redbird | Entries tagged with financial

I talked to someone at Amalgamated Bank this morning, who told me what I would need to do to take my mother's name off a joint account, then suggested that I set up online banking and then transfer the money to my account at another bank. Setting up online banking on their website was straightforward, and then it popped up a verification step involving sending a text to a cell phone associated with the account. Entirely reasonable, but my phone number isn't on the account.

I called back, and talked to another helpful person. She told me how to add the number: send her an email with "attn: Cheryl" as the subject line, giving them my current phone number and attaching a copy of my ID. I did that, and got an "undeliverable" message from Postmaster@[bank], saying I wasn't authorized to relay messages through the server. So I called back, again, and spoke to someone who told me that oh, yes, it does that, but it does deliver the messages. I got her to check, and they had received my email, but Why?

This still feels like significantly less hassle than sending them a copy of my ID, and an original death certificate. That has to be done by paper mail, not email, because they want an "original" death certificate, which she promised they'd return. (At the moment, those originals are in either New Orleans or London, I'm in Boston, and my brother is on vacation in Ireland.)

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Cattitude took the cat in for her follow-up appointment, and the nurse said she's doing just fine, and cleared her to start eating crunchy things (which include her favorite cat treats). She hadn't been eating much in the previous few days, so they sent Cattitude home with two medications to improve her appetite. The cat has her appetite back, and headed right for the bowl of kibble, and ignored the bowl of wet food. She also informed us at dinner, when offered Greenies, that those were her proper treats, thank you very much. The other cat, Molly, is also pleased that we are once again giving them kibble and the familiar treats; there was no practical way to give Molly kibble and Kaja only wet food, so neither cat got anything crunchy for ten days.

We may be going to London last month, to sort through some of Mom's stuff, including papers and photos. (Mark needs to be there, and I want to, even though it will mean a lot of time masking, and probably a lot of takeout meals eaten in a hotel room. I emailed the cat sitter,

I checked this afternoon, and my inherited share of Mom's Vanguard account is in my account. Separately, there's a life insurance policy that seems to have asked for another form after my brother sent in what he thought was everything they wanted. In addition to the Vanguard account, there are some UK bank accounts, which Mark thinks will take several months to go through probate. All of this is a little weird, and I want my mother, not her life insurance.

Boston (along with much of the eastern United States and Canada) is in the middle of the sort of heat wave where they advise everyone to stay indoors if possible, not just people who are particularly sensitive to the heat. Both the NWS warning and the Boston heat emergency are only through this evening, but they're predicting that tomorrow will also be hotter than I find comfortable.

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Cattitude and I got up at 5:45 so he could pill Kaja, preparatory to her dental surgery. Both the pilling and the medical care went well, and she is on soft food only for 10-14 days. Therefore Molly is too, and we have to give them different treats than the usual dental Greenies. (Kaja will also be getting anti-inflammatories for a couple of days, and gabapentin for five.)

I got email from my brother about Mom's estate. He has done the necessary formwork so Vanguard can give us the money from her account there, where we are co-beneficiaries. His share is already in his account existing account. I tried setting an account up online, which apparently failed at the last minute, so I called and got a helpful person to walk me through the process again, step by step. I had gotten far enough earlier to create security questions, including some that I can actually remember my answers to, and haven't used repeatedly elsewhere. Separately, I need to talk to someone at Amalgamated Bank about the account there, a joint account with both our names on it. I hope they'll let me, as co-owner, close the account and transfer the money elsewhere, rather than sending them a copy of the death certificate, getting the account just in my name, and then closing it.

Mark also said he's thinking of going to London next month to sort through Mom's belongings, photos, and paperwork. So he wants to know whether I'm going as well, and if so, what dates worth for me. (Putting this here so I'm less likely to forget to talk to Cattitude and Adrian and then write back to Mark.)

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Today's visit was longer than I expected, but hardly unpleasant at all.

I was there for them to take impressions of my teeth, so they can make the dental implants and bridge. I expected it to be very unpleasant, because at last spring's visit to make the temporary "flapper" (which never did get comfortable), it took three tries before they got a usable impression.

I mentioned this up front, and they did the first two (out of three) impressions with a smaller tray for the modeling material. It also helped that this modeling stuff hardens faster than the one from last time, so I didn't have to carefully hold still for as long after biting into it.

It will probably take the lab six to eight weeks to make the implants and bridge, and they'll call me to make an appointment once they know.

This is going to be expensive. The paperwork they had me sign for this, after warnings about possible complications, said that I'd been given the chance to discuss what it would cost. So I asked the dental assistant, who said she'd have to go get the dentist; he in turn had the receptionist call my insurance company. The answer is that it will probably be between six and eight thousand dollars, which Vitaly said is a major discount from $12,000-$16,000. They had me pay $4,000 today, and will contact me when they hear back from the insurance company. I called Aetna a few weeks ago, on Adrian's behalf, to ask about coverage for implants, and the agent told me they're not covered at all. (She and I happen to have the same health and dental insurance, so I could call and give them my own membership number rather than saying I was calling on her behalf.)

ETA: There is of course no way to do this masked, but there were very few other people at the dentist's office, and the dentist and his assistant were both masked. I put on a fresh N95 mask, and used the Betadine iota carrageenan nasal spray, before leaving the house today, and am hoping those protect me from covid, flu, and whatever else might be going around.

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After multiple attempts to get information about this alleged copay assistance program, I have paid the (high) copay for the Kesimpta, so a dose will be here tomorrow. This morning, I tried chatting with an agent on their website, and the site logged meout in mid-chat twice, and the third time the agent just wandered away after I asked a question and I eventually gave up and picked up the phone. That also took a few tries, before reaching the right department, and someone who could actually see the chat logs from earlier in the day.

The combination of foot-dragging and contradiction about the copay assistance program leads me to suspect that there is no team working on payment assistance, and they're just trying to delay filling prescriptions. The insurance company requires me to use this specific "specialty pharmacy," and they're part of the same corporation, so it may not be in their interest to fill the really expensive prescriptions, depending on how much of that high price would eventually go to the drug company, rather than transferring money internally between Aetna and CVS.

This morning's round of contradictions was agent 1 saying they had been waiting for an ICD10 code, but were now working on finding me help, and agent 2 saying they needed that information and would reach out to my doctor about it.

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This isn't a problem right now, but it could have been:

I have a credit card that expires 1/25, meaning in less than two weeks.

I haven't received a replacement, so I tried calling to ask if they had mailed me a new card, and if so, when. The 800 number on my current card led to a system that told me the office is closed, gave me business hours, which are something like 8-8 Monday-Friday, and asked me to leave a detailed message.

I then googled for "5star bank visa," and found a website. There's a chat option there, which does respond on Saturdays. I'm pretty sure I was interacting with a robot, but it grabbed the right keyword from my question, and told me new cards are mailed around the 16th of the month they expire in.

I asked about lost cards and fraud, and the robot gave me a different contact phone number, which I haven't tried; if something was mailed around the 16th, I wouldn't expect it to arrive by the 18th.

So, I will not (yet) worry about the card possibly being stolen--but I am NOT happy about the fact that if I did want to report fraud or a stolen card, I would have had to google for the bank name, open a chat window, and ask the robot for a phone number that might be answered on weekends. I am--I think we all are--very used to being able to reach my credit card companies 24/7, using the number printed on the card, which I could store as a contact on my cell phone.

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I'm posting this in part because I have gotten a bunch of things done in the last 24 hours, including financial stuff nobody will notice unless I mention it.

In a Discord conversation yesterday, which started with people snarking at Rudy Giuliani, someone said something about not just leaving money in a checking account. Now, I knew this already, but somehow last night that prompted me to go look at my online savings bank. It turns out that they now have a new kind/brand of savings account, with significantly better interest than my existing account. (I originally opened that account, ages ago, because at the time the interest rate was better than average interest.)

So, I told the bank website to open a shiny new savings account, and moved some money from the old savings account to the new one, then logged out and went to bed. This morning, I told it to pull some of the money I got from social security when they approved my claim from the checking account at my credit union to the new account. I'm thinking I will wait a couple of days, and move a larger sum, unless I have something specific else to do with it. It turned out, unsurprisingly, that the task wasn't difficult, once I found the executive function. (I usually don't have much executive function left late at midnight, even if I'm still awake.)

Also today I paid bills; did some PT; took out the trash and recycling; removed my somewhat battered Minuteman library card from my key chain before it broke; and made lunch for myself and Cattitude, and washed the lunch dishes, while Adrian was at the farmers market buying apples. (I can probably use the card indefinitely, but may not be able to replace it, because that library network doesn't include Boston.

Listing it like that confirms that yes, I've done a lot, both last night and today.

Current Mood: satisfied

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The Social Security Administration has just told me how much they will be giving me every month, and also that I have been enrolled in Medicare, covarage starting May 2024. So, the Medicare covarage is retroactive to a few months before they ruled in my favor.

Also, the monthly benefit is more than I was expecting them to award me, which is also good news.

There are things I need to look into, and do, about this, but I'm not going to do them at this hour of the day. I think it involves a call to the lawyer.

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Mostly for my reference:

The lawyer called me this morning, and told me that there's a five-month waiting period for benefits between the date that they say I became disabled. That puts us in spring of 2022, so the retroactive lump sum will be about 28 months' benefits. His guess is that will be about $42,000, with a net of about $35,000 after the 20% for his fee.

It has been more than two years since the date they know/acknowledge I was disabled, so I am immediately eligible for Medicare. By default, they will enroll me, and take the premiums out of the monthly benefit payment. He recommends enrolling now, because if I wait they will charge more when I do start taking it, but emphasized that this isn't legal advice. So, one thing I/we need to do is check which of my doctors do or don't accept Medicare, and what limits there are on that.

Since I will be collecting these benefits immediately, I can wait until the maximum age for starting to take Social Security retirement benefits, maximizing my eventual monthly benefit from that.

Check whether doctors take Medicare (and if so, does it matter which plan?): primary care doctor does take at least some Medicare plans. To check: eye doctor, lung doctor, neurologist, psychologist [anything else I'm not thinking of].

Unrelatedly, I should call the MS nurse and ask whether I should keep the January appointment with the neuropsychologist, since that was originally intended to help support the disability appeal.

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I just spent a frustratingly long time trying to figure out what health insurance plan we should buy (Massachusetts, via HealthConnector). The hard part was finding out how much different companies would charge us for what looks like essentially the same level of coverage. I know I'm not eligible for MassHealth, that's not what I was asking it, but I had a lot of trouble finding the information I wanted.

The state's plan comparison tool was useful for finding plans that our doctors are in-network for. Once I had it narrowed down that way, that tool helped me figure out that there is no significant difference between different companies' same-level plans in terms of co-pays and such.

So, after far too much work, I wanted to compare monthly premiums, which was more difficult than it should have been. I finally found that information, and it looks like the plan we have now is our best choice, but we'd stayed with that plan for a couple of years out of inertia.

Yes it could be worse: we have plausible options, and I think we'll be getting a tax credit that covers most of our premiums.

Current Mood: relieved

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It took a few calls, but I have now spoken to the woman whose name and number were on the letter I got last week.

It turns out that what I need to mail them is: nothing. The online application is complete, and after looking at my earnings report, she said the last few years of freelance work, everything since 2014, don't count as "substantial gainful activity," so she doesn't need the 2021 tax return to tell her that last year's freelance income isn't "substantial gainful activity" either.

I think the process here is: tomorrow morning she will write a "work report" based on what I told her, about having stopped looking for full-time work because I realized I couldn't handle a full-time job, and what the Social Security Administration already knows about my work history. That goes to the local disability determination office, which assigns it to an examiner. The examiner will contact my doctors for medical records, which will then be looked at by a doctor or doctors who work for them.

Somewhere in there, I will probably get a call from an examiner, or a letter asking me to call them. They may want me to be examined by a doctor who works for Social Security, but when I said "fine, if I can keep my N95 mask on" the woman said I could ask for telemedicine.

I asked how long this was likely to take, and while she doesn't know exactly -- among other things, this may depend on how efficient three or four different medical offices are -- if I haven't heard by the end of May, I should call back.

For my reference: My contact is ( Read more... )

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I have done some more text banking (the Georgia Senate runoff is tomorrow), and while I was trying to be cautious, my right shoulder is sore again. Though that might also be from the upper body exercises (also cautious, with lower weights/resistance and fewer repetitions than I had been doing a month ago).

cattitude checked his bank account, and saw that the latest stimulus payment had arrived. After a relatively brief discussion, we're donating it to the Greater Boston Food Bank, where it will stimulate the economy in a way that it wouldn't if we spent it on things we were going to buy anyway.

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I got a lot done today, which is good, but when it was time to make dinner, I was running out of spoons and not sure it would work. But it did, and we had lamb patties and a salad, and another half pound of lamb is now in the freezer.

In the morning I stretched and exercised: I'd been letting that slide, and feeling it, so did all the hip and knee stretches both yesterday and today. Plus a half dozen of my PT-related exercises, and some crunches.

My new proofreading client, who I will call Janet because that's her name, and I exchanged some more email about how she would sending me a deposit before I start work. Bank of America, where she banks, offered to do a direct bank transfer, then asked for my mailing address, and when she gave them that they suddenly needed to know what kind of account the money would be going into: not just savings vs. checking, but specifically whether it's a regular or a money-market savings or checking account. At that point it looked like they were trying to throw up obstacles. So I took her other suggestion, of using Venmo. I only signed up for Venmo a few weeks ago and had been thinking of it as part of me dealing with the pandemic, because I signed up in order to pay for ice cream delivery. I hadn't expected to use it to receive money. It seems to work OK, although I don't understand why people want a money-transfer app with social media traits. "Seems" because the money she sent hasn't made it to my bank account yet, but they said it would take a day or two, unless I wanted to pay a fee for an instant transfer.

After lunch I took apart boxes, to put in the recycling. I cut up at least eight boxes, and slid the cardboard in at the edge of the bin, so after five or six boxes there seemed to still be as much room in the bin as when I started. The porch looks a lot less cluttered than it did this morning.

In between cutting up bocrd, I proofread an article for ACM queue, who have been sending me a little bit of work every other month since 2002.

Tomorrow I will take things a little easier.

Current Mood: accomplished

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I'm having a definite impulse to buy things, lately, meaning almost everything has been mail-order. So, some postcards from people on Etsy (which I have a vague plan for using); a bunch of plain towels (which we arguably needed); some art supplies, and more hair coloring, both with a vague "get this in before they shut down for the duration"; some gloves to be sent to Mount Auburn Hospital; and now a hoodie.

The hoodie at least I know I'll use: I've been wanting a new one for months, and then someone mentioned having added to her Etsy store, and both

cattitude and I are getting machine-embroidered hoodies.

The plan is not to spend any more money today, except for the already-scheduled supermarket delivery order.

ETA: However, I did check and Lizzy's ice cream sells gift cards. If I can buy one online right now, I will, and use it when they reopen. (Right now I have strawberry and ginger, having used up the black raspberry.)

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I'm putting this here mostly to help myself remember. I just got an email from my credit union:.

a recent change in federal regulations affects the way you make your online and mobile deposits. Now, when you endorse your check (sign the back of the check you are depositing), you're also required to indicate in writing that you're depositing the check online or from a mobile phone (remotely).

This change applies to all financial institutions that accept online and mobile deposits. ...

Proper endorsement format for Mobile Deposit:
John Doe (your signature)
For BECU Mobile Deposit only

Proper endorsement format for Online Deposit:
John Doe (your signature)
For BECU Online Deposit only

What this Means to You
If you don't properly endorse the back of the check you're depositing, the check may be denied. Additionally, if your check is missing the proper endorsement, and it's deposited more than once, your account will be debited for the amount of the check. Further, you'll be liable for any resulting negative balance in your account, including NSF fees, regardless of circumstances surrounding the deposit(s).

I have been writing "For Deposit" above my signature; when I was putting the checks into an ATM, it was "For Deposit Only [newline] signature [newline] account number" but BECU accepts the mobile deposits even if I don't put the account number on the check.

My banking options are, in no particular order, to do things electronically; find a partner credit union that will let me make deposits through their ATM; or move at least some of my money to a credit union or bank that has branches here. It took me long enough to find a credit union that I was eligible for that I jumped at the opportunity when we moved to Washington, where there are far fewer restrictions on membership—BECU was open to any resident of Washington or Alaska, so I joined as soon as I had proof of residency,

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I had email this morning from the client in my previous post, saying to use dropbox, and that they had noticed they don't have my bank information on file, which they need in order to pay me.

So I uploaded the file, told them I had done so, and gave them the information for my business checking account. This may be the third time I've used it, since opening it in early 2016, shortly before moving. I set it up at the advice of someone at my credit union, when I went in to give them a change of address and find out how to handle deposits when I no longer live anywhere near a BECU branch.

This is one reason I'm glad I'm using a credit union: it made sense to set up this account because it has no minimum balance and no fees. (I'm not doing a huge amount of freelance work, and my other recent clients have paid by either check or Paypal.)

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financial,
work

In paying bills this morning, I used up the last $9.34 in the health savings account that we had from when

cattitude was at Microsoft. In some odd way, this feels like an achievement, though the main effect is that we have to start spending our own money for medication, copays for doctors' visits, and the like. (This money was ours in the sense that it was money we could spend—not something like airline miles—but only on certain kinds of medical expenses; it wasn't fungible the way the money in my checking account is.)

The other practical effect is that I'm now carrying one less piece of plastic in my wallet, which is an advantage, if a minor one.

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financial

tl;dr They seem to have done the right thing.

I posted a couple of days ago about an automatic payment for another year of LiveJournal, which I had made numerous attempts to cancel right after they changed the terms of service.

This morning I got an email saying:

Since your scheduled payment has just happened, I was able to refund it for you as you've requested. Please note that it may take up to 10 business days for your bank to process the refund on their end. This process also removes your account from automatic payments.

They said it might take up to ten business days, so I will be paying close attention to my next two credit card statements, but they have done exactly what I asked them to do, rather than clinging to my fifteen dollars.

(cross-posting this because I cross-posted the previous, and narrative continuity is useful.)

Crossposts: http://redbird.livejournal.com/1532451.html

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I am posting this because I want a record of it and this is the easiest place. I made probably a dozen attempts to cancel LJ automatic payments since they changed the ToS to something that exists only in Russian but puts everyone under Russian law. Every time, I got an error message, even when I was able to log in to LJ for other purposes.

I just got an email that an automatic payment had gone through. I suspect I will be taking this to my credit card's dispute department, but I am trying writing to LiveJournal again. The current state of affairs is that I can log in and see a history of payments, but when I try to change automatic payments, the error message is "cannot load cart."

This is the message I just sent using their internal messaging system:

I have been trying to cancel automatic payments for the past two weeks. Every time I try, I get an error message, either that LJ is undergoing "scheduled maintenance" or that for some other reason it cannot load the payment area.

This morning I got email that an automatic payment had been made. I want that payment cancelled--the only reason it went through is that I have been unable to load the payment area, despite being logged in to LiveJournal.

I just tried to go to the payment area to cancel future payments, and again got "cannot load cart."

I am asking you both to reverse today's automatic payment of $14.16 and to cancel future automatic payments.

Thank you.

Vicki Rosenzweig

[eom]

When I sent this, the acknowledgment included a reminder that support is run mostly by volunteers, which in this case is not encouraging. I've been a support volunteer, and hope they're still directing payments questions to someone who has authority, rather than just saying "sorry, FAQ xyz says they're not reversible."

ETA: good outcome, see followup post.

Current Mood: angry
Crossposts: http://redbird.livejournal.com/1532411.html

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We filed our taxes on time, and turned out to owe Massachusetts enough that they assessed a penalty for not having made estimated tax payments. So, a first quarter estimated payment for 2017 also went out on the 18th. (Just Massachusetts; we're fine on the federal income tax.)

I'm working on a small proofreading job right now, and also just filled out some forms for a previous client, whose employer wants a W-9 and evidence that I am a freelancer rather than an employee. That evidence is me saying that I set my own hours, don't work on campus, and such, plus a list of other clients. (I'm not going to try to list all my past clients, back to whenever, so the attached sheet of paper says "Current and recent clients include" and has some names.) I was annoyed when the request came in, in part because I'd thought I was done with that project; my client sent the payment almost immediately after I finished copyediting his book.)

Spring is moving pretty quickly, with lots of violets and rhododendron right now; I saw an amusing cluster of daffodils near Mount Auburn Street today (and may post a photo separately). One of the lettuces I planted last week was pulled out and left on the ground; I don't know whether to blame rabbits, squirrels, or unspecified other mammals. I hope some of the lettuce seeds I started will be ready to plant moderately soon.

On the activism front, I was pleased to see that the state prosecutors (Attorney General Healey and the county DAs*) are setting aside almost all of the convictions tainted by fraudulent lab results. This is something I was making phone calls about in February and March, as well as something the ACLU sued over. A lot of those people are already out of prison, but having a felony conviction on record is still hurting them. Having done very little political/activist in the last few weeks, I am now trying to decide which of two protests to go to in Boston ~~on Saturday~~ this weekend. The March for Science sounds like more fun, but the emergency anti-deportation rally outside ICE headquarters likely needs me more. ETA: The anti-ICE protest has been moved to Sunday at 3 p.m., which means I could do both, energy allowing.

42itous's daughter wants to come back and play with our cats again; I told her I like the idea, but we need to figure out when will work.

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Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

Don't mourn, organize

new horizons in stupid error messages

updates

it's been a busy day

dentist

kesimpta prescription

Credit card annoyance

getting things done

disability benefits

social security: more info from the lawyer

health insurance

I spoke to someone at the social security office

text banking, trying not to strain my shoulder, and stimulus payment

I may have overdone things

am I buying too much?

finicky change in rules for electronic check deposit

work: quick update

(no subject)

LJ automatic payment reversed

LJ automatic payment

Five things make a post

About Me

A Few Useful Links

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