It's Labor Day weekend, ready to jump into your car and fuel up for a road trip...then it hits you. Gastronomic gasoline prices at the pump! What's going on here? I am all for supply and demand but $1.95 a gallon? That's ridiculous! That's the average price of gasoline in the Greater Hartford area as of today. The prices began skyrocketing last weekend.

On Thursday, August 21 the average price of gas at the four stations near my apartment were $1.63. The next morning when I fueled up for a trip to New Haven, I paid $1.69 at the cheapest station of the three 1 saw within less than a block. The price at the other stations was $1.82. One month ago, gas cost , on average, $1.59 per gallon. The price of the station that I went to had gone up 6 cents over night. I returned from my trip to New Haven to see a Pilot Pen Tennis match around 5 PM that same day and the price had skyrocketed at the same station to $1.83. Hmm, just in line with the other two big boys down the street. What made gas go up 14 cents in less than 8 hours? You got me! But that was ridiculous. It looks like price gouging to me.

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas Tuesday in Connecticut was $1.80, while premium unleaded sold for $2.01 a gallon, according to AAA. The national averages were $1.72 for regular and $1.89 for premium.

Today as I prepare to fuel up for a short road trip to Rhode Island, the average price of gasoline in Connecticut is $1.87. Its one of the all time highest averages in Connecticut. In Fairfield County, about an hour South, the average price of gas is $1.90 per gallon of regular unleaded with some stations charging $2.05 per gallon. In some parts of the Connecticut, gas increased 21 cents per gallon in a matter of hours yesterday.

The Attorney General and Department of Consumer Protection are investigating the situation, since the price of gasoline in Connecticut is higher than other parts of the country. Oil companies have told Connecticut gasoline retailers that oil refinery outages, a ruptured pipeline in Arizona and the lingering effects of the Northeast blackout are to blame for the spike in prices, according to a state industry group. I think that's a crock of bull! If I could, I'd boycott the prices but I'll gas up a little and head to Rhode Island and take my chances there.

» 5:49 PM :: permalink

Just when we all thought, we missed the MSBlaster virus of last week, several new virus are rampant today causing IT techs to pull out their hair. It was a busy day in the land of computer viri. I've been getting inundated with a new worm, a variation of the SoBig Virus, called W32.Sobig.F@mm at work and home. At work, I received over 73 of its tell tale email messages. While at lunch alone, I received some 30 messages during my 30 minute lunch break. The onslaught seemed to peak from 11:30 to about 3:00. The messages seemed to arrive in my mail box in waves of 2 or 3. Symantec has upgraded this variant of the Sobig virus to 3 out of 4, making it a fairly common threat. Thankfully the virus is quite predictable and I was able to set up a rule for my mail program to simply send the worm's emails to the trash can without being tempted to open it. The virus is a mass mailing worm which spoofs email addresses and propogates itself via e-mail. Further details can be found at http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sobig.f@mm.html.

Also rampant as of yesterday is a new computer worm called W32.Welchia.Worm. An interesting little worm to say the least. Perhaps developed by a "white hacker". Some might think this is a good worm because it deletes the MSBlaster worm if found on your system and tries to download the blaster security vulnerability patch from Microsoft's web site. Once the patch is installed it reboots the machine. It also checks the date and will disable and delete itself once the date reaches the year 2004. However, no virus on your system is a good thing and this bug compromises security settings, making this useful worm problematic. It is a level 4 virus threat. Check out this little guy at http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.welchia.worm.html.

For both of these viruses, anti-virus software has definitions for them which are available via Live Update today. Update your machines at once to prevent their spread.

» 8:34 PM :: permalink

You can now obtain up to 2 pairs of my Thursday, September 18 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert tickets now on eBay. No bidding is required. Tickets are priced $3 above price printed on ticket, the maximum amount allowed by Connecticut Law. It's still an excellent deal since most ticket brokers are selling tickets to this show for $225 or more per seat! You'll be able to get two seats, right next to each other for $184.90. Pay with a credit or debit card, bank account transfer, or PayPal funds via PayPal. Check out these premium tickets in the ebay listing at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2189113492! Get them before they're gone. Available for the next 10 days or until sold! Seating location can be viewed in the August 10 blog entry below.

» 10:50 AM :: permalink

We are currently auctioning off four of the available Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert tickets we have on Ebay. This is sure to be an awesome concert at Connecticut's brand new sports and entertainment complex which seats nearly 40,000. The pair of tickets are for the SOLD OUT show on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. Further information about the tickets is available below in the August 10 blog entry. You can bid on these great tickets via Ebay at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2189326297. This is Bruce's first concert at the new facility and the first time he's been back in Connecticut since May 2000 when he played two sold out shows at the Hartford Civic Center. It is also the inaugural concert at the new facility.

» 5:46 PM :: permalink

I've got 16 tickets to two of the Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band concerts being held at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. Eight tickets are for the Tuesday, September 16th concert. Another 8 tickets are for the Thursday, September 18th concert. Both concerts start at 8:00 PM. The concert is at the brand new $90 million state owned facility in East Hartford that opened this month. This is the FIRST concert at the 40,000 seat stadium. Will sell them for ticketmaster cost that I bought them for plus $3.00 handling and the cost of priority postage. I bought too many tickets and friends bailed out on me so I just want to recoup cost spent. Will be going myself to one of the two shows. Will accept cash if you're local to Greater Hartford area and can pick up in person, a US Post Office money order by mail, or Paypal. Checks or credit cards will be accepted through PayPal. No postage charged if you can pick up tickets in person well before concert dates. Tickets are only available in multiples of two and seats are next to each other in the same row. These are great tickets to either shows. First show is esentially sold out with only nose bleed seats left. First Show (9/16/03) tickets that I have are in the end zone area, Section 111, row 15. Second concert tickets (9/18/03) are on the field/floor, Section 11, Row B. See seating chart above. If interested, write to me at brucetixrentschler@yahoo.com or leave a message at (860) 424-4491. Include your name, number of tickets interested in, date of show interested in, and a means of contacting you.

» 3:57 PM :: permalink

The cola wars just got a little sweeter as Pepsi-Cola North America, based in Purchase, NY, and its bottling partners will begin distributing Vanilla Pepsi (see www.vanillapepsi.com) tomorrow. Bottles and cans of Pepsi Vanilla will make their way to supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchandise outlets, convenience-and-gas stores and vending machines – virtually anywhere soft drinks are sold. According to Pepsico, "full national distribution of 20-oz bottles, 2-liter bottles and 12-pack cans is expected by the end of the month with 24-pack cubes coming in September." Both regular and diet versions of the concoction will hit shelves simultaneously.

In May, 2002 Coca-Cola came out with Vanilla Coke. According to Beverage Digest, it was a resounding success, selling 90 million cases. AC Nielsen estimates that Coke's flavored soft drink has been purchased by about 29 percent of U.S. households, the strongest one-year trial rate among recent carbonated soft drink introductions.

Pepsi's "smoother" vanilla hopes to take a gulp out of Vanilla Coke's market share. I've yet to see any ads for Pepsi Vanilla but I am sure the bombardment will come soon as Pepsi tries to put a fizzle in Vanilla Coke's success. Vanilla flavored colas are broadly pushed to both teens and adults. Pepsi says aggressive introductory marketing support will begin in coming weeks and will include national television advertising, radio, Internet and outdoor advertising, sampling and point-of-purchase materials. Will Britney or Beyonce be going vanilla? Who knows but I am sure they'll have some celebrity marketing the new soft drink.

I dislike Vanilla Coke and won't buy it. I dislike regular Pepsi even more but I'll try anything once. I'm a classic kind of guy and if I want to drink a cola, I don't want a fruity tuity or sweet tasteing drink. I want cola! As both companies continue to take potshots at each other they fail to address the key concern, that the soft drink markets are slowing down. No vanilla is going to fix that.

» 12:28 PM :: permalink

Interest rates for car loans, morgages, student loans and personal loans are currently at record lows because the Federal Reserve Boards has lowered the discount rate, the interest rate that other banks charge each other on overnight loans, to an all time low of 2%. Credit cards and unsecured lines of credit always have considerably higher rates than morgages or other loans and do not tend to fluctuate based on the discount rate. Many times, the rate that you applied under applies regardless of whether it has been lowered or the creditor is making lower offers to new customers. Though the Fed's discount rate has no direct bearing on credit card annual percentage rates (APRs), it is possible to capitalize on the low rates since banks are charging themselves lower interest rates. It is also very surprising to find that many people continue to pay high rates on their cards. It is very easy to get your credit card annual interest rates lowered. How easy? Simply pick up the phone and call the appropriate customer service number that appears on the credit card or monthly statement and just ask for a lower rate. You can save yourself some money to spend on other things or pay down your balances that much faster.

In January 2002, Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), a major consumer group, conducted a study (see report in PDF) to find out how easy it is to get a lower credit card interest rate. Fifty-six percent (56%) of those who simply telephoned their credit card company and asked for a lower interest rate got one instantly. Those who were successful reduced their APRs by an average of more than one-third, from an average of 16 percent to an average of 10.47 percent. Getting a lower rate can save you a significant amount of money and allow you to pay off the card much faster. For example, if your card has a 16% rate and you carry a big balance, say $5,000, and you pay only the minimum amount due each month which is usually 2% of the balance or $20, if your rate was reduced to 10.5% APR you can save approximately $300 during the first year in interest charges and over the life of the debt cut out 108 payments and save $4900. Who couldn't use an extra $300 or $5000 in their pocket?

An estimated 55-60 percent of Americans carry credit card balances but before you call, make sure that you are a good candidate for this strategy. If your credit rating is bad and you don't pay on time, you aren't going to get a lower rate because getting your interest rate lowered depends on various factors. According to the PIRG study, creditors are more willing to say yes if you meet the following conditions:

1. You have a good credit rating;


2. You do not have too much credit card debt, particularly; you do not owe a big balance to them;


3. You do not send in just the minimum payment each month;


4. You have an excellent payment record with that creditor;


5. You do not have what is known as a "sub-prime" card (secured card or one marketed to those with bad credit).

Crafting Your Persuasive Argument for a Lower Rate

Before you contact your credit card company to ask for a lower rate, you need to put together an argument as to why you deserve a lower rate. If you can't put forth a good argument, then they don't have a reason to lower your interest rate. So you must do a little bit of homework to craft your argument. Not much, I was able to easily complete my research in less than 10 minutes. Determine beforehand why you deserve a lower interest rate. Is it because you have an excellent credit rating? Or because you have been getting better offers in the mail?

If you frequenly receive credit offers in the mail look at them before you toss them or consider opening more credit in your name with a new creditor. Opening too much credit does affect your credit score. These pre-approved offers can be used as leverage when calling your existing credit card creditors. Of course, this technique will require you to wait to receive offers if you don't have any on hand. You can also use the Internet to find out what other major creditors are offering to new customers.

Though I have good credit, I opted to go the route of using comparable rates for my credit card company's competitors in combination with my excellent credit status with the creditor because I receive no pre-approved credit offers in the mail since I am on an opt-out list with the three credit reporting bureaus. Knowing the other rates also gave me an idea of whether the rate I was offered was in line with what's out there currently and whether I should hold out for more before accepting their inital offer. I went on the Internet and reviewed the offers appearing on the web sites from the major credit card companies. Do not forget to look at your own credit card company's site too, because they will often have offers better than what you are currenty paying especially if you've had the card for a long time. Check out the websites of several major credit card companies like Bank of America, Capitol One, American Express, Discover, Fleet, CitiBank, Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank One.

Sample Telephone Scripts when Talking to Creditors

Once you've done your research and crafted your argument, you can use one or more of these telephone scripts to help you call your creditor and ask for a lower rate. The following scripts are based on proven techniques from the Best Credit Solutions Alliance.

Script 1:
I've visited the websites of several of your competitors, the ______ Bank, ______ and ______ Bank, and found that they are offering a _____ interest rate on purchases which is _____ points lower than what I'm paying on my card. Are you willing to give me that rate?

Script 2:
I am requesting that you reduce my current rate of 16.9% to 8.9% so that it is in line with what is available in the current market. I feel this is a fair rate since at least three major credit card issuers, _________, _________, and _________ are offering it to new customers like me who have an excellent credit rating.

Script 3:
I have received a pre-approved offer in the mail from _______ Bank offering me a ____ interest rate card. Can you beat or match that offer or do I have to transfer my balance to their card?

Script 4:
I visited your website and noticed that you are offering a ____ rate to attract new customers. I have been an excellent customer of yours for __ years and would like to receive the same rate.

Or be creative and develop your own script using any combination of the above. Just be sure you have crafted a good persuasive argument for a lower rate.

The Results

I called two of my credit card creditors today and asked for a lower interest rate on a Visa and a Mastercard from two of the major banking institutions, CitiBank and JP Morgan Chase. In both instances, once I had done about 10-15 minutes of online searching, called them, and read my speal to the representative, the representive starting clicking away on the computer and I had lowered the rates on both cards without any a hitch in about 5 minutes. For both creditors, I was able to lower my rate by an average of 6.25 percentage points, put more money back into my pocket so I am able to pay the cards down that much faster if needed. I estimate that I will save about $600 annually in interest charges by reducing the rate on one of my cards which I continue to hold a balance and nearly $3000 if I made only the minimum payment each month. The yearly savings is enough to put towards practical expenses such as one month's rent or many months worth of groceries or other more fun things like going on a modest summer vacation or anything else you can think of. With the lifetime savings, you could use it for a small downpayment on a car or pay for 9 credits at an educational institution. In addition, I will be paying a lower rate on future purchases. The other card has a zero balance so there is no initial savings but, I will save myself money down the road when I use that card.

Follow Up If Needed

Just because they say no today, doesn't mean they will say no six months from now. If they say no, then transfer the balance to another card if you qualify or consider shopping around for a personal loan or home equity loan (if you own a home) and use that money to pay off or down the high credit card balances. If you don't qualify for a transfer or a lower rate loan because your credit score isn't high enough, then spend the next six months paying down as much debt as you can and paying all of your bills on time. Doing this for six months can raise your credit score by 50 points. After six months, call back and ask for a lower rate again. If they still won't give it to you, start exploring your balance transfer options with your new higher credit score. From now on, you should call your credit card company every six months to a year and ask for a lower rate until your rate is lowered to one that is so low that you are certain they will not lower it anymore.

» 12:16 PM :: permalink