USAA Now shares 2nd place in our wedding Bank Battle!

That's right, miraculously we're STILL getting wedding checks sent our way :) I guess that "1 year to give a gift" rule is pretty common these days. Not that i really care one way or the other, i just find it pretty funny. This rule doesn't apply to birthdays, graduation,or Christmas so why weddings?

I asked a couple friends but no luck, they all came back pretty much with "i dunno, it's just the way it is". Okay, so let's just say that's the deal. Why do it though? I mean, it takes a lot of time to make arrangements to go to the wedding, get a hotel (if needed), and schedule your family's life around it cuz of the time it consumes, so the present part should be the easy part, right?

The only thing i can think of is that perhaps it just gets forgotten w/ all this other stuff going on. Or it's just laziness :) I've never sent a late gift myself, but if i did it would totally come down to the lazy factor. But enough of this talk, my word vomit is going wayyyy off track now.

The reason for this post is to give an update on our newest check contenders in our Bank Battle! So here they are:

• USAA moves up a notch to 2nd place with a $200'er (holler)
• Commerce Bank brings in another $50.00
• And PNC makes it a 3-way tie for first, w/ another respectable $100.00!

Ooh, and i almost forgot about the BEST gift ever! A $500 Savings Bond :) Similar to the others in my safe, it's a "Patriot Bond" (EE) worth $250 at the present time, which will work it's way up over the years. I love it! (For more info on bonds, check out the snazzy Treasurydirect.gov site.)

There's just something about those little guys that bring absolute joy to my life. I think it's the whole "you can watch me grow, but you can't spend me!" thing. Fine by me, my other bonds will now have an extra friend to play with. No shame in that game!

So there you have it, our old cash gift total worked it's way up from $6,000 to $6,350, and USAA is battling Navy Federal for the 2nd place title...will it end here? Only time, and laziness, will tell ;)

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Wachovia, Bank of America, & PNC are really that popular?

POOP! What about my USAA? According to all of the wedding checks we got from our friends and family, it only ranks in 5th place :( Turns out most of them prefer Wachovia, Bank of America, and PNC. Oh well, at least we got some extra $$$ to help start our married lives, right?!

This is decidedly a GOOD thing, as our wedding budget had finally burst at the seams, and it's now time to clean it all up ;)

So, being the big dork that i am, i took some time to sort through all of our cash gifts and analyzed the bajesus out of 'em. It's just sooo fun, i love it! Plus, what else do i have to do on Friday the 13th? haha... Chew on these fancy facts:

After counting it all up, we were given a total of about $6,000 $6,350!
- $700 of them were pure cashy cash
- $5,300 $5,650 of them were old fashioned checks.

Here are how the amounts broke down:
- $1,000 was the biggest gift (holler)
- $40 was the smallest gift
- $138 was the average gift

And these are the banks the checks came from (most popular to least):
- 5 @ Wachovia Bank
- 5 @ Bank of America
- 4 5@ PNC Bank
- 3 @ Navy Federal Credit Union
- 2 3 @ USAA Federal Savings Bank (the best e-v-e-r!)
- 2 @ Citibank
- 1 2 @ Commerce Bank
- 1 @ Chase
- 1 @ BB&T
- 1 @ SunTrust
- 1 @ Hudson United Bank
- 1 @ Harleysville National Bank
- 1 @ Bank Fund Staff Federal Credit Union

Wasn't that fun? No? Well you are just too cool aren't ya ;) I certainly enjoyed breaking it all down - especially when it came to banking. There are so many options out there, i wonder what made them choose their specific one. I actually thought we'd have more "military" related banks than the 5 we did (USAA & Navy Federal), so that was interesting.

All i know is, as soon as these bad boys clear (i like to use that term "bad boys" don't i?) we're paying off each and every credit card, and throwing the rest in our House Savings! Bow chicka wa wa!

*Updated: 6-20-08

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I Did It - My first credit card balance transfer!

How exciting is that? Okay, well not really i suppose, but being a man who likes doing new things it sure stimulated my brain ;) There's a whole world out there dedicated to credit card xfers, and it's nice to have a little better understanding of it all.

As you can imagine, there are a LOT of variables that take place throughout this process, so here's a quick Q&A session w/ myself to shed some more light (just like my interview! haha...):

1. Why did you have to xfer a credit card balance? Well, GOOD QUESTION! We haven't yet paid off our entire balance for our new iMac we picked up 6 months ago, and up until now the card was set at 0% interest ;) Had to skip out before it went up to 18%!!!
   
2. How MUCH did you xfer? $796.15. We throw $200 against both of our credit card balances each month until they are paid off, but 6 months wasn't enough time for this guy. But it's better than the $1500 it was once at.
   
3. And finally, did you sign up with one of those rock star 0% cards you recently posted about? NOPE. Remember i'm too scared to mess up on it all? haha... it's actually kinda sad as this amount would have been perfect to try it out. I just have too much stuff going on thought right now to spend the time and make sure i do it 100% perfectly.
   

I ended up going with USAA to do it (shocker). I can't help it, they were super helpful over the phone, they had a special 3% rate going on, and all in all i just felt a million times safer with them. I'm just a loyal dog, what can i say ;)

We'll have it paid off within the next few months, so it'll just cost us a few dollars by the time it's done. Big woop - i'd pay that for a healthy mind anytime.

AND, the best part? It literally took me 4 minutes to set it all up - all online! That's some convenience for you. And when i was finished, they hooked me up with some sexy reminders so ill know exactly what's going on:

• Balance transfers are processed as cash advances according to the terms of the Credit Card Agreement and will begin accruing finance charges from the date of posting until the balance is paid in full. (good to know)
  
• Balance transfers requested today will not immediately appear on your account balance. (check)
  
• USAA will process your balance transfer request within 5-7 business days. (yeah, well they have have been eating their Wheaties cuz they had that junk processed in TWO business days! talk about effective.)
  
• You should continue to make your monthly payments to each creditor as long as there is an unpaid balance. (smart)
  
• **Transferring the entire balance will not automatically close your other account. If you want to close the account you will need to contact the issuer directly. (Best piece of advice yet)**
  
• Transferring a balance that contains disputed purchases or other charges may forfeit the dispute rights related to those transactions. (sure....never dealt w/ any "disputed" charges anyways)
  

So, I am one happy puppy. I got to check this item off the list, and got a nifty litte post out of it at the same time :) Not too shabby there USAA - have any job openings for me yet?

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What's in your wallet?

Or in my case, my money clip! I always enjoy these super personal questions. The idea of peering into someone else's life is just so incredibly interesting. It's not like i wanna find out some dirty little secrets or anything, although that would make for a juicy post! haha...but it's more for the feeling that we're all alike on some level. We all carry wallets, purses, money clips, etc, and we all have our own methods and reasoning for doing so.

I was reminded of this curiosity when i came across a post by Canadian Saver covering the simple question: what's in your wallet?

Here's what i pimp:
1) USAA Rewards MasterCard.....for personal spending
2) USAA Platinum Rewards MasterCard.....for all house related items
3) USAA Debit MasterCard.....only used to take out $ from atms (FREE by the way through USAA! any one, anywhere.)
4) Work swipe card thingie.....allows me to get into work...unfortunately.
5) Driver's License.....ALWAYS on me 100% of time cuz ya never know.
6) $28 buckaroos.....oh crap, make that $25! i've been forgetting to put my daily dollars into my cup. Cash is the one thing i continuously get on my friends for. I don't mind lending it, or buying a friend lunch every now and then, but it's really really important for safety reasons! I believe you should always have at LEAST $5-$10 on you at all times...you can't use a credit card for everything.

That's it! i know it's not as exciting as one would hope, but i'm a simple man :) I used to use a wallet but it would collect soooooo much junk. And these days w/ the whole "phone # as your rewards card" at grocery stores, i don't need to hang on to those crazy giant/safeway cards anymore. The only thing i miss having is a picture or two, but these days i can just log onto mySpace and see my crazy friends.

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Why USAA is my very best friend, and I heart them like Woah!

Ever since I was a teen I can remember having a USAA account for car insurance. I never really cared all too much back then, (i wasn't even paying the bills!) but NOW's a whole different story. I am completely proud to use USAA today, and thankful beyond words to my parents for hooking me up.

Why do I heart them so much? Well, they have mad offerings from almost every account imaginable! AND they're a credit union, so their rates are always up in the top.

Do you wanna guess how many accounts I have w/ them now? 12!

Here's all that I have through them:
- Auto Insurance
- Personal Property Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Personal Checking account
- Personal Savings account
- House Checking account *new!
- House Savings account *new!
- Credit card #1 (for personal stuff)
- Credit card #2 (for house stuff)
- Roth IRA
- Home Equity Line of Credit (heloc)
- Money Market account! Newest one as of Monday, to be used as my Emergency Fund.

At this rate, i might as well WORK for them :) The best thing about it all, is that I can log into my online account and see all accounts on one page! This may not sound like a big thing, but i gotta tell you it has helped me tackle my budget a lot easier.

Then we have my favorite aspect, their Customer Service. I've been, and worked, around the block a few times to know when the service is a plus, or a big fat disgrace. USAA's service is A+, and they have plenty of awards to prove it. You rarely have to wait long to get a real live person on the phone (what a concept!), and once you do they are super friendly and actually ON YOUR SIDE. I can't tell you the number of times i've called w/ questions or for general advice, and they've been nothing but professional and competent.

I recently rang them up to check on a pending transaction, and not only did they give me clear and concise answers, but they looked at my accounts and hooked me up w/ a little financial advice that i cold actually use! Remember how i'm trying to get my Emergency Fund back up and running? Well...I have been putting the $ into my savings account and was planning on hosting it there, but USAA recommended using a Money Market account for my Emergency Fund. They have a "Financial Advice" dept. which advised me of the easy online deposits, unlimited withdrawals (unlike savings), and currently the 3.35% yield (also unlike savings). How awesome is that?

They very well could have answered my original question and quickly got me off the phone like any other place...cough cough COMCAST..cough cough...DMV...haha... but they didn't. Their service reps are knowledgeable and intuitive when "selling" their other services. But more importantly, they make my life easier.

USAA, will you marry me?

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