HOLIDAY SPENDING TIPS

As living expenses push higher, it makes it more difficult to keep up, much less get ahead.  It seems especially hard for some people not to “over spend” during the holiday season because of emotional needs to express love, appreciation, and friendship.  Below are some spending tips that some holiday shoppers may find useful.

1. Establish spending limits for each person on your list and start looking for bargains early.
2. Try talking with those you exchange gifts with, suggest not exchanging gifts or agree to spend lower dollar amounts on gifts.
3. Watch advertisements and sales flyers for those items you intend to purchase.
4. Liquidators, wholesale clubs, and factory outlet stores usually offer lower prices.
5. Avoid using credit cards.  Credit cards have a SPEND message, they tend to promote indiscriminate spending.  Consumers often say, “They had no idea how much they spent on the holidays until the credit card bills arrived.”
6. Consider getting a part time job over the holidays.  Some stores offer employee discounts which can come in very handy.
7. Consider giving gifts that don’t cost out of pocket money.  For example, offer your baby-sitting services to a friend or relative that has children or offer a house cleaning a homemade meal or a car wash to an elderly friend or relative.
8. Send greeting cards only to those people you won’t see over the holiday.

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CREDITOR CORNER

(The who’s who and the what’s new in the creditor world of today!)

1.  Wells Fargo Financial Bank (formerly Dial Bank) has recently purchased some, but not all, of the Conseco Mastercard (formerly Greentree Mastercard) accounts.  New account numbers have been assigned to the accounts Wells Fargo has acquired.  Unfortunately, Wells Fargo Financial is unable to confirm the new account numbers based on the old account numbers we have listed on your account.  Please notify us immediately if you receive a statement from Wells Fargo Financial Bank on an account that used to be a Greentree or Conseco Mastercard.  We need the new account number you were assigned, as well as, the proper payment address for your account.

2.  Also, please check your Credit Advisors statement.  If you have a listing for Hurley State Bank or WFNNB (World Financial Network National Bank), we need your help.  These companies are processing centers for dozens of individual stores that contract out their credit needs rather than maintain in house credit departments.  Hurley State Bank and WFNNB are now requiring us to send all payments to the processing center by individual store (ie: Lane Bryant, Lerners, Service Merchandise, Western Auto, etc.)  If you have a listing for either processing center on your statement, we need to know the name of the store where the account was opened so that we may send your payment out under the correct store name.

3.  Thanks to all the people who have sent in their recent statements for Partners/Harris Bank/Bank Boston/Fleet marked “ATTN Credit Liaison”.  If you have not done so yet, please take a moment to do so.  The account number corrections and payment center corrections are being made with each statement we receive.

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Send Statements

Please e-mail, fax, or mail us copies of your creditor statements every three months.

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