This is a photo of my lunch. More days than not, I go to the Subway next door to my office and get a sandwich. Today I had a hankering for some Mexican grub. When you want Mexican food in my fair city there are a bunch of choices. When I say a bunch, I mean hundreds.
Fortunately for me, a place called Michas del Norte is close by my work. It is "del norte", because the original Michas is south of this location about 10 miles. They are run by different branches of the same family as I understand it. We use to go to a wonderful place called Mi Nidito (My Little Nest), but it is such a favorite of locals and their touristy guests that the wait is always an hour or more. So we go to Michas.
People here are very particular about their choices in Mexican restaurants. Mi Nidito patrons will wait an hour in the elements, rather than walking across to the Double L where there is no wait. They go to Mi Nidito. Some regular Double L customers would never consider walking down the block to one of the dozen other choices in the neighborhood. That is how it is.
This picture is of a number 9A off the menu. This is a very common way of organizing a menu in our Mexican restaurants, by number. A 9A is two green corn tamales, rice and beans. 9B is two beef tamales, rice and beans. I love Mexican food, even if I don't eat beef or pork. Green corn tamales are a seasonal dish and are "to die for", as Linda Richman would say.
On to the screwup.
Every month I pay $1000 toward the principal balance of my mortgage. I have an Excel spreadsheet that tells me how much I have to add to my scheduled principal payment to equal $1000. I bump up my payment by that much.
For example, last month my scheduled principal payment was $477.74. I added $522.36 to my payment and $1000 should have come off principal. There is a line on my payment coupon for me to write in the additional principal amount. For the last three years the system has worked flawlessly, until now.
Today when I got my receipt and next month's payment coupon, I discovered that the goofs at Chase applied my additional principal to my escrow account. So instead of owing exactly $58,000 on my home loan, I now owe $58,522.36. This throws my whole universe off.
Last month Chase notified me that my payment was increasing by $40 to make up for increased taxes. There was sufficent escrow withheld to pay this year's taxes, but next year is expected to be short by about $500. So, they applied the money to escrow and lowered my payment. Not by the $40, mind you, but by $20. Another mystery.
I tried to call them when I came home but they were closed. What annoys me is that I know they are going to tell me that I cannot pay additional principal while they are projecting an escrow shortage. My interest rate is 4.375%, so the additional interest this generates is peanuts. I can't live with the world off its axis like this.
I hate screwups.
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong and sometimes just full of it.
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
Aug 10, 2006
Screwups Make Me Uncomfortable
Seeing as how I had to get up at 0-dark-thirty today, and had a chance to post this morning, any readers of my little blog get a twofer today. Like it or not.
This is a photo of my lunch. More days than not, I go to the Subway next door to my office and get a sandwich. Today I had a hankering for some Mexican grub. When you want Mexican food in my fair city there are a bunch of choices. When I say a bunch, I mean hundreds.
Fortunately for me, a place called Michas del Norte is close by my work. It is "del norte", because the original Michas is south of this location about 10 miles. They are run by different branches of the same family as I understand it. We use to go to a wonderful place called Mi Nidito (My Little Nest), but it is such a favorite of locals and their touristy guests that the wait is always an hour or more. So we go to Michas.
People here are very particular about their choices in Mexican restaurants. Mi Nidito patrons will wait an hour in the elements, rather than walking across to the Double L where there is no wait. They go to Mi Nidito. Some regular Double L customers would never consider walking down the block to one of the dozen other choices in the neighborhood. That is how it is.
This picture is of a number 9A off the menu. This is a very common way of organizing a menu in our Mexican restaurants, by number. A 9A is two green corn tamales, rice and beans. 9B is two beef tamales, rice and beans. I love Mexican food, even if I don't eat beef or pork. Green corn tamales are a seasonal dish and are "to die for", as Linda Richman would say.
On to the screwup.
Every month I pay $1000 toward the principal balance of my mortgage. I have an Excel spreadsheet that tells me how much I have to add to my scheduled principal payment to equal $1000. I bump up my payment by that much.
For example, last month my scheduled principal payment was $477.74. I added $522.36 to my payment and $1000 should have come off principal. There is a line on my payment coupon for me to write in the additional principal amount. For the last three years the system has worked flawlessly, until now.
Today when I got my receipt and next month's payment coupon, I discovered that the goofs at Chase applied my additional principal to my escrow account. So instead of owing exactly $58,000 on my home loan, I now owe $58,522.36. This throws my whole universe off.
Last month Chase notified me that my payment was increasing by $40 to make up for increased taxes. There was sufficent escrow withheld to pay this year's taxes, but next year is expected to be short by about $500. So, they applied the money to escrow and lowered my payment. Not by the $40, mind you, but by $20. Another mystery.
I tried to call them when I came home but they were closed. What annoys me is that I know they are going to tell me that I cannot pay additional principal while they are projecting an escrow shortage. My interest rate is 4.375%, so the additional interest this generates is peanuts. I can't live with the world off its axis like this.
I hate screwups.
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong and sometimes just full of it.
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
This is a photo of my lunch. More days than not, I go to the Subway next door to my office and get a sandwich. Today I had a hankering for some Mexican grub. When you want Mexican food in my fair city there are a bunch of choices. When I say a bunch, I mean hundreds.
Fortunately for me, a place called Michas del Norte is close by my work. It is "del norte", because the original Michas is south of this location about 10 miles. They are run by different branches of the same family as I understand it. We use to go to a wonderful place called Mi Nidito (My Little Nest), but it is such a favorite of locals and their touristy guests that the wait is always an hour or more. So we go to Michas.
People here are very particular about their choices in Mexican restaurants. Mi Nidito patrons will wait an hour in the elements, rather than walking across to the Double L where there is no wait. They go to Mi Nidito. Some regular Double L customers would never consider walking down the block to one of the dozen other choices in the neighborhood. That is how it is.
This picture is of a number 9A off the menu. This is a very common way of organizing a menu in our Mexican restaurants, by number. A 9A is two green corn tamales, rice and beans. 9B is two beef tamales, rice and beans. I love Mexican food, even if I don't eat beef or pork. Green corn tamales are a seasonal dish and are "to die for", as Linda Richman would say.
On to the screwup.
Every month I pay $1000 toward the principal balance of my mortgage. I have an Excel spreadsheet that tells me how much I have to add to my scheduled principal payment to equal $1000. I bump up my payment by that much.
For example, last month my scheduled principal payment was $477.74. I added $522.36 to my payment and $1000 should have come off principal. There is a line on my payment coupon for me to write in the additional principal amount. For the last three years the system has worked flawlessly, until now.
Today when I got my receipt and next month's payment coupon, I discovered that the goofs at Chase applied my additional principal to my escrow account. So instead of owing exactly $58,000 on my home loan, I now owe $58,522.36. This throws my whole universe off.
Last month Chase notified me that my payment was increasing by $40 to make up for increased taxes. There was sufficent escrow withheld to pay this year's taxes, but next year is expected to be short by about $500. So, they applied the money to escrow and lowered my payment. Not by the $40, mind you, but by $20. Another mystery.
I tried to call them when I came home but they were closed. What annoys me is that I know they are going to tell me that I cannot pay additional principal while they are projecting an escrow shortage. My interest rate is 4.375%, so the additional interest this generates is peanuts. I can't live with the world off its axis like this.
I hate screwups.
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong and sometimes just full of it.
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
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1 comment:
But every once in a while, you call and get someone who takes care of it with a press of a button, and that's satisfying.
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