Don't drag in enough for all day, just 1 bottle per person, or less if folks are willing to share, and refill them at the park's water fountains or sinks.
Despite all the parks' policies, we've never been even questioned about drinks and/or snacks.
I'm sorry you are having to go through such a frustrating process! A couple of questions for you. Are you suing the insurance company personally? Do you have a lawyer? Usually what you are describing is a third-party-liability proceeding or "subrogation." This happens when your or your insurance company sues another party because they were at fault. If you are suing, then you are probably suing the other person in the accident. If the other person's insurance is being sued, then I imagine your health insurance company is handling the proceedings?
I have heard of insurance companies refusing to pay because of third party liability, but usually they communicate with the medical provider. Is your health or auto insurance refusing to pay? How much have you been told about the proceeding? The worst case scenerio is you may have to pay something on the bill, and then when the settlement comes in, you can claim against it with what you have had to pay out-of-pocket.
Bottom line is that your insurance company really should be communicating these things with you.
Last summer I got home from a grocery shopping trip to find that everything in my refrigerator was warm. I panicked and checked to make sure the outlet was working. It was. I called the landlord to report that my fridge wasn't working.
When the landlord got there, he discovered that the refrigerator had been turned OFF by my son!
I might have to look into a fridge alarm and/or safety lock!
Where I live (in southern spain), we have hard water, full of salts, which makes our pipes to be full of problems, and doesn't help on drinking tap water. That's why we almost all drink bottled water.
Anyway, after reading this thread, I'm thinking on the possibilities of filters to drink tap water, as well as a solution for our pipes. Any tip on this is welcome!
What I'm concerned about is that about 3 or 4 years ago, bottled water was purely spring water, but now many big companies had bought most of local small companies, and the water quality became lower (or different) and its taste it's not the same.
Also,to say that in some supermarkets bottled water became as cheap as 0,26 euro cents for a 1,5 liters, but you have to carry it al along the way, and at least in the small town I live, there's no PET container to recycle the bottles.
One of the central issues in the book was that being "wealthy" is defined by ones spending level, not the total net worth. I know some people who are happily retired from traditional work on $40,000 per year of investment income from a 600,000 portfolio. And I know others living month to month on $2,000,000 per year- they just keep raising their spending and perceived "needs".
If a person can keep their spending from growing as their assets grow, in a while their income from the assets will fund their needs. The freedom of that is exhilerating, as the person can pursue what they wish, or keep the job knowing they do not need it for money and are doing it for the right reasons.
@ScottMGS: Good ideas. In regards to whether the advisor pays out, I urge you to consider that the advisor is investing a lot more energy/time/etc in the client relationship than simply investing assets. (As I alluded to, there is much more to financial planning than investing, and as the quarterback the financial planner has no small job). And my opinion is that they need to be compensated for it somehow, and not penalized if the markets tank which is ultimately out of their control. (I don't care how good you are, you can't predict and avoid market corrections every time).
All of this is of course said assuming the advisor isn't negligent in the investment management and more-or-less responsible for the dip in the portfolio.
@JH -- most credit card companies will not reopen accounts that they have "charged-off" or "written-off". However, it never hurts to ask, right? Write them a letter telling them you would like to pay. If they accept your offer, make sure you pay them. If they send you a letter denying your offer, keep that letter. You can show potential creditors that you tried to make good on the debt, but that they wouldn't accept your money. Additionally, every consumer is allowed to place a 100 word statement on their credit report. Submit a statement saying, "I tried to pay-off accounts X, Y, and Z. They turned down my offer. Please contact me for further documentation."
@Guest -- talk to your collections agent and explain the situation. Send them any documentation you might have detailing your pursuit of money from the other insurance company. They might delay collections for a bit. If it turns out you do have to pay the debt, ask them for a debt payment plan that works for your budget.
Also, have you tried applying for or asking for financial aid from your hospital? I wrote a great article about this topic a few weeks ago. If the hospital tells you that they can't help you because the account is in collections, you can nicely ask them to pull the account out of collections. Yes, they can pull an account out of collections.
In the end, Andrea's right...you might to consult an lawyer regarding your claim.
I have several credit card bills that are in default (some over two years) but I would like to make restitution. Is there a way to do this in the proper manner? Should I contact them to show that I would like to pay them back. Many of them are closed out (write-off).
In addition to my unneeded radiator which I paid for the part and installation... here are two other incidents I recall.
1. Left audio speaker stopped working. They wanted over $1000 to replace the amplifier. Turned out to be just bad wires. I paid $0 to get it fixed.
2. Left light wiper lost its spring. They wanted an inexorbant amount of money to have the whole wiper arm replaced. I went to Canadian Tire and paid $0.50 and installed the missing spring myself.
And yes, they charge you to diagnose these problems.
I am being sent to collections over medical bills from an accident that I was involved in. I was not at fault in the accident and am fighting for a settlement with the other insurance company for them to pay my medical bills. What should I do? I've talked to the billing department at the hospital, and they put a hold on my bills for a while, but they've obviously sent me to collections since then.
The accident occurred in February. My credit is in good standing otherwise, but I cannot afford to pay these medical bills and my health insurance company will not pay them. The fight with the insurance company seems like it may last at least a few more months. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
"They're more than happy to charge me $35 if I go into the red by one cent (which happened by the way...in Britain it is still illegal to charge a fee more than the amount you went overdrawn by, although most people don't know that),"
i like that, wish it were the same in the U.S., i HATE being charged $30+ for going over by $2!!!
Usually it depends on where you are looking. If you are trying to get your report from an independent site like www.freecreditreport.com or www.truecredit.com, the reason they ask is they give you your reports and you are now on their monthly service to monitor your reports. The best thing to do is go to each reporting company (Equifax, Transunion, or your state page and search for free credit report to take you to the government page which will bypass any CC info). Hope that helps a bit!
The free credit report you are entitled should not ask you for a credit card unless its been less than a year since your last free report. If it does then you are likely not hitting the correct site or its been less than a year.
I've done it both ways, mostly because I get the free one every year and another one every 6 months or so. I tend to use annualcreditreport.com and myfico.com
Hello Andrea, I'm not trying to make an excuse for bad conduct if that's what it was but having been there I can tell you there may have been more to it than you saw or knew. From your vantage point it looked like a cop using his lights and/or siren to make an illegal turn. Perhaps. No one knows but him/her. Or it could have been he/she DID get a high priority call and then moments later was recalled. I cant tell you how many times I've been racing to a scene dodging cars, light and siren going too be recalled. At that point it all looks exactly like what you saw. It's an everyday situation in polce work and the officer doesnt have the liberty to come back to the coffee shop to explain what happen to curious onlookers. Next time your talking with an officer ask him how often that situation has happened to him/her. Hope this helps. Every day above Ground is a great day!
Sorry Severain but there is just NO WAY flicking your lights ever made the lights change. My guess it was wishfull thinking by a teen with nothing better to do in a small town where the lights "gotta change sometime" Read the facts at www.mirt.com . The strobes used by emergency personell to "trip" the lights operate " high priority" at 14 hertz. Some mass transit lines use "low priority" at 10 hertz which actually "hold" an already green light. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make headlights flash at that rate. cant be done. It is and will always remain a myth. Sorry buddy.
I just thought of this. It seems like a good idea, but I haven't tried it yet. Using a Q-Tip as an applicator should be a good way to pinpoint a specific scratch.
Novus #2 (a well-known plastic polish) is a little harsh and leaves tiny scratches. It uses silica as an abrasive, which I think is too harsh for this purpose. The milder kind of Bon Ami (the kind that used to come in a square box and is called "Cleaning Powder") will also leave tiny scratches, though I've heard it's good for restoring car windshields. I've had good luck with two different kits made specifically for CD's and DVD's that give you a cloth and some polishing paste. They cost roughly between $5 and $10. One came with tiny amounts of two different strengths of polish, and the other came with a smallish amount of one strength.
Some automotive and metal polishes may work, but I'm not sure of the effects of the solvents many of them contain. You don't want to get funky chemicals onto the upper surface, because that's actually where the information sits. (If you gouge the top surface, you stand a good chance of killing the disc for good.) And beware: the glue in some of those round CD/DVD stick-on labels has been shown to damage that surface over time.
I haven't tried jewelers rouge, which is made from fine particles of iron oxide. What may be also worth trying is the method jewelers use to polish watch crystals.
I am not totally recommending that people not pay their debts.
Most people who are being hounded by creditors and collection agencies probably don't have enough money to pay off all of their debts at this moment. (Or they wouldn't be being hounded by collectors.) In this case, they must prioritize which debts are going to get paid. If something is getting ready to fall of your credit report, then I recommend that this debt be at the bottom on your list of priorities. Let if fall off and focus your energies/efforts/money on more pressing debts. Once you get your finances back on track, you can go back and pay your past bills if that is what is important to you. However, most companies would probably tell you to keep your money. If they didn't really bother you for the money for 7 years, they probably aren't going to reopen your account so that you can pay off a debt they have written off. If you want to purchase a house, you will need to make an attempt to pay off these 7+ year bills so you can get a decent mortgage.
The fact that most items fall off our credit reports after 7 years is a nice provision for people who are trying to get their credit histories back on track. For people who are rebuilding their credit, I think they should take advantage of this provision. Do I think you should rack up debt and avoid creditors for 7 years? No. If you have made mistakes in the past and you're working to clean up your credit, do I think you should take advantage of this provision? Yes.
Re: "...the advisor is paid an annual percentage of all the money they manage (hence if their clients' money grows = more income, and if it plummets = less income)..."
Nora, I could see using a person who's paid based on the increase in a client's assets but not on a percentage of the client's assets. Of course, it would have to be based on some sort of index (Cost of Living?, some index fund?). Then, the question is does the advisor pay the client if the result is negative with regard to the index. Hmmm...
Re #2: Are you suggesting that it's okay not to pay your obligations? Are you recommending that if you've incurred a debt and the creditor (not necessarily a collection agency but just a regular merchant or service provider) has exhausted all means to collect the debt then reported you to the credit bureau, you should ignore the debt? Or am I missing something?
To SB, you shouldn't have to give a cc to get a credit report, just to get the credit score. Go to annualcreditreport.com.
Don't drag in enough for all day, just 1 bottle per person, or less if folks are willing to share, and refill them at the park's water fountains or sinks.
Despite all the parks' policies, we've never been even questioned about drinks and/or snacks.
I'm sorry you are having to go through such a frustrating process! A couple of questions for you. Are you suing the insurance company personally? Do you have a lawyer? Usually what you are describing is a third-party-liability proceeding or "subrogation." This happens when your or your insurance company sues another party because they were at fault. If you are suing, then you are probably suing the other person in the accident. If the other person's insurance is being sued, then I imagine your health insurance company is handling the proceedings?
I have heard of insurance companies refusing to pay because of third party liability, but usually they communicate with the medical provider. Is your health or auto insurance refusing to pay? How much have you been told about the proceeding? The worst case scenerio is you may have to pay something on the bill, and then when the settlement comes in, you can claim against it with what you have had to pay out-of-pocket.
Bottom line is that your insurance company really should be communicating these things with you.
Last summer I got home from a grocery shopping trip to find that everything in my refrigerator was warm. I panicked and checked to make sure the outlet was working. It was. I called the landlord to report that my fridge wasn't working.
When the landlord got there, he discovered that the refrigerator had been turned OFF by my son!
I might have to look into a fridge alarm and/or safety lock!
WHAT DID YOU SAY? : )
must only be american batteries, i opened energizer battery bought in ireland n just battery acid etc!!
Where I live (in southern spain), we have hard water, full of salts, which makes our pipes to be full of problems, and doesn't help on drinking tap water. That's why we almost all drink bottled water.
Anyway, after reading this thread, I'm thinking on the possibilities of filters to drink tap water, as well as a solution for our pipes. Any tip on this is welcome!
What I'm concerned about is that about 3 or 4 years ago, bottled water was purely spring water, but now many big companies had bought most of local small companies, and the water quality became lower (or different) and its taste it's not the same.
Also,to say that in some supermarkets bottled water became as cheap as 0,26 euro cents for a 1,5 liters, but you have to carry it al along the way, and at least in the small town I live, there's no PET container to recycle the bottles.
One of the central issues in the book was that being "wealthy" is defined by ones spending level, not the total net worth. I know some people who are happily retired from traditional work on $40,000 per year of investment income from a 600,000 portfolio. And I know others living month to month on $2,000,000 per year- they just keep raising their spending and perceived "needs".
If a person can keep their spending from growing as their assets grow, in a while their income from the assets will fund their needs. The freedom of that is exhilerating, as the person can pursue what they wish, or keep the job knowing they do not need it for money and are doing it for the right reasons.
@ScottMGS: Good ideas. In regards to whether the advisor pays out, I urge you to consider that the advisor is investing a lot more energy/time/etc in the client relationship than simply investing assets. (As I alluded to, there is much more to financial planning than investing, and as the quarterback the financial planner has no small job). And my opinion is that they need to be compensated for it somehow, and not penalized if the markets tank which is ultimately out of their control. (I don't care how good you are, you can't predict and avoid market corrections every time).
All of this is of course said assuming the advisor isn't negligent in the investment management and more-or-less responsible for the dip in the portfolio.
@JH -- most credit card companies will not reopen accounts that they have "charged-off" or "written-off". However, it never hurts to ask, right? Write them a letter telling them you would like to pay. If they accept your offer, make sure you pay them. If they send you a letter denying your offer, keep that letter. You can show potential creditors that you tried to make good on the debt, but that they wouldn't accept your money. Additionally, every consumer is allowed to place a 100 word statement on their credit report. Submit a statement saying, "I tried to pay-off accounts X, Y, and Z. They turned down my offer. Please contact me for further documentation."
@Guest -- talk to your collections agent and explain the situation. Send them any documentation you might have detailing your pursuit of money from the other insurance company. They might delay collections for a bit. If it turns out you do have to pay the debt, ask them for a debt payment plan that works for your budget.
Also, have you tried applying for or asking for financial aid from your hospital? I wrote a great article about this topic a few weeks ago. If the hospital tells you that they can't help you because the account is in collections, you can nicely ask them to pull the account out of collections. Yes, they can pull an account out of collections.
In the end, Andrea's right...you might to consult an lawyer regarding your claim.
Good Luck.
I have several credit card bills that are in default (some over two years) but I would like to make restitution. Is there a way to do this in the proper manner? Should I contact them to show that I would like to pay them back. Many of them are closed out (write-off).
Guest, I really don't know what to tell you. Do you have a lawyer assisting you in your settlement?
In addition to my unneeded radiator which I paid for the part and installation... here are two other incidents I recall.
1. Left audio speaker stopped working. They wanted over $1000 to replace the amplifier. Turned out to be just bad wires. I paid $0 to get it fixed.
2. Left light wiper lost its spring. They wanted an inexorbant amount of money to have the whole wiper arm replaced. I went to Canadian Tire and paid $0.50 and installed the missing spring myself.
And yes, they charge you to diagnose these problems.
It should be criminal!
Here's a question...
I am being sent to collections over medical bills from an accident that I was involved in. I was not at fault in the accident and am fighting for a settlement with the other insurance company for them to pay my medical bills. What should I do? I've talked to the billing department at the hospital, and they put a hold on my bills for a while, but they've obviously sent me to collections since then.
The accident occurred in February. My credit is in good standing otherwise, but I cannot afford to pay these medical bills and my health insurance company will not pay them. The fight with the insurance company seems like it may last at least a few more months. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
"They're more than happy to charge me $35 if I go into the red by one cent (which happened by the way...in Britain it is still illegal to charge a fee more than the amount you went overdrawn by, although most people don't know that),"
i like that, wish it were the same in the U.S., i HATE being charged $30+ for going over by $2!!!
We have added your contribution! You have a great blog there!
Usually it depends on where you are looking. If you are trying to get your report from an independent site like www.freecreditreport.com or www.truecredit.com, the reason they ask is they give you your reports and you are now on their monthly service to monitor your reports. The best thing to do is go to each reporting company (Equifax, Transunion, or your state page and search for free credit report to take you to the government page which will bypass any CC info). Hope that helps a bit!
The free credit report you are entitled should not ask you for a credit card unless its been less than a year since your last free report. If it does then you are likely not hitting the correct site or its been less than a year.
I've done it both ways, mostly because I get the free one every year and another one every 6 months or so. I tend to use annualcreditreport.com and myfico.com
Luck!
Well get excited, because you were also featured in Diary of a Conservationist on Aug. 23. Okay, I don't have too many readers yet : )
Hello Andrea, I'm not trying to make an excuse for bad conduct if that's what it was but having been there I can tell you there may have been more to it than you saw or knew. From your vantage point it looked like a cop using his lights and/or siren to make an illegal turn. Perhaps. No one knows but him/her. Or it could have been he/she DID get a high priority call and then moments later was recalled. I cant tell you how many times I've been racing to a scene dodging cars, light and siren going too be recalled. At that point it all looks exactly like what you saw. It's an everyday situation in polce work and the officer doesnt have the liberty to come back to the coffee shop to explain what happen to curious onlookers. Next time your talking with an officer ask him how often that situation has happened to him/her. Hope this helps. Every day above Ground is a great day!
Sorry Severain but there is just NO WAY flicking your lights ever made the lights change. My guess it was wishfull thinking by a teen with nothing better to do in a small town where the lights "gotta change sometime" Read the facts at www.mirt.com . The strobes used by emergency personell to "trip" the lights operate " high priority" at 14 hertz. Some mass transit lines use "low priority" at 10 hertz which actually "hold" an already green light. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make headlights flash at that rate. cant be done. It is and will always remain a myth. Sorry buddy.
I just thought of this. It seems like a good idea, but I haven't tried it yet. Using a Q-Tip as an applicator should be a good way to pinpoint a specific scratch.
Novus #2 (a well-known plastic polish) is a little harsh and leaves tiny scratches. It uses silica as an abrasive, which I think is too harsh for this purpose. The milder kind of Bon Ami (the kind that used to come in a square box and is called "Cleaning Powder") will also leave tiny scratches, though I've heard it's good for restoring car windshields. I've had good luck with two different kits made specifically for CD's and DVD's that give you a cloth and some polishing paste. They cost roughly between $5 and $10. One came with tiny amounts of two different strengths of polish, and the other came with a smallish amount of one strength.
Some automotive and metal polishes may work, but I'm not sure of the effects of the solvents many of them contain. You don't want to get funky chemicals onto the upper surface, because that's actually where the information sits. (If you gouge the top surface, you stand a good chance of killing the disc for good.) And beware: the glue in some of those round CD/DVD stick-on labels has been shown to damage that surface over time.
I haven't tried jewelers rouge, which is made from fine particles of iron oxide. What may be also worth trying is the method jewelers use to polish watch crystals.
Julie, thanks for the question.
I am not totally recommending that people not pay their debts.
Most people who are being hounded by creditors and collection agencies probably don't have enough money to pay off all of their debts at this moment. (Or they wouldn't be being hounded by collectors.) In this case, they must prioritize which debts are going to get paid. If something is getting ready to fall of your credit report, then I recommend that this debt be at the bottom on your list of priorities. Let if fall off and focus your energies/efforts/money on more pressing debts. Once you get your finances back on track, you can go back and pay your past bills if that is what is important to you. However, most companies would probably tell you to keep your money. If they didn't really bother you for the money for 7 years, they probably aren't going to reopen your account so that you can pay off a debt they have written off. If you want to purchase a house, you will need to make an attempt to pay off these 7+ year bills so you can get a decent mortgage.
The fact that most items fall off our credit reports after 7 years is a nice provision for people who are trying to get their credit histories back on track. For people who are rebuilding their credit, I think they should take advantage of this provision. Do I think you should rack up debt and avoid creditors for 7 years? No. If you have made mistakes in the past and you're working to clean up your credit, do I think you should take advantage of this provision? Yes.
Hope that provides some clarification!
Re: "...the advisor is paid an annual percentage of all the money they manage (hence if their clients' money grows = more income, and if it plummets = less income)..."
Nora, I could see using a person who's paid based on the increase in a client's assets but not on a percentage of the client's assets. Of course, it would have to be based on some sort of index (Cost of Living?, some index fund?). Then, the question is does the advisor pay the client if the result is negative with regard to the index. Hmmm...
Re #2: Are you suggesting that it's okay not to pay your obligations? Are you recommending that if you've incurred a debt and the creditor (not necessarily a collection agency but just a regular merchant or service provider) has exhausted all means to collect the debt then reported you to the credit bureau, you should ignore the debt? Or am I missing something?
To SB, you shouldn't have to give a cc to get a credit report, just to get the credit score. Go to annualcreditreport.com.