 11 things in the list, but not all of them have a balance every month. I do this towards the end of the month (instead of at the beginning of the month), so that I can include rent in it too, and pay _everything_. It lets me see whether my spendin…

Post by woobar » Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 9:01 PM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #137

rockooooo wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, but when there's a dozen apps that will do it automatically, why?

if the app automatically categorizes things, you don't ever have to look at it. doing it yourself requires that you review every transaction individually.

Post by nunez » Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 9:02 PM UTC

bonton89 wrote: post #150

ksd482 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's both. To counter the dark patterns, I now use privacy.com. It's far easier to just cancel a virtual credit card.

Is it true you can use a fake name (and presumably address I guess) for privacy.com credit cards? I have virtual cards through capital one but they seem much less feature rich.

Post by jjav » Fri, Jan 19, 2024, 9:04 PM UTC

rectang wrote: post #193

idopmstuff wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use a temporary credit card number that's only authorized for one payment. When it doesn't work the second year, they'll let you know you need to pay. Sign up and immediately cancel/turn off billing, so you aren't charged again next year (again, they'll send you a bunch of notices ahead of the end of your service). Put a calendar reminder in for 11.5 months out from when you sign up. In Slack, /remind me in 11.5 mont…

My tech-hating mom is currently spending hours, maybe even days setting up billpay through her bank so she doesn't have to give companies her credit card info for subscriptions. She's been burned too many times trying and failing to cancel subscriptions. But reading suggestions like yours, apparently it's all on people like my poor mom to outwit corporations with multi-million-dollar budgets dedicated to screwing her…