I just had a wonderful experience, as wonderful as dealing with a car repair can be. The auto shop that I sent my car to for a diagnostic test actually left me with good feelings despite the fact they told me I needed a new engine. So when I initially contacted the shop they told me the test would be over a hundred dollars. What was I charged? A cool 52 bucks with a written assessment of what was needed. If you are like me, you probably don’t have much faith in auto repair shops. But anytime you can walk away with an assessment, not be sweated about making an immediate decision and can even leave the car for over a week without it being the end of the world, well that is an auto shop I can learn to love. Thanks Chicago Import Services for renewing my faith in mechanics.
Archive for the ‘The Necessities’ Category
Mechanic Needed
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010Just A Question
Monday, June 1st, 2009Why is it that if as a consumer you “shop” around for credit you reduce you credit score? Aren’t we supposed to have the ability to make choices and seek out the best alternative for ourselves? If so, then why are we being penalized for exercising that choice? Just another system that needs some revamping.
Stand By Me
Sunday, May 31st, 2009In case you haven’t noticed I am admittedly bitter about financial institutions and their ability to question every aspect of your life while feeling no need to disclose anything. And after having been in a situation where credit denial became a major problem, (I explain more about that in What We’re About under Pages on this blog), that couldn’t be properly addressed because of the purported ambiguity, I’m wondering why is it that when you are denied credit the explanation is vague. But then I realize who we’re dealing with. It’s the cover your butts crowd, financial institutions. Well I guess if I’m being unbiased businesses in general are always concerned about protecting themselves and perhaps as a by product each other. So that vague information was supplied purposely. The problem is this, if you ever have to address an issue that results in your inability to qualify for credit because of something specific in your credit report, the vague information supplied about your denial doesn’t help. Irrespective of what the banker or whoever tells you, that letter will be the sticking point and it isn’t enough. When credit carries so much weight in an individuals ability to manage their life, once you’ve gone through the process of gathering every detail about yourself, you deserve a fully outlined explanation not a generic form letter of sorts about why you are “unworthy” of credit. Spell it out, apparently it’s necessary.
Rate This
Monday, April 27th, 2009Credit is a tricky thing. You need it for almost everything. From the little conveniences like car rentals to major milestones like home ownership and not to mention that credit now has a determination in your employability. Give me a break. Okay so I understand someone who may have had financial issues in the past may be a bit more of a risk financially than someone who has not but hitting people with excessive fees, outrageous interest rates and lack of employment doesn’t really seem to promote payment. An unforseen financial issue was probably the culprit for the “default” initially anyway. Taking the extra from people ultimately can’t be good for anyone. And allowing businesses to use this scoring system to have an impact on accounts that have been handled properly, don’t raise my car insurance rate because I was late on my phone bill, is really kicking you when your down. Yet these scores affect everything. I don’t know many people who don’t want to pay their bills, although I am sure there is percentage of consumers who fall into that category, I just don’t think that the majority of people are planning on consuming without any thought of how they will pay. So I guess I’m saying that to say that penalizing the broke, unproven or hard times crowd in every possible way conceivable just doesn’t seem right. Sounds more like a legalized hit to the knees.