Milestones

I meant to blog a non-facetious celebratory post to myself, since this week I hit my one-year anniversary of the new job, and I love it.

Now another congratulations-to-me-- this time facetious-- is in order. I've achieved my highest credit card bill ever. It's quite a sight to behold.

I'm glad I made the repairs/improvements and purchases that I did, and I'm glad I did them now. If they need to happen, I may as well enjoy them right away. As I've mentioned on these pages, I got a great price on pretty much everything, and I love having outlets that work, I'll love having a washing machine that doesn't leek, and I'm sure it will be nice to have a dryer (and that the gas hookup will, with time, pay for itself in lower utility bills). Mentally, I understand what has happened. Emotionally, it's a shock to see such an enormous figure after "Amount Due." Part of the issue is timing; in addition to January being the time that I decided I'd had enough with stuff not working around the house, it's the month that Gracie gets her annual checkup and that I pay my car insurance bill. This year, it's also the month that the house was reappraised for refinancing and that I prepaid the exorbitant but once-in-a-lifetime vacation I'll take in a month. Followed by another vacation I'll take in April because I'm that much of a slacker.

Anyway, for your enjoyment, here is another customer service conversation:

Citi: How can I help you?
A.: There is a [$55!] foreign transaction charge on my statement this month. I have made no foreign transactions.
Citi: That's for the charge by the travel agency in Ecuador. It costs us to convert to dollars; that is what that charge is for.
A.: Ecuador's currency is dollars.
Citi: For any charge listed in a foreign currency, we charge to have it converted to U.S. Dollars.
A.: Ecuador's currency is U.S. Dollars. That charge was billed in U.S. Dollars.

She transferred me to a manager, and we had the above conversation, again. Eventually, she said that even when billed in dollars, anything charged in a foreign country is assessed a charge, but that just this once, she would magnanimously credit it back to me. I thanked her for that, and thanked her for letting me know so that I would not use that card abroad. She retorted that there is no card that does not charge a foreign transaction fee.

True... but WAMU charged a third of what Citi charges... but now that they've been bought out by Chase I'm not so sure. So I did what I'd long held out against, and opened another card. But I just wanted to check and make sure.

I called Capitol One and asked for confirmation that they levy no foreign transaction fee, and indeed they do not. So if you're traveling abroad and can stand another credit card in your wallet, give them a call.