Other posts related to bank
One Step Closer to Financial Independence
Lincoln Adams | February 20, 2009 @ 9:15 amI paid off my car loan! 
2 down, 1 to go! I paid off my credit card last July, so all the remains now is my college loan, which at my current pace should be paid off this 4th of July, of all days. 
I learned a few things today too. For one, withdrawing a few hundred bucks from an ATM machine is not quite as easy as you might think. My tax return was finally deposited into my account yesterday, but the account that held my car loan was with a different bank, so I needed to deposit part of my tax return into that account so I could pay off my loan in its entirety. I figured no problem though, I’ll just hit up the ATM for a few hundred and be on my way.
First I went to the local gas station where their ATM doesn’t give me lame surcharges. I cheerily walked in, took out my card and…
“Out of Service. Please come back another time.”
Of course…
So I went to a 7-11 and used the ATM there.
“Withdrawal request exceeds allotted funds. Please try again.”
For the love of… ok, I’m sure by now you’re thinking why I didn’t just go to my bank directly and make the withdrawal there. The bank was 20 miles away, and a trip there and back would lose me an hour at least. By the time I got to the other bank holding my car loan it’d be closed, and I REALLY wanted to get this over with now.
So I took the maximum amount of cash the ATM could dish out, which was $400, then drove to another ATM. This time I could only withdraw $100. I withdrew that amount, then swiped my card again to make another withdrawal.
“We’re sorry, you have exceeded the daily limit of withdrawals that can be made. Please try again tomorrow.”
Huh? 
I tried it again.
“We’re sorry, you have exceeded the daily limit of withdrawals that can be made. Please try again tomorrow.”
I just stood there, trying to figure out what to do next. I was still a $100 short, and I needed to find some other way to get it. Ooooh I know, I’ll use my credit card! I could pay the difference when I got home too. Easy peachy! So I swiped my credit card.
“Please enter your pin number.”
Pin number? Oh crap. I had forgotten what it was. Let’s see, I think it was 1-2-3-4.
“Incorrect PIN number. Please try again.”
@#$%^!!!
Ok, ok, let me think here, how else can I get cash without using the ATM… … …
Cashbacks!!
I quickly ran into another 7-11 and bought myself coffee. Swiped my card at the register and waited for the cashback screen to show up:
“Cashback amount?”
I inputted $100, then waited, confident and enjoying my coffee.
“You may only withdraw a maximum of $10.”
Dude… why?
“Is everything alright, sir?”
“Could I like, get some money from your register?”
The cashier stood there wide-eyed.
“No no no, I mean the cashback here only goes up to, you know… uh, I didn’t mean…, I’ll just take my coffee now.” I quickly walked out.
Alright, what now… I vaguely remembered being able to get more than $40 cashback from the supermarket, so I figured my best bet would be there. I drove a few miles to a nice big honking supermarket and went inside.
Only one thing was going to make all this aggravation worth it. Bagels! I bought myself a few whole wheats and some cappy ham, then quickly went to the self check-out. Swiped the card again, said a little prayer and inputted $100.
“Card Approved.”
YES! Finally! The machine started dispensing my $100… in 5 dollar bills, and of course, it had to be one of those nuclear powered cash dispensers where gobs of 5 dollar bills went flying out like a winning slot machine. I frantically picked up the cash, counted it to make sure I had it all, then hauled heinie out of there.
At long last, after what had to be 5 or 6 stops (I lost count) of putting together the cash I needed, I stopped by my bank and proudly slapped down the money.
“I’d like to pay off my car loan please.” I smiled broadly.
They gave me a receipt and that was it. I got into my beautiful ride and took a deep breath.
“Finally, you’re all mine.” I turned the ignition and sighed happily.
*click*
Ha, just kidding, it started up fine. 
I have to tell you though, during the drive home it seemed like the whole world was literally aiming at my car, almost as if they all knew it had just been paid off too. Oy.
But finally, FINALLY, this headache was now over with, and with all that behind me my college loan was the only thing left that stood between me and becoming completely debt free.
I can’t wait! 
Tags: atm machine, bank, car loan, cash, cashback, college loan, credit card, debt, financial, independence, money, supermarket, tax return
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log
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Who owes who on Wall Street?
Lincoln Adams | September 25, 2008 @ 5:56 pmI’m basically a schnook when it comes to money, not really understanding what went down on Wall Street other than the sensible fact that if you loan massive amounts of money to people with poor credit, bad things tend to happen.
My boy Casey though does a great job of writing a primer on how the banks screwed us over:
I recently used this example explaining things to a friend of mine. Just to warn you, this is a very simplistic view of how the banking and monetary systems work, but it’s basically the way it goes. Let’s say you have $100,000, your life savings. You go put it in the bank to earn some interest. The bank says they’ll pay you 3%. The next day, Jim Bob walks into the bank, and requests a loan for $100,000, to buy a house. Jim Bob has only mediocre credit. But the housing market has been so great, the bank gets greedy and says, “Hey! He may not be able to pay, but then we’ll just sell the house for a 25% profit! Everybody wins!” The bank tells Jim Bob he’ll have to pay 6% interest on the loan. He agrees, and the bank gives him your $100,000, and he goes and buys the house. Here’s the current situation. Jim Bob pays 6% annually on the loan. The bank pays you 3% on your deposit. The bank gets the difference, 3%, as profit. That’s how they make their money.
Now, Jim Bob was stupid, and got a variable rate mortgage…so as interest rates go back up, his payments begin to go up too. Jim Bob can’t seem to get enough money to pay his bills, so he defaults on his loan. The bank repossesses his home. Poor Jim Bob. But wait… the bank now has lost the income it was getting from Jim Bob, but they still have to pay you 3% on your money. They try to sell the house, in order to get your money back, but the real estate prices have dropped, instead of rising, so they can’t get your full $100,000 back. They can only get $80,000. In the meantime, you’ve been watching the news, and decide that you don’t want to keep your money in the bank, because you’re scared it will go under . . . and you’ve got a little over the $100,000 FDIC limit in there now, so you better move quick. The bank only has $80,000 of your money left, so they have to take $20,000 of their own money (or borrow it from another bank) in order to pay you all they owe you. Imagine this happening nationwide, and you have what happened last Wednesday night. The economic system freezes up . . . people won’t lend money to the banks, because they’re concerned about them collapsing, and the banks don’t have enough cash to pay out to their depositors.
Tags: bank, banking, banks, cash, credit, FDIC, home, housing, housing market, interest, monetary systems, money, mortgage, people, primer, Wall Street
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Can I like, skip this week?
Lincoln Adams | September 17, 2007 @ 8:00 amMan, so much to do, so little time to do it. Have to work early this week, get some balloons, a card and a gift together for some relatives’ wedding anniversary, get fitted for my new hearing aids, get my old hearing aids repaired, add my parent’s name to my bank account, create landing pages for my affiliate programs, purchase the SEOBook and give it a good read, and finally look around for some original shots I can take with my camera that might actually pass inspection with those anal microstock agencies.
I’m the kinda guy where if I have too many things on my mind, I tend to go….what’s the word… bat poopoo nutty. It’s a fact of life, but still, I HATE it when I have so many projects and errands I need to keep track of and run.
Oh well… gotta be a man about this… gotta be a man…
…Mommy please hold me.
Tags: affiliate programs, aids, anniversary, balloons, bank, busy, errands, fact of life, gifts, hearing aids, job, little time, microstock, mommy, projects, relatives, seobook, wedding anniversary, week
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log
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