Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panoysia/8600295174/sizes/m/

Bank commissions on your credit cards

As of February 1, 2007 the banks (or at least Bank Discount) are charging NIS 10 per month for using their services, for debiting your account with them, for the debits of your credit cards. I have two cards – Visa Cal and Diners Cal – therefore I am debited NIS 20 per month for using same, i.e. NIS 240 per year.

1.On my bank statements appear only the usual bank commissions i.e. my fixed monthly commission (or whatever your arrangement is with your bank), extras such as check books, cancelled checks etc. These sums also appeared on the quarterly notification of commission of the bank.

2.Only on the credit card company monthly statement appears the NIS 10 commission for using the credit card. However, this sum is the same sum which appears under “Magnetic Cards” on the bank’s quarterly notification of commissions.

If this is a bank commission, why are they covering it up by writing it in as a debit on your credit card? Anyone willing to take this matter further?

Insurance

Some time back I took out an extra insurance together with my home insurance – it is called PAL. This covers repairs to electronic and electrical equipment (not computers), at home for large, heavy equipment and at their workshop for smaller items such as videos and DVDs. For large items such as refrigerators and washing machines they will carry out motors repairs for equipment that is no more than 10 – 12 years old, but will carry on with other repairs on same for smaller problems.

I noticed that over the past few years we have slowly been replacing items such as refrigerator, washing machine, TV and DVD. This insurance costs me about NIS 420 a year. I have used same this year to repair an air conditioner for which they came here, and a video which I had to take to them in Givatayim – they have branches also in Jerusalem, Netanya, Haifa, Ashkelon, Afula and Tiberias. You can check all this out at 1-800-221-707. On top of the original payment each visit or repair was NIS 165 including ALL parts. Our video had twice been to a repair shop without success – it now works very well indeed – they changed two parts inside as well as cleaning everything. To get this insurance you need to talk to your insurance agent.

Which dish to use

This is a hint I got from an American friend years ago which helps me a lot when inviting guests for a meal. I prepare small slips of paper with the name of each different food that I am preparing to serve. Then well beforehand, usually the day before, I choose the suitable serving dishes and put the appropriate slips in each one – this saves me a lot of headache when I am actually serving the meal.

Time

One of my biggest problems is that I put something on the gas to cook, get involved in something else around the home and only remember what is cooking when the burnt smell pervades everywhere. I bought a small digital timer – made by GOLF – which has a magnet on the back so I can put it on the fridge when in the kitchen and it fits into my pocket when I am wandering around my home. You can set it for up to 99 minutes and it has a fairly loud ring.

My most interesting discovery has been how time flies. I set it for 10 minutes to cook some vegetables and before I had finished clearing away the dishes and tidying the table in the kitchen, it had rung. So I set it for two minutes, checked this against my watch and sure enough exactly two minutes later it rang.

Subscriptions & Renewals

I had a bargain deal with my internet provider Netvision whereby they upped my speed from 750MB to 1.5G and they reduced the price per month to NIS 50. This deal was for six months, which when ended, Netvision just automatically charged me the full price again, without any notification whatsoever. When I complained, without any effort they offered to increase my speed and even to charge me less than previously.

I want to warn you that apparently all the companies with which you have special deals, will not advise you that the time limit is ending and only when you get their bill, maybe one or more months later, will you know that the special deal has finished and you are now paying much more. This also applies to Bezek, the international phone companies and the daily newspaper.

Furthermore, to remind you that when increasing the speed with your internet provider you need to make a similar deal with Bezek or whichever phone company you are using.

So get out your diaries and remember to write the last dates of those special deals.