Streamlined System for Paying Bills Will Keep Those Late Fees in Check
Q I have enjoyed your columns on credit card woes, but I have a problem I haven’t seen mentioned: late fees and charges for bills that have never been received. Granted, some statements may be “lost in the mail,” but on several occasions over the last few years, I’ve had to pay fees on bills I’ve never received. I’m beginning to wonder whether some companies deliberately fail to send out bills to collect the fees!
*
A You’re a victim, all right, but I suspect it’s of your own disorganization. Would a visit to your home reveal a neat filing system, a centralized bill-paying area and a calendar listing bill due dates, or merely piles of mail stacked in various places around the house?
It’s up to you to know the due dates for your bills. If a bill doesn’t arrive as expected, you should call the credit card company or check your account online before the due date to get your balance and then send a check.
If the senders are indeed concocting a vast conspiracy to overcharge you, you can beat them at their own game just by staying organized.
How to keep track? Well, personal finance software such as Quicken and Microsoft Money have nifty reminder features that alert you when bills are due. Or you can just mark the dates on your calendar.
You also might consider putting most of your bills on automatic. Mortgage lenders, utilities and other vendors are usually happy to take their payments directly from your checking account each month. Once you cut down on the number of bills you have to track, you might discover that it’s easier to monitor the rest. Consolidating to one or two credit cards can make your life easier as well.
It is remotely possible that someone’s rifling through your mail and stealing your bills in order to use your good credit; that’s known as identity theft. Consider getting a copy of your credit report to make sure no one’s opening unauthorized credit accounts in your name.
No Social Security Divorce Bonus
Q Are you on another planet? There most certainly is a marriage penalty when people can lose Social Security benefits by remarrying. I was in a 30-year marriage and everything was about his career. I worked crummy jobs that paid insurance for the family before going into his business. He eventually found an older woman with money and I found myself divorced and needing his Social Security, as mine is not enough. He can remarry with no concern and get his full Social Security, while I get half his benefit and will continue to work until I drop.
I call this gender discrimination in its best form. I worked my guts out for 30 long, hard years and everyone thought he was successful, when all along it was me making the business run and grow. I had not only my life stolen from me, but now I have to suffer in my old age and he gets off scot-free.
*
A Nothing Social Security or Congress can do, and nothing I can say, will cure the rage and resentment you feel.
But let’s review. The questioner in the March 12 column asked why she couldn’t get a Social Security benefit based on her ex-husband’s wages in addition to the county pension her current husband will receive. (Many government agencies and school districts have opted out of Social Security and instead offer more generous pensions.)
Rather than seeking to redress a marriage penalty, she in fact was looking for a kind of divorce bonus: She wanted more in retirement benefits than she would have received had she been married to the second husband all along.
Let’s remember that the ex-spouse benefit came about in the first place to prevent women from falling into abject poverty after a divorce. It was never envisioned as a supplement to an already adequate retirement income.
I agree that it is unfortunate that you may someday have to face giving up your benefits if you remarry. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to this dilemma. Anything Social Security tries to do will put more strain on a system that is already headed for bankruptcy.
What you can do is make your experience a lesson for your own children, and encourage them to build Social Security or pension benefits based on their own work records. Failing to do so puts women--and men--at risk when it comes to their retirements.
*
Liz Pulliam Weston is a personal finance writer for The Times and a graduate of the personal financial planning certificate program at UC Irvine. Questions can be sent to her at liz.pulliam@latimes.com or mailed to her in care of Money Talk, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. She regrets that she cannot respond personally to queries. For past Money Talk questions and answers, visit The Times’ Web site at https://www.latimes.com/moneytalk.
