If you’re a regular reader of Credit Card Forum blog, you may have noticed there have not been any posts for over a week. The reason being I’ve had [and still have] swine flu and haven’t had the energy to be on the computer. So despite it being only September, be warned if you are in Southern California. I am a healthy younger individual that washes my hands and uses hand sanitizer religiously, but apparently it didn’t do any good.

However the problem is not that I have swine flu… the problem is that I don’t have insurance.

And no, it’s not because I haven’t tried to get insurance. In fact, I can’t even tell you how much time I spent in 2008 trying to purchase insurance once I became self-employed. However, I was repeatedly denied underwriting for ridiculous reasons. The endless phone calls, faxes, and letters to dispute their decision did no good, and you won’t believe just how unethical Blue Shield was during the process, which started with their rejection letter…

Hmm… so what do you think this unacceptable “criteria” could be? It must be something really awful, right?

Well getting to the bottom of this was almost impossible. You see, they list no phone numbers on this letter… once they reject you they don’t want to hear from you. Whether their reason is valid or not apparently doesn’t matter. In fact, they don’t even put their actual physical address on the letter!

Instead they put this obscure post office box address at the very bottom corner…

…and yeah that’s right, they even have to put this little P.O. box in a hard-to-read light gray font. Imagine if I was older and had vision problems?

And you may be wondering who the wonderful individual is there that is making decisions like this which are virtually life and death for some people? Well, they’re not exactly transparent in telling you that either…

Don’t ya just love that signature… a squiggly line resembling an “n” that took a whole 10 nanoseconds to scribble down. I wonder if my buddy David was as thorough going through my medical records as he was signing his name?

After a bit of legwork, I located their phone number through Google and gave them a call…

Operator: Blue Shield
Me: Hi can I please speak to David L. in underwriting?
Operator: I need a last name to connect you.
Me: Your letter didn’t mention his last name.
Operator: Then I can’t connect you. [CLICK]

Like I said, they really don’t want to talk to you! So I turned back to Google and started doing queries like “David L”+ “Blue Shield of California” hoping to track down who this guy was so I could talk to him. No luck.

So I hit the phones again and again, trying to get through to either David himself or just the underwriting department. You would think it would be a right – not a privilege – to at least speak to them, right? Nope! Time after time, the operators gave me the same rude answer, which in a nutshell was “You’re denied. Your problem, not ours. Tough luck. Don’t contact us.”

Then it finally dawned on me… if this guy is an insurance underwriter, he has to be (1) licensed by the state, and (2) possibly a member of one or more of the insurance underwriters associations.

By searching for his first name and last initial, I was able to locate who he was through the National Association of Health Underwriters website. However I got extremely lucky here, because this is an optional organization that he just happened to be a member of. You aren’t going to find everyone in this profession listed.

Once I had his last name, I now had the ability to call! So I gave them a ring, dropped his full name, and they patched me through. The first few times I got his voicemail, but eventually I finally got to to talk to him.

First he claimed I was denied because of an auto accident I was in long ago. However, that excuse didn’t quite work. You see that accident happened in Michigan years ago, the only state which gives unlimited medical coverage to auto accident victims insured in their state (and of course, the accident has to occur there, too). They pay 100% of all medical care – anywhere, any doctor, any time – for treatment resulting from accident injuries… for your entire life!

During my application process with Blue Shield, I even submitted an official document certifying this exclusion. Well, David the underwriter apparently must have not gotten that memo during his decision. But either way, he stood firm. He cited other medical history as a cause for denial…

That’s right folks. Pimples.

But it gets worse…

This is not even referencing a current acne problem. I haven’t had a zit in years! Rather, they’re talking about normal teen acne from many years ago. So attention parents: if your child has a pimple, do NOT tell the doctor or take him to the dermatologist to get a prescription for face wash. Because if you do, your son or daughter will “exceed underwriting acceptance criteria” when they’re an adult!

If you support health care reform and agree that having pimples as a teen shouldn’t disqualify you for insurance as an adult, please link to my story in your blog and help spread the word!

Thanks,
Mike

When the talking heads spout about personal finance, they often portray Americans as the only ones that have problems with spending and debt. Make no mistake, everyone one is guilty to one degree or another of somethings makes financial decisions that may not be the smartest. But whether it’s problems we bring on ourselves, our problems outside of our control like a layoff, we’re not the only ones with debt issues right now.

The People’s Bank of China recently issued its second quarterly report on “payment system perspective.” (Here’s the link to it, but unless you can read Mandarin Chinese, it won’t be of any use to you- http://www.pbc.gov.cn/detail.asp?col=100&id=3347). And lo and behold, what does it tell us? That payments 6 months or more past due is up a staggering 131% from the same time last year!

How many credit cards are in China? There are over 163,000,000. The number of total cards in the country has been growing at astronomically high double digit rates, which we previously highlighted in post from March about China’s card usage.

So do we have some credit problems of our own? As Sarah Palin would say, “You betchya!” But, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too hard, because we’re not the only ones in deep doo-doo. And while the Chinese are profiting left and right off of American consumers selling us [cough] crap [clears throat] I mean, consumer durables, we have quite a few inventions the good ol’ USA is using to profit off of their growth… two of them being the payment processing networks Visa and MasterCard! (And because they only process payments and don’t lend money, they’re not the ones taking the hit.)

There’s been a big backlash lately against the credit card industry for terms and conditions which are just too complicated. But is the new BankAmericard Basic Visa – which touts a one page TOS – actually a better deal or just clever marketing?

The Basics about “Basic”
Bank of America will be launching the Basic card on Thursday. The selling point is, well… it’s basic! The terms of the service agreement is only one page long. It has the same APR for everything – purchases, transfers, and cash advances. This interest rate is a fixed number of percentage points above the prime rate. They say they will never change the rate, even if your credit goes down the drain or there’s late payments.

But Look Closer…
Like they say, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. I applaud B of A for coming out with one card that appears to be more straightforward and transparent to the consumer. But the APR is just way too high to make sense in my opinion. Sure, it’s a “flat” rate, but that is calculated as the prime rate + 14%. At the time I’m writing this, that equals out to be 17.25%. Now that’s not exactly a APR, but then when you take into account the fact that the prime rate is at historical lows, that means during the “good times” you will probably be looking at something around 20% and up.

The Verdict
If you’re someone that doesn’t have the best credit, are chronically late with making payments, and don’t carry a balance, the BankAmericard Basic Visa might benefit you. But for anyone that is responsible with their credit and makes payments on time, this probably just isn’t a good choice. You may not carry a balance now, but the bottom line is in the event of an emergency where you have to carry a balance, you don’t want to be held to an APR of 20%

By the way, if you’re curious as to why BofA is going by the name BankAmericard on this card, check out Bank of America’s Visa card history for the answer.

This is one of those news stories that’s negative, but I try and look at it as a wakeup call to bring positive change.

Based on the responses from over 9,000 cardholders, J.D. Power and Associates has released their annual credit card satisfaction statistics… and the numbers aren’t pretty. On a 1000 point scale (the higher the better) overall satisfaction this year came in at 703. Now this is only the third year they have done this study – the first being 2007 – and the score for 2009 is the all time low so far.

Surprising?
With all the complaints we have been receiving lately on CreditCardForum about interest rate hikes and unfair fees – this bad news actually comes as no surprise to me. This also mirrors the study’s satisfaction score for rates and fees , which was even lower than the overall score, coming in at an embarrassing 603/1000.

A Call For Change
This should be a wake up call for the industry that they need to start serving the customers instead of themselves. I am a firm believer in putting your money where your mouth is. If a bank is treating you unfairly, discontinue your patronage and go elsewhere. Vote with your dollars and show the bad banks they need to treat customers fairly.

Who Ranked Best?
So that brings us to who did J.D. Power rate the best? Who should you be giving your business to? Well American Express and Discover are the two standouts – ranking highest not only in the overall score, but also the sub-topics of rewards, fees/rates, and customer service. Personally I am a huge fan of Amex, but as previously reported on here, due to their recent APR hikes for even the best customers, they’ve dropped down to second place for me. I’m now sticking with Discover as my main card. I really appreciate the fact that their call centers are US-based, it makes things so much easier. Also the cashback from Discover isn’t anything to sneeze at.

Michael shopping for Rolex watches in Beverly Hills

You would think someone worth hundreds of millions or more would have a fantastic credit score, right? Well, think again. As we reported last year, even Warren Buffett’s credit score probably isn’t anything all that great. For both similar and different reasons, Michael Jackson’s credit score is allegedly outrageously low.

According to recent reports by TMZ, Jackson’s “average credit score” was supposedly only around 563 in 2007. How low is that? Well nowadays, you need close to 700 and up just to open a credit card. With a credit score in the 500′s it would be nearly impossible to get an unsecured card or a mortgage.

Asset Rich, Cash Poor
MJ was in a a situation that is extremely common with the ultra-wealthy… asset rich but cash poor. The vast majority of his net worth was tied up in the Sony-ATV publishing trust. Which of course owned the rights to not only songs from The Beatles, but also over 125,000 other songs. It includes songs from Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Eminem, and many other A-list musicians. According to TMZ, Jackson’s ownership in this trust was worth a whopping $1,150,000,000 back in July of 2007. That’s over a billion dollars he could use as collateral for loans, but it’s not cash you can openly spend. Many of the uber-wealthy have the same predicament when their net worth is tied up in a company’s stock.

The Credit Card Life
Just how out of control was Michael Jackson’s spending? The king of pop’s “credit card life” was alleged to be around $2.3 million per month, according to a Fox News Report figure which was supposedly calculated using court statements filed at the time of his divorce from Debbie Rowe. That’s more than $75,000… per day! Could he afford that? Well, during the child molestation trial, a forensic account testified he was spending 20 to 30 million a year more than he earned. With that type of lavish lifestyle, how much do you think his credit card bills were running?

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The Top 5 Most Outrageous Purchases Allegedly Made:

(1) Life-Sized Statues of Peter Pan & Children: Michael reportedly dropped around $6.3 million on bronze statues which portrayed Peter Pan and children playing. These purchases were mentioned in court documents filed by his ex-publicist Raymone Bain.

(2) Irish Castle Extravaganza – almost $320,000 was allegedly spent by Jackson to rent out an Irish castle for a vacation. Set on 1,500 acres, the estate comes complete with personal butlers and private chefs.  (Source: Exposay)

(3) “Freudian Fortune Teller” Contraption: in March of 2009, MJ swung by Soap Plant Wacko/La Luz De Jesus – a Los Angeles pop-culture supermarket – to drop $7,500 on a vintage-styled contraption made by a local artist that would spew out Sigmund Freud phrases every time you dropped a coin into the device. Samples “fortunes” it reportedly would say include “You dream about going outside with your pants on” and “You want to kill your father and sleep with your mother.” (Source: LA Weekly blog)

(4) Medications - According to The Sun – a UK publication – MJ was allegedly spending a cool £30,000 per month ($48,000) on “mountains” of medication. They claimed he was buying narcotic pain relievers, muscle relaxants, and numerous others.

(5) Rhinoplasty Operations - The price of a revision rhinoplasty (a “do over” nose job) from plastic surgeons in the Beverly Hills area will probably set you back around $32k. This includes the price of the surgeon’s fee, the operating room, and the anesthesiologist. However, when it’s complicated reconstructive work that requires cartilage grafts from your ears and ribs (as suspected in MJ’s case) it can cost up to $45,000 for the surgery (according to numerous sources from a Michael Jackson discussion on a popular rhinoplasty forum. Some speculate that Michael Jackson may have had up to 20 or more different revision rhinoplasty operations over the years. At $45,000 per surgery, that would equal out to be $900,000!

Disclaimer: The aforementioned information contained within this blogpost should not be misconstrued as being fact. This information is based on unproven gossip stories, rumors, and speculation from various sources. The credit card image contained within this blogpost is a parodical representation only and protected by the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright law. If you have questions regarding this you can contact us.

Even though we are a US-based company, we get a ton of visitors from the United Kingdom. They come to Credit Card Forum doing research about deals and offers, but unfortunately because we are geared towards the North American audience, we don’t have as many tools specifically geared towards them.

What’s the Difference?
Online credit card calculators for the US audience don’t work for our UK friends. What the difference between them? Well first of all, they use a different currency; British Pounds instead of Dollars. Secondly, cards over there don’t operate the same way they do over here. Things such as minimum payments, balance transfer fees, etc. are all calculated differently. Lastly, the cards offered here are usually not offered across the pond and vice-versa. So using an online calculator from a US site is pretty useless if you live there.

Calculators for UK Residents
Our friends over at the UK-based site CompareAndSave recently came out with some calculators. So if you live in the United Kingdom, these are for you. They have a balance transfer calculator which is used for – well obviously you guessed – comparing and figuring out balance transfer offers. This one is useful too if you want to find out whether a B.T. or a low rate card would be the better way to go. They also have a credit card payoff calculator which can help you figure out how long it will take you to pay off a card. *Please note that these tools won’t give accurate results for US residents.

Other Countries
Live somewhere other than the USA or Great Britain? Well I’m keeping my eye out for calculators for other countries, too. Ideally I would like to put together a resource on here someday that links to calculators for every country.