Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing that, Yes, you can negotiate your
Speaker 1: bills afraid, man, that's what we're talking about on this episode.
Speaker 1: We're gonna specifically discuss what bills you should be negotiating,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about how to do it effectively.
Speaker 1: We don't want you spinning your tires, not getting anywhere
Speaker 1: with your negotiation. We want you and whoever you're talking
Speaker 1: with her to leave that conversation feeling good about yourself. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people just forsake negotiation and
Speaker 1: a lot of instances because they don't believe as possible.
Speaker 1: It's just not something that they've thought about very much.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, I think we can talk about which
Speaker 1: bills are worth negotiating, their worth making a call or
Speaker 1: a tweet whatever, maybe giving people a little bit of hope,
Speaker 1: and especially in this time right now, there's there's even
Speaker 1: increased room for negotiating some of your bills, and so
Speaker 1: we'll talk about what that entails as well. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: But first I wanted to tell you a little story
Speaker 1: about some some jobs and money, specifically how it pertains
Speaker 1: to my kids. You might know that I've tried to,
Speaker 1: you know, implement some systems with our girls to get
Speaker 1: them to kind of work for money. But I've done
Speaker 1: that unsuccessfully. But recently we started a new new little system.
Speaker 1: You and I we live in these old houses that
Speaker 1: are like a hundred years old. We live in these
Speaker 1: old neighborhoods, and dude, I think a hundred years ago,
Speaker 1: folks would just take their garbage and just throw it
Speaker 1: in the backyard. Because there's so much trash that we're
Speaker 1: finding working its way up through the ground. Uh. It's like,
Speaker 1: especially after it rains, like we'll find little bits of
Speaker 1: like antique glass. And this is a problem obviously, because
Speaker 1: we want to be able to hang out in our
Speaker 1: backyard kind of play back. They were thought cutting up
Speaker 1: our feet. And so our new system we call it
Speaker 1: trash Treasures. Well, I like the naming convention already on board.
Speaker 1: And I've explained to the girls that for every piece
Speaker 1: of glass that you bring to me, you get paid
Speaker 1: a nickel. Are you making them more gloves at least? Uh,
Speaker 1: they're very careful. This isn't glass that's like just broken,
Speaker 1: you know, Like there's a difference between like literally, this
Speaker 1: is old antique medicine bottles from a hundred years ago
Speaker 1: and versus like if you break a glass bottle like
Speaker 1: out in the parking lot or something like like I
Speaker 1: know you like to do, so I don't have to
Speaker 1: call de facts correct. So all week they'll they'll pick
Speaker 1: up trash treasures and they'll put them in a little
Speaker 1: container that they each have, all three of them, all
Speaker 1: three the girls have their own little container, and then
Speaker 1: maybe about once a week they can redeem and cash
Speaker 1: in those trash treasures for money, and they get a
Speaker 1: nickel for every piece of glass or for every piece
Speaker 1: of metal, uh, and for everything else like plastic or
Speaker 1: just other weird stuff that they find, they get a penny.
Speaker 1: And do you guess what, they are totally into it.
Speaker 1: They've completely bought into the system. Anytime they're kind of
Speaker 1: out back there keeping an eye on the ground for
Speaker 1: anything that sparkles to find a trash treasure. And this
Speaker 1: is something that's that's really worked for us, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to share this though, because we had a tough
Speaker 1: time getting the girls on board, especially Eavy. She's the oldest, right,
Speaker 1: She's the oldest who can actually understand money, maybe the
Speaker 1: you know the best, but even still we've had a
Speaker 1: difficult time getting her on board with working and kind
Speaker 1: of doing jobs and getting paid for it. She hasn't
Speaker 1: had much interest in it. And it took this new
Speaker 1: system where we could directly tie the work that they're
Speaker 1: doing with the money that they're earning. Is taken making
Speaker 1: that link between those two things as clear and straightforward
Speaker 1: as possible for them to finally realize that, like, oh cool,
Speaker 1: I do this thing and then I get paid for it.
Speaker 1: And so I wanted to share that because I think
Speaker 1: there might be a lot of folks out there who
Speaker 1: are having a tough time getting the ball rolling when
Speaker 1: it comes to figuring out chores or jobs with their
Speaker 1: kids and how to get them on board with earning
Speaker 1: money and even being interested in it. And man, I
Speaker 1: would encourage folks to stick with the most simple system
Speaker 1: that they can think of, where they can directly link
Speaker 1: the work they're doing to the money that they're earning. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I love that, And it's starting small, getting somewhere. Getting
Speaker 1: the ball rolling so important, like getting the kids excited
Speaker 1: about doing it. I think sometimes us where we as
Speaker 1: parents fall flat is we make it boring or we're
Speaker 1: trying to teach overcomplicated, right, That's what I tend to
Speaker 1: do is overcomplicate the systems, and I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: this is here, here the charts, and here the different
Speaker 1: categories and all this. It's like, no, all we need
Speaker 1: is money and trash. Like literally, it just needs to
Speaker 1: be that straightforward for us. Yeah, I agree, And so yeah,
Speaker 1: that's simpler you can make it, especially when kids are young, right,
Speaker 1: that that's when it needs to be at its most simplest,
Speaker 1: and you start to develop a routine around it. You
Speaker 1: start to kind of help them to understand how it works,
Speaker 1: the trade off of work in order to make money.
Speaker 1: And yeah, any way that you can kind of get
Speaker 1: them started young doing that. I love it. But maybe
Speaker 1: maybe get them some gloves just to get they do.
Speaker 1: What's funny is they do each have a little nail,
Speaker 1: like a new nails does not rest or anything, and
Speaker 1: they'll use that to kind of like dig up right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so they're almost like little archaeologists, little tools, you know,
Speaker 1: where they're kind of excavating pieces of the past. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, I love it, And hopefully that's an
Speaker 1: encouragement to other people out there who are trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how they can teach their kids to to
Speaker 1: do some stuff around the house that that helps out
Speaker 1: and also teaches their kids about how they go about
Speaker 1: earning money. And now's a good time to start. Now's
Speaker 1: as good of a time as any. All Right, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's mention the beer that we're having on the show today.
Speaker 1: Today we're drinking a beer called Tampa Time Share. It's
Speaker 1: a great fruit basil goza by Wrecking Bar brew Pub,
Speaker 1: one of our favorite brewers right down the street. Looking
Speaker 1: forward to having this one on the show today with you, Bud. Yeah.
Speaker 1: A quick reminder, the reason that we have a craft
Speaker 1: beer every episode is because this is a way for
Speaker 1: us that you and I to to show right that
Speaker 1: we're enjoying something now while at the same time being
Speaker 1: responsible and doing long term smart things with our money
Speaker 1: as well, like investing it. When it comes to our
Speaker 1: personal finances, there's always a balance, and this is one
Speaker 1: of the tangible ways that you and I are prioritizing
Speaker 1: the here and now over just the long term, because
Speaker 1: sometimes you can get really nerdy with it and have
Speaker 1: a pretty lackluster, boring life that you don't really enjoy
Speaker 1: living now, But like always, we try to bring some
Speaker 1: balance to that conversation. Yeah, agreed, man, And and yeah,
Speaker 1: this beer, I'm excited to check this one out. Should
Speaker 1: be an interesting common flavors. So all right, Matt, let's
Speaker 1: get onto the subject at hand. We're talking about why, yes,
Speaker 1: you can negotiate your bills. And man, I think it's
Speaker 1: important to talk about what's negotiable and what isn't. I
Speaker 1: know you and I might differ on this, so let's
Speaker 1: let's get there in a second. I think everything in
Speaker 1: life is not negotiable. Right. If we went down the
Speaker 1: path of trying to negotiate everything, well, there's a chance
Speaker 1: you can lose some friends in the process. But there
Speaker 1: are times where or we should be negotiating. I listened
Speaker 1: to a book recently called Gaining Ground Matton is by
Speaker 1: this farmer in Virginia. Excellent book, and he sells grass
Speaker 1: fed beef at local farmers markets. And after you hear
Speaker 1: about all of the work and the difficulty it takes
Speaker 1: in order to raise cattle in a local and sustainable way,
Speaker 1: what you can understand why he might be just a
Speaker 1: bit perturbed when people try to negotiate with him over
Speaker 1: the price, assuming that there should be closer to what
Speaker 1: they would pay in the grocery store. Right, So I
Speaker 1: would say that negotiating with your your local farmer is
Speaker 1: probably not a great way to go because it's not
Speaker 1: like they're making a ton of money on the goods
Speaker 1: that they sell, and oftentimes it takes a lot more
Speaker 1: work to grow the produce right that they're that they're
Speaker 1: turning out. And so while that might be bad for him,
Speaker 1: there are certainly some things in life that we should
Speaker 1: be negotiating, and right now it's even more important for
Speaker 1: some people to be eliminating bills from their lives altogether
Speaker 1: and negotiating some of the rest in order to tighten
Speaker 1: up their budget. Well man, yeah, so, like you alluded to,
Speaker 1: I might think that almost everything is up for negotiation.
Speaker 1: I think there is a lot more that should be
Speaker 1: on the table to, you know, for us to talk about. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then we think it may not mean that you have
Speaker 1: a successful negotiation, right, It may not mean that you
Speaker 1: leave that conversation having to only pay half of maybe
Speaker 1: what they're asking, because like that other person, that other
Speaker 1: party could just say, well, I'm not flexible in the price,
Speaker 1: and that's just the end of the conversation. In that sense,
Speaker 1: I feel like if there's no harm, there's no foul, right,
Speaker 1: And I think this is especially true as well if
Speaker 1: you're negotiating before you purchase something, because what you don't
Speaker 1: know is what that other party in this case, like
Speaker 1: the farmer, they might be willing to take way less,
Speaker 1: but you wouldn't know that unless you ask them, right,
Speaker 1: unless you start that conversation. If in one instance, you
Speaker 1: were just gonna just keep on walking because you see
Speaker 1: that grass fed beef and you think, all right, there's
Speaker 1: no m paying twenty dollars a pound for that, But
Speaker 1: that farmer is looking to maybe move some product because
Speaker 1: they need to get some make room for for the
Speaker 1: new stuff, right, Like, he might be willing to accept
Speaker 1: way less, And unless you start that conversation and start
Speaker 1: talking about it, you you would never know. And we
Speaker 1: can even flip that on its head a little bit, like,
Speaker 1: what if you start that conversation and you know the farmer,
Speaker 1: Let's say she explains to you how much time and
Speaker 1: energy and life that she's poured into her vegetables, right, Well,
Speaker 1: I think then there is a good chance you would
Speaker 1: leave that conversation with a new understanding and appreciation of
Speaker 1: all that went into that product, and you might be
Speaker 1: willing at that point to pay exactly what she's asking for,
Speaker 1: you know, or who knows, maybe even more. But in
Speaker 1: that case, the farmer gains a customer just because they've
Speaker 1: had a chance to kind of sell the product essentially
Speaker 1: and and explain to you kind of all that goes
Speaker 1: into it. You know, like they might have a new
Speaker 1: cs A member for life after they've had that conversation
Speaker 1: where they were able to connect with you. So, when's
Speaker 1: the last time you negotiated at all the all the time? Man,
Speaker 1: I think they always escort me out of the store.
Speaker 1: Oh here comes that crazy Matt dude again. No, but
Speaker 1: I really think that there's something to be said there
Speaker 1: when it comes to just having that conversation with uh,
Speaker 1: you know, with an individual. We talked about this on
Speaker 1: a recent episode, how we talked with our friend who
Speaker 1: did some work for us about negotiating their price a
Speaker 1: little bit. I think the problem lies when you're expecting
Speaker 1: there to be a discount, right, because that kind of
Speaker 1: affects how you approach the conversation. Like I've owned my
Speaker 1: own business for the over over ten years, and I've
Speaker 1: never been annoyed if someone came to me, you know,
Speaker 1: asking for a discount. But you know when it is
Speaker 1: annoying if they expect a discount because of you know,
Speaker 1: they know somebody, if there's some sort of connection there,
Speaker 1: or just for whatever reason they think that, oh, we
Speaker 1: should get a discount. That's when it rubs me the
Speaker 1: wrong way and I kind of don't want to work
Speaker 1: with that person at that point. It's the expectation. So
Speaker 1: you and I might disagree a little bit on this
Speaker 1: because I think there are some some points in time
Speaker 1: we're negotiating and even just asking, even just attempting to
Speaker 1: go there can signal something that that maybe you just
Speaker 1: you don't want to portray. But I think where we
Speaker 1: can't agree is is that there are a lot of
Speaker 1: places where people don't negotiate that are ripe for negotiation.
Speaker 1: And that's really what we're gonna focus on in this episode. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and when one of the issues a lot
Speaker 1: of times in those situations is we oftentimes don't know
Speaker 1: where to start. So one of the obvious problems that
Speaker 1: we're going to address today is knowing how to go
Speaker 1: about the process of negotiating, what strategies to use, what
Speaker 1: steps to take in order to make the biggest impact.
Speaker 1: You know, there's very little point of going through all
Speaker 1: the motions if nothing actually changes. And you know, also
Speaker 1: our financial lives are pretty complex, you know, at least
Speaker 1: mine are. I tend to over complicate things, um with
Speaker 1: lots of different bills showing up in the mail and
Speaker 1: in our inboxes. And so we're gonna address not only
Speaker 1: how to negotiate, but also who to negotiate with in
Speaker 1: order to make it worth our time. Yeah, knowing where
Speaker 1: negotiation is expected and where it's not is important. On
Speaker 1: the flip side of that local farmer that we just
Speaker 1: talked about, Matt, think about a flea market, right Haggling
Speaker 1: is expected there and right now, know that more and
Speaker 1: more financial companies are experiencing calls where customers are attempt
Speaker 1: seem to negotiate their rate, are hoping to have payments postponed.
Speaker 1: There are certain bills that that you shouldn't even consider
Speaker 1: negotiating right now unless you really need the help though.
Speaker 1: For example, don't call your mortgage company and ask for
Speaker 1: forbearance if you haven't actually experienced any negative impact from COVID.
Speaker 1: I would say that's uncouth, that's not a good negotiation
Speaker 1: you should take part in, and they'll likely want proof
Speaker 1: that you need this help anyway. So what bill should
Speaker 1: you be negotiating? Well, Matt, let's get to some of
Speaker 1: those and then we'll talk about how to go about
Speaker 1: it right after the break. All right, man, we're back
Speaker 1: from the break, and let's dive into some of the
Speaker 1: different bills that we should be negotiating. Before you know,
Speaker 1: you started negotiating with companies individually, it's important to look
Speaker 1: and see if they already have a policy in place
Speaker 1: that you can take part of. So, for example, at
Speaker 1: this point in time, there are over twenty private student
Speaker 1: loan lenders who have created a compact with ten different
Speaker 1: states to provide ninety days worth of forbearance. So if
Speaker 1: you live in one of these states, there is no
Speaker 1: negotiation needed as you can take part of this pre
Speaker 1: arranged agreement. If you live in another state, you know,
Speaker 1: you can ask if they would be willing to extend
Speaker 1: the same policy to you as well. You can essentially
Speaker 1: take that framework and borrow it and see if that
Speaker 1: would be something that they would be willing to honor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no negotiation necessary, But that doesn't mean that you automatically
Speaker 1: receive this forbearance on private student loans like you will
Speaker 1: right now with federal student loans. Mount We've talked about
Speaker 1: this on the show. Most federal student loans right now
Speaker 1: qualify for a six month deferment. You're not accruing any
Speaker 1: sort of interest on those loans, and you're also don't
Speaker 1: have to pay for six months, and it's automatic, which
Speaker 1: is great. But with private student loans, it's not the same.
Speaker 1: There are some proactive steps you need to take in
Speaker 1: order to put your private student loans on hold for
Speaker 1: these three months. Looks at the how two of that
Speaker 1: stuff later on in this episode, but it's important to note.
Speaker 1: I love that you said too that if you don't
Speaker 1: live in one of those ten states that has disagreement,
Speaker 1: you know what, that is an opportunity for you to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, student loan servicing company, you have this
Speaker 1: agreement with these other tense states. I don't live in
Speaker 1: one of those states? Can you still honor that agreement
Speaker 1: for me? I think that's a great question. That's kind
Speaker 1: of one of those little pieces of negotiation that you
Speaker 1: could implement if you're not grafted in essentially to this
Speaker 1: plan that's been developed with with a bunch of states,
Speaker 1: I mean, and a quick point of clarification, let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and kind of define deferments. Uh, And that typically
Speaker 1: means being able to stop paying uh, you know, a
Speaker 1: monthly bill for a set period of time without accruing interest,
Speaker 1: or as a forbearance is skipping out on those payments,
Speaker 1: but during that period of time it is accruing interest.
Speaker 1: So deferment is a little bit better than a forbearance,
Speaker 1: but both are nice. Yeah, alright, So let's talk about
Speaker 1: two other things that can be negotiated, Matt. One that
Speaker 1: I think people also really rarely consider is negotiating the
Speaker 1: amount here paying for rent. Right, I getta say, I
Speaker 1: hope none of my tenants are listening to this show
Speaker 1: right now, But you totally can negotiate rent. And I've
Speaker 1: had tenants to do this in the past, and I've
Speaker 1: totally come to an agreement with them, and I actually
Speaker 1: respected and appreciated their willingness to partake negotiating with me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you appreciate them starting that conversation and talking to you
Speaker 1: about it. Right, you were defended, you were put off.
Speaker 1: I was not. I was not, but I'm also not
Speaker 1: selling grass fed beef. But maybe maybe I will that now.
Speaker 1: I just probably eat it all. But um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: especially in our current environment, I think that there's an
Speaker 1: increased ability for tenants to negotiate their rent. Right. In particular,
Speaker 1: if you've been a great tenant that takes care of
Speaker 1: the place, you pay on time, asking for a discount
Speaker 1: makes sense to me. You can even sweeten the pot
Speaker 1: by signing a longer lease term, and I think this
Speaker 1: makes the landlord more likely to agree awesent times in negotiations,
Speaker 1: there is a give and a take, right, and this
Speaker 1: is a particular example where you can say, listen, i
Speaker 1: want to pay a little bit less in rent, but
Speaker 1: I'm willing to sign a longer term in order to
Speaker 1: make that worthier while. And so yeah, make sure in
Speaker 1: your negotiation strategies, especially if you're talking to a landlord
Speaker 1: about what your rent is going to be, what what
Speaker 1: your monthly payment amount is going to be, make sure
Speaker 1: you're offering them some sort of incentive to make it
Speaker 1: worth their while. But I think if you're doing that,
Speaker 1: you can definitely negotiate your rent. And that's thing that
Speaker 1: people just don't think to do very often. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: real quickly. Your rent amount might be negotiable, but typically
Speaker 1: your mortgage payment is not. However, on previous episodes, we've
Speaker 1: talked about the mortgage forbearance programs that they have set
Speaker 1: up with mortgages that are backed by Fannie May Freddie Mack. Essentially,
Speaker 1: if you have a mortgage that is backed by those
Speaker 1: federal programs, and you're able to prove your need for
Speaker 1: that forbearance program, that could be something that you can
Speaker 1: take part of. Yeah, your monthly mortgage amount not typically
Speaker 1: something that you can negotiate. It's a term that you've
Speaker 1: agreed to over an extended period of time, typically fifteen
Speaker 1: or thirty years. Right, So you can't just call up
Speaker 1: your lender and say I don't want to pay a month,
Speaker 1: I want to pay dollars a month. They're gonna laugh
Speaker 1: at you, right, and they're gonna say you didn't pay
Speaker 1: the full amount, and you're gonna run into some major
Speaker 1: issues there. But right now, when it comes to the
Speaker 1: forbearance that you're being offered, you do have some ground
Speaker 1: to stand on when it comes to negotiation, and especially
Speaker 1: like we talked about Matt. The forbearance that homeowners are
Speaker 1: supposed to receive right now is only for people with
Speaker 1: Fannie and Freddie backed mortgages. But let's say you have
Speaker 1: a mortgage that is not backed by Family or Freddie. Well,
Speaker 1: just like we talked about with those private student loans,
Speaker 1: this is a perfect time to tell your mortgage service
Speaker 1: or hey, look what's being offered to a huge segment
Speaker 1: of the population, to most Americans. I know that my
Speaker 1: mortgage is not backed by Fanni or Freddie, But can
Speaker 1: you still give me the terms that are offered to
Speaker 1: most of these people. Pointing out that that option exists
Speaker 1: for so many other people, I think gives you a
Speaker 1: leg to stand on. It gives you just this perfect
Speaker 1: point of reference that makes it way more likely that
Speaker 1: you're gonna have some sort of success in getting forbearance.
Speaker 1: That can be meaningful and helpful. And if you're wondering
Speaker 1: if you have a mortgage that is backed by Fannie
Speaker 1: or Freddy, we'll put some links in our show notes
Speaker 1: where you can enter in your address and it'll let
Speaker 1: you know instantly whether or not you are automatically eligible
Speaker 1: for that program. Joel. Something else that you can negotiate
Speaker 1: is your credit card. You can ask your credit card
Speaker 1: company for a month of deferment, and you could also
Speaker 1: ask for your annual fee to be waived. Specifically, if
Speaker 1: you have a travel rewards card, you likely aren't using
Speaker 1: it like you were three months ago, so your credit
Speaker 1: card company might just go ahead and wave that fee
Speaker 1: just to keep you using that card and keep you
Speaker 1: from closing that card. Yeah, that involves making a phone call.
Speaker 1: That involves asking, right and and attempting to get some
Speaker 1: of that money back. Right that you would normally spend
Speaker 1: on an annual fee, and you could just close the
Speaker 1: card and be done with it. But as things begin
Speaker 1: to revert to, you know, a little bit more normal,
Speaker 1: who knows how long it will be, you might not
Speaker 1: necessarily want to cut that card out of your life,
Speaker 1: but you can cut the annual fee out of your life.
Speaker 1: That's definitely worth looking into, worth asking about. Man, It's
Speaker 1: important to to note right now that negotiating some bills
Speaker 1: are gonna have negative side effects, So let's talk about
Speaker 1: that too, like a potential hit to your credit score
Speaker 1: for negotiating a bill. So it's important to ask your
Speaker 1: credit card servicer or your mortgage provider if they're going
Speaker 1: to report any changes in standing to the credit bureaus. So,
Speaker 1: for example, if you negotiate a settlement with the credit
Speaker 1: card company, right, and this is not about eliminating a
Speaker 1: an annual fee, that should not have any negative impact
Speaker 1: on your credit score. But let's say you owe them
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars and you called them up and you say, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: I've only got will you take this and and consider
Speaker 1: my debt paid in full? Sometimes they will take you
Speaker 1: up on that offer, and that sounds awesome, right, that
Speaker 1: sounds perfect. You've just negotiated a settlement. You now owe
Speaker 1: less debt than you did. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you could owe tax on the forgiven amount, and you
Speaker 1: could be taking a negative hit to your credit score
Speaker 1: for years to come, which can cost you in other ways.
Speaker 1: So it's important to note that there are sometimes when
Speaker 1: negotiating it seems like a really good deal and it
Speaker 1: seems like it's going to be a big help to you,
Speaker 1: and it can actually adversely affect you in other ways. So,
Speaker 1: in particular, if you're trying to negotiate a payoff a
Speaker 1: settlement amount for credit card debt, that's something you wanna
Speaker 1: you want to make sure you're aware of it could
Speaker 1: have other negative, unintended consequences. Yeah, it's important to go
Speaker 1: into those negotiations with your eyes open and knowing that
Speaker 1: that's the possibility. Yeah. We talked recently with Thomas Niche
Speaker 1: from Money Management International, not for profit credit counseling agency.
Speaker 1: Those not for profit credit counselors can really help walk
Speaker 1: you through that kind of stuff so that you're not
Speaker 1: shooting yourself in the foot when you think you're negotiating
Speaker 1: something down and and doing something awesome for yourself. If
Speaker 1: you haven't listened to that episode, we would highly recommend
Speaker 1: that if all this sounds important to you, impertinent, that
Speaker 1: was episode one. Joel car Loans, let's talk about those
Speaker 1: if if you're in a hardship situation, there's a good
Speaker 1: chance you can get relief from a major lender in
Speaker 1: that industry, but refinancing might make even more sense, especially
Speaker 1: if you have a high interest rate and you know,
Speaker 1: while we would want you to be out of debt
Speaker 1: as soon as possible, anyway, for your individual specific situation,
Speaker 1: it might make more sense to extend the term of
Speaker 1: the loan in order to reduce your payments now if
Speaker 1: you're not able to make those payments, but honestly, in
Speaker 1: the end, like we do not want you to have
Speaker 1: car loans or credit card debt. So yeah, negotiating those
Speaker 1: interest rates down, uh, forbearance on payments. It's going to
Speaker 1: see those options as kind of temporary relief, while your
Speaker 1: ultimate goal should be to be out from under those altogether. Yeah,
Speaker 1: credit card debt and and car loans, those are things
Speaker 1: that we don't like from the get go. We encourage
Speaker 1: people not to have either ever. Right, That's that's what
Speaker 1: we're all about, Matt. Medical bills or another place where
Speaker 1: people can negotiate. And actually, I would say one of
Speaker 1: the bills that is most important and potentially easiest to
Speaker 1: negotiate too. But medical bills are a pain. But if
Speaker 1: you have lower income, you can especially be helped by
Speaker 1: negotiating medical bills that you have right thinking about treatment
Speaker 1: and costs before you get a procedure. Well, that's the
Speaker 1: best course of action, and it can help you avoid
Speaker 1: medical bill shock getting that bill in the mail and
Speaker 1: freaking out over the total that you that you have
Speaker 1: to pay. And it's important to make sure to get
Speaker 1: the explanation of benefits, so you can know how to
Speaker 1: attack the negotiations on any medical bill you receive, but
Speaker 1: then reach out to your ensure and find out why
Speaker 1: they aren't covering certain portions. It's important to make that
Speaker 1: phone call. Also asked to speak to a patient advocate
Speaker 1: at the hospital. They can often help you lower the
Speaker 1: overall bill or potentially help you get complete forgiveness of
Speaker 1: that bill, especially Matt. Like I said, depending on your income,
Speaker 1: depending on your a g I from last year, that
Speaker 1: can have a major impact on whether or not you're
Speaker 1: able to get a massive discount or even full forgiveness
Speaker 1: of of a medical bill for treatment that perceived angel
Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know how easy that might be. I
Speaker 1: can personally attest to this. We had a bill from
Speaker 1: an antithesiologist for the birth of one of our girls,
Speaker 1: uh you know, when Kate got the epidural, and that
Speaker 1: bill was something like from that doctor's office, from that
Speaker 1: service provider, And that was also a birth that we
Speaker 1: paid for in cash and a lot of the amounts
Speaker 1: we worked out ahead of time, but this was one
Speaker 1: that we weren't planning on because we weren't planning on
Speaker 1: the epidural. But then we ended up needing it due
Speaker 1: to the immediate circumstances in pain we've found ourselves in.
Speaker 1: But so what I did. I called up the office
Speaker 1: and dude, I'm not even kidding. I spent five minutes
Speaker 1: on the phone, and spending five minutes on the phone,
Speaker 1: they took it from down to fift dollars. You sound
Speaker 1: like a guy Co commercial right now, Dude. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: And I was so stoked, like I was jacked. I was.
Speaker 1: I was like I could believe it, Like how much
Speaker 1: they were able to take off without me even hardly asking.
Speaker 1: And so I was like, well, shoot, I'm gonna press
Speaker 1: my luck a little bit. So I stayed on the
Speaker 1: phone with him and I was like, hey, look, you know,
Speaker 1: this isn't a bill that we were expecting. We weren't
Speaker 1: planning on this. Is there any way we can get
Speaker 1: it down even more? And I think I spent like
Speaker 1: another five minutes on the phone, and we got it
Speaker 1: down from the second five minutes wasn't nearly worth the
Speaker 1: same amount of the first five minutes was, but I'll
Speaker 1: take it. We're able to get our bill downs literally
Speaker 1: by spending about ten minutes on the phone. A lot
Speaker 1: of these offices. They're they're billing at their standard insurance
Speaker 1: rate or just at the standard listed rate that they
Speaker 1: normally do business app but just with a quick little
Speaker 1: phone call and they realized that they're dealing with an individual,
Speaker 1: that's all let's look for them to to gladly meet
Speaker 1: me in the middle like that, and they were happy
Speaker 1: that they got their bill paid. I was happy to
Speaker 1: be able to pay away less. Yeah, Matt, I had
Speaker 1: to have something done at the end of last year,
Speaker 1: and I think the cash rate was like four d
Speaker 1: seventy dollars and the rate they build the insurance company
Speaker 1: was bucks. Think I think the insurance company actually ends
Speaker 1: up paying close to seven hundred. Unfortunately I met my
Speaker 1: deductible for the year, but I think the portion I
Speaker 1: would have been responsible for was like six hundred bucks.
Speaker 1: So it would have been better for me from the
Speaker 1: get go just to just to negotiate a cash rate
Speaker 1: if I hadn't met my deductible. And that's what can
Speaker 1: be confusing about about negotiating a medical bill. But they're
Speaker 1: all sorts of things that are considering worth looking into
Speaker 1: if you really want to negotiate that kind of debt, right,
Speaker 1: But let's talk about some of the tactics that people
Speaker 1: need to know in order to negotiate effectively, because there
Speaker 1: are specific ways to approach the actual process of negotiating
Speaker 1: things in your life, and we'll get to some of
Speaker 1: those right after the break. All right, man, we're back
Speaker 1: from the break and we're talking about negotiating bills. And
Speaker 1: you know, the first thing to realize is that lenders,
Speaker 1: h debt services, service providers. They're all still looking to
Speaker 1: run a business, right, and so while there are often
Speaker 1: provisions in place that allow for some discounts or you know, forbearance,
Speaker 1: they're not going to be pounding on your door to
Speaker 1: make sure that you're taking advantage of these forgiveness measures.
Speaker 1: And so it's important to mention that because we need
Speaker 1: to make sure that we are taking a proactive approach
Speaker 1: when it comes to the bills that we receive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: part of that involves research, right. An important aspect of
Speaker 1: taking these proactive steps are knowing what competitors are offering.
Speaker 1: So if you're looking to negotiate, know what offers are
Speaker 1: in the market. Right. In order to use the law
Speaker 1: of supply and demand to your advantage, you have to
Speaker 1: be aware of the supply. For example, if you're trying
Speaker 1: to to do a refinance right now, take advantage of
Speaker 1: the uber low rates, which we talked about on the
Speaker 1: show pretty recently. You have a massive advantage if you've
Speaker 1: gotten multiple quotes from different lenders, because if there's one
Speaker 1: letter you specifically want to go with, well, you can
Speaker 1: hold up the rates that you're being offered by other
Speaker 1: lenders and see if they will meet it right, see
Speaker 1: if they will provide you with the same great deal
Speaker 1: or maybe even beat the best deal you've gotten. That's
Speaker 1: the power of research, of knowing what's out there, of
Speaker 1: knowing the deals that are offered by other competitors. So
Speaker 1: as you begin your process of negotiating bills, UH, an
Speaker 1: important quality to have is persistence. You know you might
Speaker 1: need to call back and talk to someone else if
Speaker 1: you're trying to work something out with a company. You know,
Speaker 1: have you ever gotten a massively unhelpful customer service representative?
Speaker 1: Never had that happen. We've all been there, and so
Speaker 1: you know, in that instance, maybe politely and of that
Speaker 1: conversation and calling back to speak with someone else, that
Speaker 1: can make all the difference in the world. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: might have gotten the wrong department, or maybe you just
Speaker 1: caught somebody you know on on a bad day, So
Speaker 1: just make sure to ask if there is another department
Speaker 1: that handles bill negotiation requests. Yeah, it's amazing how that
Speaker 1: one person can make a big difference, and sometimes you
Speaker 1: can chalk it up to just someone having a bad
Speaker 1: day and you've got to speak to somebody else. So,
Speaker 1: for example, the major internet and TV providers, they have
Speaker 1: a customer retention department, Right, Matt, you just mentioned getting
Speaker 1: the wrong department. Well, that department in particular has far
Speaker 1: more abilities to help you lower that bill. If you
Speaker 1: call just a main customer service line, you're gonna get stini,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get stone walled, and that normal customer service
Speaker 1: rep just has their hands tied. And sometimes it takes
Speaker 1: you having to say that you're looking to cancel your
Speaker 1: service to get to the customer retention department to be
Speaker 1: able to actually get help, to be able to actually
Speaker 1: get traction on getting a reduced bill, on negotiating what
Speaker 1: your monthly rate is, and something else that's worth mentioning to.
Speaker 1: Just given the current times that we're finding ourselves in,
Speaker 1: given the economic downturn, with a lot of people having
Speaker 1: issues with their finances. But a lot of the phone
Speaker 1: lines have been come really slammed for these different financial
Speaker 1: service companies. So if you're having trouble getting through, keep trying,
Speaker 1: even though it can be frustrating. If if that's your
Speaker 1: preferred way of communicating with these different companies, keep making
Speaker 1: those calls. You're gonna need to be patient. Also try
Speaker 1: some alternative methods of getting in touch as well. You
Speaker 1: can look online, going to the different chat features that
Speaker 1: they offer. Those are my favorite because I can kind
Speaker 1: of do those at my own pace, and then once
Speaker 1: they've agreed to it, I screenshot it and I've got
Speaker 1: proof you know that they're going to fix my problem.
Speaker 1: But then there's also a website called get human dot
Speaker 1: com where there are numbers that can get you directly
Speaker 1: to some of the different departments that you're looking for
Speaker 1: when it comes to some of these different financial service providers.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about what you do when you
Speaker 1: actually get somebody on the phone. And I would say
Speaker 1: the best way to go scream at them. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, yell and scream as long as you can,
Speaker 1: and I think the decibel level that you that you
Speaker 1: can reach directly corresponds to the amount of stavings here
Speaker 1: and receive right. I like it good approach. Now, I
Speaker 1: would say losing your cool or getting argumentative is never
Speaker 1: going to help your case. And I think you have
Speaker 1: to put yourself into position of the customer service rep. Right.
Speaker 1: I mean, how would you feel after answering calls from
Speaker 1: ad two mostly ungrateful humans every day. Probably probably not great? Right?
Speaker 1: And if you can kindly connect with the representative that
Speaker 1: that answers you, if you can stay calm in the conversation,
Speaker 1: your likelihood of making progress is a lot higher even
Speaker 1: connecting with them on a semi personal level. Nobody does that,
Speaker 1: So if you can be the person that does, you
Speaker 1: can stand out from the crowd and you're much more
Speaker 1: likely to actually see movement on your issue. No one
Speaker 1: wants to help someone who's argumentative, rude, and completely impersonal,
Speaker 1: so we would say be polite yet firm. I think
Speaker 1: if you can strike that balance, uh, stick off your
Speaker 1: rights in the negotiation, ask for what you feel like
Speaker 1: you deserve. You know, present that research like we mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: but be calm while you're doing it. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: like what else you said there, Man, like beyond being
Speaker 1: calm and polite, but like trying to find a way
Speaker 1: to connect with them personally, like ask how they're doing
Speaker 1: right now. That's totally a way to stand out, right,
Speaker 1: Like if you're able to kind of break through just
Speaker 1: the kind of you know, process of just them listening
Speaker 1: to people yell at them and saying, yes, I can
Speaker 1: click and do this. But if you yeah, I can
Speaker 1: kind of like snap them out of it a little
Speaker 1: bit and they're like, oh, actually, yeah, I'm doing pretty good,
Speaker 1: or you know, I'm I'm doing pretty terrible. But just
Speaker 1: like basically treating them like a human Like if you're
Speaker 1: able to kind of see them as another human being
Speaker 1: versus someone who basically is standing in between you and
Speaker 1: you know you getting what you want ideas to not
Speaker 1: treat them like an object or a tool, but to yeah,
Speaker 1: I see them as an actual human being. And something
Speaker 1: else that's helpful is being willing to to walk away.
Speaker 1: You know, this doesn't apply to every negotiation scenario out there.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you know you're gonna be talking to the company
Speaker 1: who is your only option, Like in the case of
Speaker 1: maybe talking to your mortgage provider, you can't easily swap
Speaker 1: mortgage providers. That's an expensive refine there. Yeah, that's an
Speaker 1: expensive negotiation. Um. But you know, if you do have
Speaker 1: some other choices, be willing to take your business somewhere else.
Speaker 1: Our ability to to vote with our wallet is so crucial,
Speaker 1: and that's really important as well if if negotiations fall flat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's a pain to switch companies. You don't really
Speaker 1: want to, But if you're going to lead a successful negotiation,
Speaker 1: you have to be willing to walk away to a competitor.
Speaker 1: And the great thing is is in our country, we
Speaker 1: have so many service providers that are available to us
Speaker 1: typically in most situations. Now there's some monopolies, but very few. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's pretty easy to find somebody else who can provide
Speaker 1: what we want for the price we want if we
Speaker 1: can't get what we want from the company we're currently with.
Speaker 1: So you know, when we're talking about walking away, sometimes
Speaker 1: negotiating isn't even the best tactic, right shopping with other providers?
Speaker 1: Is you have to ask, am I even going to
Speaker 1: get the best deal if I negotiate? Or is this
Speaker 1: just wasted time? Maybe you should be shopping the open
Speaker 1: market in order to score even bigger savings. Like, for example,
Speaker 1: you could try and haggle with a big company like
Speaker 1: Verizon to get your phone bill down ten or twenty bucks.
Speaker 1: And that might sound smart, right, ten or twenty bucks save,
Speaker 1: that's great, But those Verizon phone bills are really really
Speaker 1: expensive for a Verizon bill. That's only right exactly. But
Speaker 1: you could instead switch to a company like Visible Mobile
Speaker 1: right who offers a month plans, and you're saving roughly
Speaker 1: off your off your current Verizon bill, And there are
Speaker 1: other great cell phone providers to Mitmobile, Republic Wireless. But
Speaker 1: in that case, negotiation makes absolutely no sense. You're banging
Speaker 1: your head against the wall in hopes of a really
Speaker 1: small discount when shopping is going to give you the
Speaker 1: far bigger discount. So make sure that you don't necessarily
Speaker 1: resort to negotiation no matter the circumstance. Make sure that
Speaker 1: you're picking the moments, picking the companies, and finding the
Speaker 1: times where negotiation does make sense, and then shopping around
Speaker 1: in the times where negotiation just doesn't make any sense
Speaker 1: at all. Yeah, I man, you know the fact is
Speaker 1: that we can't successfully negotiate your bill in every single case.
Speaker 1: You know, I've seen way too many people get stressed
Speaker 1: over intense negotiations with a service provider when the stakes
Speaker 1: are just too low, too small to even matter. So
Speaker 1: know how much you could save by negotiating before you
Speaker 1: even begin the process. You don't want to win the
Speaker 1: battle with just this one specific company, but then lose
Speaker 1: the overall war of your personal finances, of your life.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't want to spend eight hours on
Speaker 1: the phone negotiating with some giant company. Uh, it's not
Speaker 1: gonna get you very far. To make sure that you're
Speaker 1: picking your battles. Yeah, so hopefully, I think, Matt. In
Speaker 1: this episode, we've covered some potential places in your life
Speaker 1: with different financial services companies that you do business with,
Speaker 1: where you can negotiate that maybe you thought it wasn't
Speaker 1: possible before. Hopefully we've given people some tactics to consider
Speaker 1: and just an overall realization that negotiations should be a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a part of their life than
Speaker 1: it currently is because it can make a difference in
Speaker 1: your monthly bills, It can save you some money, and
Speaker 1: you know what, negotiation also not always the best option.
Speaker 1: Walking away shopping around can sometimes save you even more money.
Speaker 1: That's right, man, So let's go ahead and kick it
Speaker 1: back to the beer. This episode, we had a Tampa
Speaker 1: time Share, which we don't recommend time shares, by the way,
Speaker 1: but this is a Tampa time Share grapefruit basil goza,
Speaker 1: and this one was brewed by Wrecking Bar brew pup
Speaker 1: here in Atlanta. That's only a few miles from where
Speaker 1: we live. You're you actually live a little bit closer
Speaker 1: to it than I do. But what were your thoughts
Speaker 1: on this beer? Buddy oh Man? This one was really good.
Speaker 1: It was a little bit salty, a lot of basil,
Speaker 1: a splash of great fruit juiciness, and I thought the
Speaker 1: flavors melted incredibly well together in this beer. And I
Speaker 1: love the name Tampa time Share. I love that name.
Speaker 1: It's so good. It's like a throwback name. Like you
Speaker 1: hear time Shared. It makes me think of like themed
Speaker 1: cruise ships and like like or themed restaurants maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: just like that whole kind of like seventies eighties era
Speaker 1: kind of life. Yeah. I felt like to this beer
Speaker 1: could have been maybe too heavily sweet potentially, but it wasn't.
Speaker 1: These flavors are hard to get right and they're hard
Speaker 1: to balance well in a beer. I feel like they
Speaker 1: hit the notes quite nicely with the basil and the
Speaker 1: grapefruit and the salt, and it's just perfect beach summer beer.
Speaker 1: Makes me look forward to our upcoming beach trips. Oh heck, yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: this is a beer that I want to drink on
Speaker 1: the beach while we're playing spike Ball or something like that. Oh,
Speaker 1: most definitely, man. And the style of beer. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of folks refer to them as Florida vices,
Speaker 1: and I guess the story goes is that they were
Speaker 1: kind of developed by these beeries down in Florida because
Speaker 1: it's really hot. They're hot and human, and so they
Speaker 1: wanted these light, easy drinking beers. But um, I'm with
Speaker 1: you as far as it not being overly sweet. That's salt, man.
Speaker 1: It just gives it this savory, briany profile and makes
Speaker 1: it taste more like this is gonna sound weird, but
Speaker 1: it kind of makes it taste a little bit more
Speaker 1: like chicken noodle soup than it is like a fruit pop,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Like that brian Nous has
Speaker 1: an element of like, oh no, this is dinner, this
Speaker 1: isn't dessert, But it totally has like that herbally basil upfront,
Speaker 1: but then after you swile and you kind of taste
Speaker 1: the beer. The lingering flavors are totally weedy. I love
Speaker 1: that um and it also it kind of makes me
Speaker 1: think of like a basil lime gimlet. Uh, if you're
Speaker 1: had one of those. No, I haven't, but one of
Speaker 1: those recently I could taste. It's like basil lime and
Speaker 1: Jim it sounds wonderful. This was a great beer, especially
Speaker 1: for the summertime. Avery, Buddy, Well, that's gonna be it
Speaker 1: for this episode. For folks who want show notes for
Speaker 1: this episode, you can check out our website at how
Speaker 1: to money dot com. And if you're listening to this
Speaker 1: episode and you can think of a specific person who
Speaker 1: you know would benefit from hearing about negotiating bills, maybe
Speaker 1: this is someone who you know hates to negotiate, but
Speaker 1: they really need to hear it because they're overpaying in
Speaker 1: every aspect of life. Uh, send this episode to them.
Speaker 1: You can even negotiate that you would listen to one
Speaker 1: of their favorite podcast episodes too. Yeah, like a little
Speaker 1: trade off. You just start that conversation. That's what's really
Speaker 1: important here. I just don't expect them to listen to
Speaker 1: it right, But of course, if you're not already a subscriber,
Speaker 1: we would love for you to hit subscribe. Make sure
Speaker 1: you don't miss any future episodes that are going to
Speaker 1: come out. All right, Bunny, Well, that's gonna be up
Speaker 1: for this episode until next time. Best Friends Out, Best
Speaker 1: Friends Out,