The new me is shining through! Whahoo! I am trying really hard to stop ignoring problems and take care of them. I just took care of my Verizon problem!

Two months ago the account was in MY name and DH wasn't allowed to purchase equipment or make decisions. He's the one who handles thing like that though, because I freeze up and have an irrational fear of the phone. So we switched everything into his name just so he could take care of problems.

We had a remaining balance of $95. I figured it would be automatically taken care of because we had set up direct deposit. Well, our next bill came and the $95 had not been paid in addition to the new charges of $364. (I was mad about that price....our plan is NOT that high). Anyway, I went to my bank online and manually paid the amount in full on Aug 2. I finally realized that because we switched our names on the accounts, Verizon shut down our account, account number and all! I had to reset my account and reajust automatic deduction. My due date is coming up on Aug 16 and the amount still hasn't gone in there. It dawned on me today that the money probably went to the wrong account number.

Sheesh! So (kuddos to me) I called! That is very unlike me. I absolutely hate making phone calls like that. I'm always worried that I am somehow in the wrong. I guess this time I knew I was not. It was complicated and it was hard to explain my side of the story, but the man was very friendly and helpful and he is going to help track down the money. He said that he has enough notes written down that if there is a late fee, it will be waived. What a pain in the rear!

Interesting too, he said that starting tomorrow, the account holder can add the spouse to the account and have full access. Then we wouldn't have had to go through all this! We were laughing and joking about this, but then he said that the whole reason it was set up like that to begin with was because some husbands didn't want their wives on their accounts. That sounds rather 1950's to me, but whatever. He said that 4 months ago, a husband called in livid because his wife got hold of the account and ran up the bill and purchased things and now they are getting a divorce.

In any case, I am finally taking control of our finances. I am the one who pays the bills and controls the finances, so I should really be in charge of follow-up too. Half the time poor DH makes these phone calls for me, but he has little to no information because he is not the one who pays the bills! I actually know what I am talking about and so I should make the calls.