Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 11:28 am
I have no idea if this is a genuine story but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true…
Note to self: ‘Cancel credit cards prior to death!
Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die! This is so priceless and so easy to see happening – customer service, being what it is today!
A lady died this past January, and ANZ bank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and Then added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00, now is somewhere around $60.00.
A family member placed a call to the ANZ Bank:
Family Member:
‘I am calling to tell you that she died in January.’
ANZ:
‘The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.’
Family Member:
‘Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.’
ANZ:
‘Since it is two months past due, it already has been.’
Family Member:
So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?’
ANZ:
‘Either report her account to the frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!’
Family Member:
‘Do you think God will be mad at her?’
ANZ:
 ‘Excuse me?’
Family Member:
‘Did you just get what I was telling you . . . The part about her being dead?’
ANZ:
‘Sir, you’ll have to speak to my supervisor.’
Supervisor gets on the phone:
Family Member:
‘I’m calling to tell you, she died in January.’
ANZ:
‘The account was never closed and the late fees and ch arges still apply.’
Family Member:
‘You mean you want to collect from her estate?’
ANZ:
(Stammer) ‘Are you her lawyer?’
Family Member:
‘No, I’m her great nephew.’
ANZ:
‘Could you fax us a certificate of death?’
Family Member:
‘Sure.’
( fax number is given )
After they get the fax:
ANZ:
‘Our system just isn’t set up for death. I don’t know what more I can do to help’
Family Member:
‘Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. I don’t think she will care.’
ANZ:
‘Well, the late fees and charges do still apply.’
Family Member:
‘Would you like her new billing address?’
ANZ:
‘That might help.’
Family Member:
‘ Rookwood Memorial Cemetery, 1249 Centenary Rd, Sydney Plot Number 1049.’
ANZ:
‘Sir, that’s a cemetery!’
Family Member:
‘Well, what the **** do you do with dead people on your planet?’
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
In a demonstration of just how concerned the US is about potential financial collapse the FED have just reduced the interest rate by 0.75% to bring the rate to 3.5%
Its a huge drop and it may well encourage business and consumers to feel a bit more optimistic.
It may be significant that this announcement was made before the stock markets opened. It may well be they were scared that after the US markets being closed yesterday for a holiday whilst the rest of the worlds stockmarkets had a mild heart attack there were fears that a huge fall on the markets today to catch up might send the markets spiraling downwards.
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Yesterday had been called Blue Monday. It is the day when, apparently,most people are at their lowest mood for the whole year. The reasons given are varied. Money worries following the christmas spend-fest, disappointment at failing to keep to new year resolutions and some people are depressed because of the winter weather.
So, it is interesting that yesterday turned out to be the day when the stock market saw its biggest falls for years. Perhaps people were feeling a bit down after christmas but it takes more than one seller to change the mood of a market. Individual shares and markets are mood driven. It is feelings, confidence and doubt that drives markets and share values.
Some things change slowly and some change fast but moods tend to build up over a period of time and suddenly that mood overspills and big changes happen. It would seem this is what happened yesterday.
There has been a steady build up of bad news over the last year. It has been very noticable that over the last year commentators talking about house prices have been slowly but steadily changing their view of the market. They started off saying that there were minor problems but the market would be unaffected, then there were bigger problems but the affect would be minor. Finally they are now saying that they expect prices to drop but they don’t expect a big drop in house prices. They may be correct but the next step would be for them to accept that there will be a big drop in house prices. It may happen or it may not but the message has slowly got through to people and the mood has eventually changed.
People have had a wake up call. The consumer led boom has been driven by borrowed money and a lot of that money has been borrowed against these inflated house prices. New cars, tvs and designer handbags have been bought on money borrowed against house values that are now seen to be unsubstainable, at least in the short term.
People are suddenly realising that this money has to be repaid. While house prices continued to rise it may have felt like free money. It was, in the words of the song, ‘Money For Nothing’. It is no longer the case and that money will need to be repaid from income rather than rising house prices.
Repaying debt from income is tough when you originaly got those debts to maintain a lifestyle that you couldn’t really afford from income. There are hard times ahead for a lot of people and this will have a huge impact on business. The boom in coffee houses, restaurants and car showrooms may come to a sudden and shuddering halt. When people don’t have money available to spend the people whose businesses depended on that free spending lifestyle will suffer.
Those who avoided the temptation to spend the expected profits of the housing boom will, however, be well placed to benefit from bargains in every area. A lesson, perhaps, in keeping your head when all around are losing theirs.
