Holy Crap!

So, I forgot to call and get my name removed from the database for unsolicited credit offers the last time I got one, and I just got another one. Standard pre-approved, your credit is not perfect but this could be the card for you, blah blah blah. Most of the time I would have just thrown this away, but I was curious about the terms and conditions, what with all the credit consumer bill of rights hooplah that the credit companies are flipping out about. So I opened up the little booklet they sent about the card, this card marketed to a person with a current credit score of "fair" and a spotty history of on-time payments. I wish I were talking to you in person so I could make you guess what the APR was on this card. I think you couldn't guess. It's just so despicable, you wouldn't dare guess it.

59.9%!!!

HOLY CRAP. I can't even believe my eyes. I'm flabbergasted that this is legal. Even pay-day loan/check cashing scam-a-thons aren't that high. It's seriously fucking mind-boggling. Criminals. A bunch of criminals that all of us are forced to do business with because the damn FICO thugs have taken over our financial lives in the last two decades. How is this not loan-sharking? How is this not organized crime?

Oh...right, campaign contributions. It is organized crime.

Edit: In case any of you shared Jim's question, this is from the attorney general of Missouri's website: "Many consumers are suprised to find there is no limit on credit card interest rates (APR) under federal law. Those limits are set by state law, and card issuers are governed by the laws of the state they're based in."

figuring out how much I make

I spent a little time today poring over my check stubs for the past couple months. What I'm trying to do is to figure out down to the penny how much money I can expect to be bringing home every week. This used to be fairly simple, but living in the world of adults has complicated things a bit. I have health insurance, union dues, and my public transit pass deducted from my pre-tax dollars now on top of my income tax, medicare, and social securty. Some of these things change week to week, and 5 week months throw a bit of a wrench in my estimates, too.

wow...for some reason I have a weird craving for Tang right now.

Anyway, I think the object of this is to figure out just how much the difference between 38 hours and 40 hours a week is in dollars. Sometimes on a Friday during a week that I've come up short by a little bit of time, I find it difficult to persuade myself to stay the 45 minutes or an hour to get to 40. And this is dumb. I'd also like to understand exactly how much I have to budget with each week; up until now I've only been estimating.

In other news, I've come apart financially a little this month. Some unexpected spending coupled with some inattentiveness has created a frustrating cash flow problem that I really need to get on top of. Constant vigilance has always eluded me, but I will try harder. September and October, while they will be lucrative months, will also be expensive months. I've planned for some of this, and the other parts I'll just have to be extra frugal to cover.