Senior Traps

[joeea]

Where is the Utopian existence where things are just so simple?

Yup. That's how they get ya'

Life is too complex, so everything is a trap.

 

[MichaelB]

Sure.

Easy solution - don't agree to anything with small print if you aren't going to read it.

Uh, after a certain age everything is small print.

 

[joeea]

Uh, after a certain age everything is small print.

After a certain age, someone else should be handling all finances for you - particularly if you can't read what you must sign.

 

[scrabbler1]

I understand that legally, it's legal, but it is still a trap as they tell you all the good stuff in big letters and they then reduce the point size of the written material and bury the traps in 2-8 pages of small print.

That is why it's called SMALL PRINT. They TRY to discourage/stop people from reading it.

Notice those TV commercials, look at the small print flashed on the screen at the bottom, I'm a fast reader and most times I cannot read all the small print. Yet legally they can state, they showed it to me. Just another TRAP.

I can recall a few TV commercials where the speaker very quickly tells you all the caveats a.k.a. fine print in the last few seconds of the ad. It sounds a lot like the guys in this old Fed Ex commercial.

 

[Spock]

After a certain age, someone else should be handling all finances for you - particularly if you can't read what you must sign.

In 2007 I was signing up for an online account with Wachovia Bank.
I sat and actually (attempted to) read all of the Ts&Cs. By the time I could click "next", the connection timed out and I had to start over.
So I called and spoke with a customer service rep and explained the problem. Their response was priceless... they couldn't really come out an say it... but their response was basically "nobody actually reads that".

Online agreements have become a social joke. One just popped up today.
"Arguing with your wife is like reading the license agreement.
In the end you ignore everything and click "I agree"."

I'd hate to rely on it for a legal defense, but its getting so silly that I would not be surprised if someday the right judge invalidated the online "I agree" docs. The only thing stopping them is they are all lawyers and don't want to invalidate their own industry.

 

[Walt34]

I'd hate to rely on it for a legal defense, but its getting so silly that I would not be surprised if someday the right judge invalidated the online "I agree" docs. The only thing stopping them is they are all lawyers and don't want to invalidate their own industry.

I wouldn't be too surprised. Once in a while one does run across a judge whose common sense has not been obliterated by years of law practice.

 

[athena53]

Ever notice how, whenever they want you to spend money, they use the word save? Saving means putting it in the bank. Duh.

A couple of months ago I got a "Rate Reduction Notice" from a mortgage company (not the one holding my mortgage). The monthly payment they showed for a $10K cash-out refi was about $515 compared to my current $700 payment but the interest rate was 4.625% compared to the 3% on my current mortgage.

How did they do it? I'm 3.5 years into a 15-year mortgage and this would start the clock on a new 30-year mortgage. I'm 66 years old.

 

[Dtail]

What's not acceptable - that she goes alone, or that she stays out late? Actually, being retired is the perfect time to stay out late - no work to go to in the morning.

I don't know...
Driving home at 3am at 67 y.o.
How many folks are comfortable with that scenario?

 

[Teacher Terry]

She may not get up until noon and be fine. You don’t know what her regular hours are.

 

[Dtail]

She may not get up until noon and be fine. You don’t know what her regular hours are.

True, but the other part of the equation is having a SO at a casino late night by herself

 

[pjigar]

We are 20 years younger but I am always suspicious and usually just ignore that stuff. Sometimes it can be very difficult to get services to quit billing your card even after you cancel.

+1. I ignore everything promotional including free mileage credit cards and such. I am just not good at tracking sporadic events in future! I do, however, participate in rebate promotions because I file them religiously on the same day as I buy the stuff so not that hard to track. May be I am just old school but I don't even try to follow up warranty claims, I just fix the stuff myself.

 

[pjigar]

Why not use the bank online website to pay your CC bill, that way you can pay it and all the other bills at one place.
easy peasy and free.

Some of the bill pay web sites (like Bank of America) allows you to schedule "auto-pay" for even irregular bill amounts like credit cards. You can schedule to pay either full balance or minimum balance. I haven't manually paid a credit card bill (or for that matter any mortgage, utility, etc. bills) in years. The only bills I pay manually are the property taxes every year.

Any bill with a varying bill amount e.g. utility, mortgages with escrow, etc. are paid using ACH signed up with the biller. Any bill with a fixed bill amount every month and credit cards is paid using auto-pay at the bank. Problem solved.

 

[sengsational]

I am a BOA customer with BOA credit cards. I was unaware of this feature, until reading this post. But correct me if I am wrong. Each time I use the card for an online purchase, I would also have to log into the BOA website select the cc and then request a ShopSafe number. Is this correct?

I think you can increase the limit on one existing cc number too, but that might negate the usefulness if earlier you had used it in one of the "they make it impossible to cancel" scenarios.


But if you use it just for online purchases that aren't going to make you cancel a monthly bill, you could log-in and increase the limit for each purchase, keeping the same "temporary" number. One thing I don't like is that the ShopSafe app is written in Adobe Flash

+1. I ignore everything promotional including free mileage credit cards and such. I am just not good at tracking sporadic events in future! I do, however, participate in rebate promotions because I file them religiously on the same day as I buy the stuff so not that hard to track. May be I am just old school but I don't even try to follow up warranty claims, I just fix the stuff myself.

The computer rule is "Never, never, not ever install something you didn't go looking for". If some "push" tactic appears, don't do it. Never. This general rule for your computer also applies to the physical mail...if you didn't go looking for it, treat it with a high level of suspicion or simply ignore/destroy it by rule. Right? If you can't help but be a little interested, do your own research. Ask a question on this board. Find out how the company makes money. Type the company's 800 number and the word "scam" into your search engine. These are necessary skills in today's world. I also object to the "senior" in the thread title. These are traps that often snag seniors, but only because these skills haven't been learned as well by all seniors.

 

[Teacher Terry]

If she is married then why not go during the day. Problem solved. I never understood liking gambling.

 

[ransil]

She may not get up until noon and be fine. You don’t know what her regular hours are.

I'm young, I go buy nothing good happens after dark, and worse things happen after midnight.....I might watch too much IDTV too...

 

[scrabbler1]

Not that they're any new traps, for seniors or others, but I am getting hit with several of those "Health Care Hotline" robocalls again. Nomorobo is doing better blocking them than with other waves of them. These calls usually occur near the end of the year during open enrollment periods.

 

[GNXGuy]

Simple as reading the email header

It’s as simple as common sense

 

[NoMoreJob]

One defense I use is the ShopSafe or similar CC numbers. You Instantiate a new number off of your "real" credit card and put a limit of the price they are offering. That way, if they attempt to charge more, or sign you up for a monthly thing hidden in the fine print, the extra charge won't go through. Not a solution for all the OP problems, but a handy tool. Getting off those monthly billing things is made next to impossible! They rarely let yo do it online, Instead, make you call and wait and oops you need this or that order number in order to cancel, etc. With ShopSafe, they contact YOU asking for a new CC and you say "nope",, Done!

I agree. Virtual card numbers keep me in control, not the vendor. I always set a dollar limit that is usually just a couple of bucks over the actual or estimated amount. Not only does it prevent unauthorized overcharges but it also keeps my real card number from being stored in every online vendor's system which is a security risk. It also gives me the opportunity to cancel the number should something go awry (or I just change my mind) before the card is charged. The only downside is that I have to get a new virtual number for every transaction but for me it's a small price to pay for all the additional security it offers.

 

[LJ Dem]

Hopefully, as it is a "bill", you simply do not pay it and that's that. Or send it back marked "never subscribed" or something. Hopppppefully

 

[Buckeye]

Before my mother passed away recently, reading all those fine prints (including her Part D drug plan and her Medicare supplement insurance) was my job. I really miss doing this for her. I miss her.

As most have said... stay away from risk.

My question is soul searching.


Internet
Medicare
Healthcare services
Car and house insurance
HOA rules
Credit Card
Annuity
Bank account
Investment and FA services
Appliance and high value item guarantees/warranties

Our internet provider legalese in point 3 type, is well over ten thousand words, taking over an hour to read, when including the footnotes and other references. Do we have a choice?

Do you understand the meaning of binding arbitration?

Even if you really do read all of this, do your parents or your kids?
So, it's not just a subscription to a magazine, or a telephone scam artist.

Its obvious that most of the major cost items are unavoidable, but even aside from the word "TRAP"... it's important for retirement planning purposes, to understand the limits of cost and liability.

Yes, maybe the risk is low, but as an example, do you know how much your healthcare Plan D supplement will pay if you were prescribed any one of these drugs?
Actimmune
Daraprim
Cinryze

Just sayin'...