In addition, the Regulatory and Compliance Fee becomes the Regulatory, Compliance and Intellectual Property Fee. This fee covers our regulatory-related and legal compliance expenses, including those related to customer privacy protection, anti-fraud protection and number portability, as well as intellectual property-related costs enabling our services.

Both fees will increase from $1.49 per month to $1.99 per month beginning with your first billing cycle on or after April 23, 2010. This change will allow Vonage to maintain our commitment to safety, innovation and customer service.

This has to come to an end. Vonage has been doing this even since they started their service. It was expected when World plan was announced.

Bank of America Checking account is good to have since they have  branches all over the US, but it pays interest in pennies. So, 2 months back I opened Coastal Federal Credit Union’s Go Green Checking Account that offered 3.05% APY per year for maximum balance of 50,000, if you use ATM Card for atleast 12 times in a month.

Unfortunately just after 1 month, interest rates was lowered to 2.25% ,which is much better than Interest rates offered by Ally, HSBC Direct Savings or any other online Savings account.

It would be nice to have 3.05% but when the economy improves and Feds starts to increase the interest rates, Go Green Checking Account interest rates should go up.

Do you know any other bank that offers  interest rates better than 2.25% APY?

I locked the rates 25 days before and refinance went without any glitches yesterday evening. Just before I locked the mortgage rate, I was talking to 3 mortgage brokers. Also, I had reference for 2 more brokers. I decided to go with National Mortgage Alliance ( Upfront mortgage broker – suggested by Mortgage Professor) and when I told other broker that I locked the rates with NMA and I paid $300 as deposit to lock the rates, within few minutes he offered the rate match, 300 credit and  process the loan without ordering home value appraisal. My current loan balance was 216,000 and estimated home value from Zillow and property tax value was 270,000 to 275,000. Since 805 of 270,000 is 216,000, if the home appraisal came less than 270,000 I will have to pay PMI.

I called up NMA to explain the offer other broker was giving me. NMA said, even they are not ordering appraisal. That was good news for me and so the loan approval process went smooth and so does the closing.

I came to know that NMA is not ordering appraisal, that could happen with any brokers or lenders. They could charge the borrower $300 to $600 home appraisal, but they could process the loan, without paying for appraisal. End of the day, its free money for them.

How to Avoid this?

I think, the best way to make sure home loan lender orders appraisal is to get a copy of the appraisal report. In that way, we can be sure, if we are not paying free money to them. Also, based on Credit Score and home value estimate they have is used to determine if appraisal is necessary.

Do you have any thought on this?

I called Dish Network to see if there is a way to reduce the monthly bill. I told Customer Service Rep about my customer experience was good so far and I did certainly like to stay with Dish Network, but I wanted to know if there is way to lower my monthly bill.

Program Access Fee Waived

I was transferred to Account Specialist and after looking over the account, he decided to waive the program access fee of $5.99 which I was paying every month. Dish Network requires their receiver (622) to be connected to landline phone connection. But, I was using Vonage as my landline. So, I had to pay $5.99 program access fee for last 3 years.

Now, I’m happy to get rid of that fee. I read in many forums about people asking Dish Network to play DirecTv card with them. I wanted to give it a try using the loyal customer card and it worked. Since, I was enrolled in Club Dish, which gives $5 monthly discount for referring a customer.

Other good thing was the program access fee is waived permanently. It was not for just 10 or 12 months. So, as long as I stay with Dish Network I pay $5.99 less in the monthly bill.

Turbo HD Package

Since I watch only few HD Channels and rarely used to watch other Non-HD package, I decided to move to Turbo HD package. It has the channels I want to watch and it save me bunch of greens every month. Above all the DVR and satellete receivers offered by Dish Network is much more advanced than the receiver offered by DirecTV.

Looking for value this holiday season? We’re rewarding The Streets at Southpoint Club Members with an exclusive offer – a FREE $10 mall gift card. Just print this email, grab your I.D., and bring it to the Merry Giving Gift Zone, designated by three giant shopping bags, between 11 A.M. and 6 P.M. on Saturday, November 14, 2009.

In addition, we’ve collected all the best deals and offers from our retailers and you’ll receive those special offers when you pick up your FREE Gift Card.

Spread the word to all your friends by clicking on the links below. Referred friends will need to provide a copy of this email and sign up for The Club at the Merry Giving Gift Zone to claim their Gift Card.

If you read personal finance blogs, you will see people finding ways to lower the monthly bills on Internet, Phone, Cable connection bills. I have been doing that for last few years and saved bunch of $$$. Our Time Warner Internet bill went up from $34.95 to $54.95. By default you will get Road Runner Standard 7 Mbps connection.

How to Lower the Bill

I called Time Warner Customer Service last evening and asked to speak to Customer Retention department, they handle requests like cancellation and discounts to bill. Don’t waste your time explaining the problem to Customer Rep who answers your call first.

Usually companies will give low monthly rate, if you can show a competitor with lower price, but this time around, I just asked to lower the rates to same $34.95 and they gave it to me for next 12 months.

It took about 5 minutes including the wait time and savings over $240 over next 12 months. Same rules apply to Dish Network, Vonageor other service providers.  Let me know if you had success in lowering monthly  bills?

I received a bill from ATT in my name and address. Bill had a phone number that is different from the number I have. When I called ATT Customer Care, they asked me to ignore the bill, since it was not associated to my account.

After 30 days or so I received another bill and I ignored it, since I already spoke to Customer Care. Within 30 days I received call from a Collections company that I have a bill due from ATT and it was forwarded to collections.

ATT Customer Service Phone Call

Immediately I called ATT Customer Service (CS) to ask about the bill.  CS agent  asked me lot of questions and I spent over 20 minutes explaining how I got new iPhone account from ATT Store and blah blah..

CS gave the name of the company and few other numbers that was associated with the phone number. But, none of the details were familiar to me. CS  said I could be victim of identity theft and forwarded my phone call to ATT Fraud Monitoring department.

When I got my new iPhone 3GS account, I was moving from T-Mobile to ATT. Since I got the phone early in the morning, I had to wait till 9 AM to transfer my current phone number to ATT. So, they setup a new account with temporary phone number.

After ATT transferred the phone number from T-Mobile, they didn’t close the temporary account. So, I was billed for 2 accounts at the same time. That was the bill sent to collections by ATT.

$30 Phone Bill Credit

ATT Fraud CS forwarded my phone back to ATT CS and after 10 minutes of hold, I was informed that problem will be solved and they will inform the collections company. Next question from CS was

Is there anything else I can do for you?

I asked for a credit for the inconvenience and time I spent on phone. After few minutes hold, I was given $30 credit towards the monthly bill.

So, if you ever encounter any issues in service or billing error, ask for a credit. Sometimes you might get additional minutes or credit to your bill.

Recently Google announced their first device partner to use PowerMeter.  Before that What is Google Power Meter?

Google PowerMeter is a free electricity usage monitoring tool that provides you with information on how much energy your home is consuming. Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters and in-home energy management devices and visualizes this information for you on iGoogle (your personalized Google homepage). And, Google PowerMeter is free.

Save Money using Power Meter

To use  the Google PowerMeter you will have to install a smart device.

• Do I want to save money? Yes
• Do I want to save money on Electricity? Yes
• Do I want to monitor Power Usage and Save money? Yes
• Do I want to use Google PowerMeter to monitor Electricity? Yes
• Do I want to spend $200 to use Google Powermeter? No
• How much I’m willing to spend? Less than $25

New TED 5000 series of device costs around $200. Even though Google PowerMeter is free, for individual homes, it doesn’t make sense to spend that much to save power.

Mortgage Rates are back to all time low. Few rates that are available in Triangle area ( Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Morrisville)

• 30 Year Fixed, No Closing Cost, No Escrow Low – 4.875%
• 15 Year Fixed, No Closing Cost, No Escrow  – 4.375%

I already have 4.875% without Escrow Account. I will refinance again, if I can get 4.625% No Closing Cost Loan. Why are you still waiting, call your broker and lock in the low rates.

Shop around to find the lowest rate. Rates varies between brokers and lenders. If you have to pay closing cost for 4.875% call a different broker. Remember – Its all about saving money! Don’t try to be with same broker, if he’s not giving you the best mortgage refinance  rates.

I called Dish Network to see if there is a way to reduce the monthly bill. I told Customer Service Rep about my pleased I was with Dish and Customer service so far and I certainly like to stay with Dish Network, but I wanted to know if there is way to lower my monthly bill.

Program Access Fee Waived

I was transferred to Account Specialist and after looking over the account, he decided to waive the program access fee of $5.99 which I was paying every month. Dish Network requires their Receiver/DVR to be connected to landline phone connection. But, I was using Vonage as my landline. So, I had to pay $5.99 program access fee for last 3 years.

Now, I’m happy to get rid of that fee. I read in many forums about people asking Dish Network to play DirecTv card with them. I wanted to give it a try using the loyal customer card and it worked. Since, I was enrolled in Club Dish, which gives $5 monthly discount for referring a customer.

Other good thing was the program access fee is waived permanently. It was not for just 10 or 12 months. So, as long as I stay with Dish Network I pay $5.99 less in the monthly bill.