I can’t say enough good things about American Express. Seriously. They rock. I have ~$3800 in credit card debt that I’ve amassed over the past 5 years, including school classes, emergency vehicle fixes, bailbondsman costs, partying, rockstaring, everything under the sun. I have APRs that range from now 9.9% all the way up to 21%. Yes, 21%. I decided tonight that I am going to fixify this, because I’m paying out like $130 a month in interest, and maybe $20 is actually going to principle. So I call up Discover and Citibank and tell them hey, I’ve got balances, I need them to be smaller. I need a lower APR, or I’m going to transfer them away so that somebody else can take (less of) my money. They all give me this song and dance, and give me crappy APRs. I reaffirm that American Express is going to take all my worries away if they don’t help me. Discover drops down to a 14.9% (acceptable), and Citibank/student credit card drops down to 15.74% … it’s still a student credit card, though, so I’m not concerned. Little do Discover & Citibank know what they’re in for. So then I call up AmEx, and I’m like whatup, I need to shuffle some bling onto my shiney new AmEx Clear card, which has a 4% life-time APR on balance transfers. Transfer over that shiz. Ba-BAM! It takes all of about 2 minutes to get it done. Now, if I continue to pay the same $130/mo, my $20 to principle has become ($130-($3900*.04/12))=$117. A sixfold increase, simply because of interest. Not to mention the ease of consolidation. Also, when I spoke to Discover and Citibank, they suck. Their reps are terrible. AmEx reps speak english clearly and actually sound -Happy- on the phone. The Citibank guy, particularly, sounded like he wanted to inflict severe injury to me, even though I went out of my way to sound chipper and be nice (so I could get on the good side = lower APR?). American Express just treats me great – with their plans, friendly representatives and good rewards, I can’t hype them up enough. American Express Clear for the win.
Holy Crap American Express Rocks
2005-10-27 23:38:11 – Master Ha-reed
Wow – maybe the Clear reps are better than the Blue ones. I’ve gotten nothing but idiots from Bangalore calling AmEx. I’m accustomed to asking upfront to be transferred to someone in America first thing when I call, and being indignant until my request is carried out.
2005-10-27 23:53:46 – rand0m
The number on my Clear is 888-917-3030 and has yeilded nothing but incredibly nice, helpful American reps … Is yours an AmEx Blue student card? I could see varying levels of service depending on the type.
2005-10-28 00:19:22 – rand0m
Just so I have a record of it somewhere accessible, Cisco’s implementation of the BGP4 Multi Exit Discriminator (MED) does not affect path selection unless the exit ASN is the same on both routes. If you need to weight two very similar paths, use localpref (small stick), AS path prepending (medium stick) or Cisco’s proprietary weight option (Roosevelt stick). BTW, probably switching to the new format here shortly.
2005-10-28 02:28:36 – Netheus
It’s nothing but a myspace account http://www.myspace.com/netheus
2005-10-28 11:38:40 – jrdn
ok… so… im torn between AmEx Blue and AmEx Clear… blue has all these OOOH SO LOVELY plus’s, but clear… just has more protections lower rates… so I gotta ask… for a first time credit user… wtf should I use?
2005-10-28 11:54:12 – rand0m
Blue (if you can) without a doubt. Clear is great for balance transfers, low-spending and mild rewards, but Blue is perfect for general use.
2005-10-28 12:31:43 – realbighead
The proper technique for a first-time credit user goes like so: 1) Get 4 or 5 lines of credit. This does not include installment debt, especially student loans. Credit cards, computer loans, or car loans. 2) Set up an automatic payment (cellphone, DSL, something) on each credit card. 3) Set up an automatic transfer from your bank account a week after the payment will hit. 4) Place your credit cards in a pint glass, fill with water, and place in your freezer. Your credit score will fly through the roof. Oh, and AmEx can afford good people, because they charge merchants 2.6% on every transaction. Visa, Discover, and Mastercard all charge only 1.6%. So lots of places don’t like AmEx. And whatever you do, don’t get green, gold, or platinum. They don’t affect your credit score at all.
2005-10-29 17:05:27 – peanut gallery
adore the site’s new look
2005-10-29 17:49:51 – Master Ha-reed
It is a student card, but its all the Blue cards have the same ph number. Maybe they forward me to Bangalore after I punch in my number and the computer sees its a student card. Also – the new site design looks oddly familiar. Wasn’t a previous rand0m.org incarnation something like this?
2005-10-29 18:39:29 – rand0m
Yea, it used to look like this. Originally it was in purple, then red, then blue. In fact, the lightest blue on the heeader thing is the same blue that I had forever ago (archive.org is yer friend). This one is pure css though, and has a lot cleaner backend stuff.
2005-10-30 18:41:35 – pinky
oooh! so pretty! and thanks for the link 😉
2005-11-02 12:13:42 – Netheus
Randal, my sister need a math tutor. Feel like a little volunteer/ very little money? Or, perhaps know someone who knows a little algebra 1 and two, geo, a bit of calc, and a bit of trig who has some free time?
2005-11-03 15:04:27 – Nell
i’m feeling indignant about the comment on ‘idiots from bangalore.’ jared!
2005-11-03 16:07:45 – rand0m
*blink blink*
2005-11-04 22:40:59 – jrdn
i do math… math is me.. if you feel like it… randal knows how to get me into contact with people… RANDAL… BITCH… GO! <3