VISA vs. mastercard

For years we had a VISA credit card through our bank, Navy Federal Credit Union. About a year ago we switched to mastercard because of confusing and misleading bills. They were hard to follow AND VISA had an option on monthly bills where you could pay ahead. WHAT? why would anyone pay their credit card ahead for charges that they hadn't been billed for?

We've been happy with our switch to mastercard. Their monthly invoices are clear and straightforward. mastercard lists all the charges for the month with a total. There is no option to pay ahead. Again, why would anyone pay ahead on charges that they hadn't been billed for?

That we made the right decision to switch to mastercard became even more evident recently when we noticed charges from a vendor that we didn't know. The total was $160. when we called mastercard, they told us not to worry--that mastercard would credit the $160 to our account. They issued us new mastercards. They contacted the vendor and we received a letter from mastercard that the vendor would issue a $160 credit to our mastercard account and mastercard would remove their credit. Problem solved. Thank you, mastercard!

contrast that with a similar suspicious charge on our NFCU VISA card several years ago. We were told that we had to try to work it out with the vendor first. 

So, when we're asked "what card do you have in your wallet?", we answer "MASTERCARD!", with BIG smiles on our faces.

information overload

examples of information overload:

• IRS
• messages on our cell phones from vendors, doctors, etc.
• IRS
• TV 
• commercials ad nauseam 
• local news
• weather
• traffic reports
• IRS
• the owner's manual for our RAV 4
• HUNDREDS of poorly written and poorly organized pages
• We've NEVER got an answer to our questions from the owner's manual.
• IRS
• appliances' manuals
• IRS
• TONS of junk mail (email, snail mail, etc.)
• IRS
• etc.

why is the IRS listed six times?

answer: because the IRS is the KING of information overload.

• the INSTRUCTIONS for completing the 3-page form 1040 is 113 pages long!
• not to mention the HUNDREDS of other forms, instructions and documents.

questions:

1. how did our parents ever get us to doctors and dentists appointments?
2. how were they able to complete their income tax returns?
3. how did they know how to operate their cars and appliances?

answers: 

1. they wrote them down on a calendar. they didn't need multiple "reminders" (phone calls, messages, etc.).
2. income tax forms and instructions were relatively simple. 
3. they checked their owner's manuals. their owner's manuals weren't HUNDREDS of pages long. They were short, to the point, and clearly written.

do yourself a favor. don't get caught in information overload. get yourself a calendar that you can write on (like Mom and Dad's), pencils and paper, a calculator that adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides, and do business like your parents did--in the good old days.

Motivator - Information Overload | scorp_stanton | Flickr

Creative Commons — Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

attribution: scorp_stanton

BTW, don't get me started on doctors and dentists. the media likes to talk about inflationary gas and food prices. Is there ANY greater example of inflation today than what doctors and dentists charge? Filling a small cavity used to cost less than $100. Today, you can spend THOUSANDS of dollars a year on dental care. It's the same with doctors. WHAT A RIPOFF!!!