It's That Time Of Year Again - To Ask For A Gift

Time to ask your credit card companies for a gift - a credit limit increase. I have a detailed post on why you want to do this here, but the short version is:

1. Increasing your credit limit, decreases your credit utilization, which increases your credit score. See the above referenced post for why.
2. This assumes you do not go out and spend your new credit. If you can't control yourself, don't do this.

I got my credit limit increased by $3,000 on one card and $6,000 on another. My wife had an unsolicited credit increase on one of her card at the end of October, so I didn't need to try to increase that card and I scored a $5,000 increase on her other card.

Both of our Discover cards increased our credit limit without performing a credit check. It was a simple on-line request that was approved instantly. My Chase card did perform a credit check - I think. I had to email their customer support asking for the increase and, as part of that process, I said I agreed to them pulling my credit report. A couple days later, I got a report from my credit monitoring service saying Chase performed a credit check, so I know they actually did pull my report.

I have one other credit card, from Bank Of America. They said they would need to pull my credit report and I opted to not go forward with that one. It's a card I almost never use. In fact, I only got it to use on a trip overseas two years ago. I figured the benefit of the higher credit limit for a card I rarely use would not be worth the temporary credit score hit of a second hard credit check.

Take a minute or two before the holiday craziness kicks in and ask for a Christmas gift for yourself this year. It sounds counter-intuitive, but a credit limit increase can actually improve your credit score!

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How I Almost Fell For A Slick New Phishing Scam

I like to think that I am fairly savvy when it comes to phishing scams, but I came very close to falling for one last week. It was pretty slick and if I was not sitting at my computer when the call came in, I might have been a victim.

The Scam

I get so many telemarketing calls on my cell phone these days, I never answer the phone unless it’s from a number I know. One of the tricks telemarketers are using now is to fake a local number that shows up on your caller ID. This is called “neighbor spoofing” and the thinking is that people will be more likely to answer a call from an unknown number if it looks like it’s from someone nearby. This is actually pretty easy for me to spot because last year, I moved from Arizona to Washington, but I kept my same cell phone number, which has an Arizona area code. If it’s a neighbor or local business calling me, they will have a Washington phone number, not Arizona, so I simply ignore all calls from Arizona that I don’t recognize.

But the call I received last week was from an 866 number, so I answered it. The person on the line claimed to be from Verizon and was calling to confirm that an authorized user on my account had ordered 4 new phones. He claimed the person was waiting on his other line while he authorized the transaction.

Of course, I said I did not authorize this. The caller than said they would help me press charges if I wanted to and said they would help me change the password to my Verizon account.

This is where I was glad I was at my computer when this call came in. As soon as I was told this guy was an authorized user on my account, I logged in to the Verizon website to look for his name. While I was doing this, the scammer told me I should reset my password and, if I wanted, he could initiate that for me. Of course, I said ok. He said I would be getting a text message from Verizon with a password reset link. He wanted me to tell him when the text arrived – which it did seconds later.

But at this point, I was already logged in to my account, so I asked the scammer where on my account I could find the authorized users page. He told me I would not be able to log in to the account because he just reset my password – which was true because I just got the text message. I told him I was already logged in to my account, which I had done before he reset the password, so where could I see the list of authorized users? At this point, he hung up, which was a pretty clear indication this was a scam 😀

He was able to actually reset my password, so I did have to go through that process, but the scammer no had no way to get that new password and my account was still safe. After giving this some thought, I think I figured out how this scam works.

Here’s How It Was Supposed To Go

This scam is possible because the Verizon website allows you to log in using your phone number as well as a username. Because phone companies are assigned blocks of numbers, it’s very easy to tell what phone company a particular number is from. The scammers had my phone number and could tell I was with Verizon.

For better security, they should not allow a phone number here

So they call me up, claim to be from Verizon, and make me think my account has been hacked. When I agree to have them help me reset my password, they enter my phone number on the Verizon website and click the “Forgot my password” link. This brings you to a page where you can enter your user ID or phone number. The scammer enters my phone number and Verizon resets my password and sends me a text message with a link to create a new one.

Had I not become suspicious at this point, causing the scammer to hang up, I’m pretty sure his next step would be to have me read him the reset link from the text message to “confirm” I got it. If I read the link to him, he would enter it into his browser and change my password to whatever he wanted, thus gaining control of my account.

This is probably not what would happen though, because I would immediately be locked out of my account, which would raise my suspicions. Instead, I think he would have entered the link on his computer and asked me to give him a new password, which he would type in himself. Now he would have access to my account, but so would I and I would not be suspicious at all. He can hang up and get into my account at any time to do whatever nefarious things he was planning on. Sure, I could have changed my password again after I got off the phone, but why would I? I should be thinking I was dealing legitimately with Verizon and everything was taken care of.

Pretty Slick

This was a pretty slick scam for a couple of reasons. First, it used Verizon’s legitimate password reset tool. Second, he told me the supposed phone buyer was still on the line and that he would help me press charges. This does two things: it creates a false sense of urgency and it appeals to my desire to prosecute someone scamming me, both thoughts that are designed to make me eager to work quickly with the real scammer and not think too hard about what is going on. Lastly, and this is based on my conjecture on how this scam would have concluded, it gets the scammer access to my account without immediately raising my suspicions, giving him precious time to rip me off before I take notice.

How To Avoid Scams

I got lucky in that I was able to force the scammer off-script by immediately logging into my account before he could initiate the password reset. At that point, he didn’t know how to proceed, so he just hung up. But even if you aren’t able to log in to your account while the scam is in progress, there are a couple of things to remember that would protect you from this.

The password reset process is designed to be completely automated. There is never a need to speak to someone. This is simply a matter of cost control for companies. It would be too expensive to have help desk people taking calls from people who forgot their password. Therefore, the entire process is designed to be done without any assistance from a live person at the company.

There is never, ever a need to tell your password to anyone, even if they legitimately work for the company. They don’t need to know it. Furthermore, they don’t want to know it because that creates a legal liability for the company. Suppose a bank requires you to tell your password to their phone agent. That agent can make a note if it, go home, and access your account. Or sell that password to someone else. In short, it’s a huge security risk for the company, so they have designed their systems so that their agents can perform legitimate tasks without your password.

Keep these tips in mind and you will go a long way towards keeping yourself safe from phishing scams.

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Two Month Ownership Update

I've owned my Model S for almost two months now, so I thought I'd post another update on my ownership experience.

Electricity Cost

I recently got my first electric bill that included a full month of Tesla ownership. You may recall that I estimated my monthly Tesla electricity costs to be around $42.74. And although that was what I calculated, I actually have budgeted $50.

Turned out, I was pretty close. My electricity bill for September was $86.64 and for October was $132.82. That's an increase of $46.18. I did own the Tesla for a bit of September, so it's not quite an apples to apples comparison, but it's close enough for me. The weather here is starting to grow colder, so electricity costs for the car will creep up a bit, then decrease again in the spring as temperatures rise.

There are a couple reasons for this. First, batteries don't perform as well when they are cold. In fact, Teslas have a battery heater to keep the batteries from getting too cold. And B, when the batteries are very cold, the car limits regenerative charging until the batteries are heated. I have yet to see this happen (an indicator is displayed on the dash), but so far, it's only gotten down to the low 50s in my area. When December and January roll around and temperatures drop to the 30s, I expect to see this more frequently. Of course, if regenerative charging is reduced, that will increase the power needed from the wall connector to charge. Lastly, when it is colder, I'll probably be using the heater more. The seat heaters are more energy efficient, so owners tend to use those more than the cabin air heaters to stay warm. I'm not sure which method I will use more often. I will say that I like the heated steering wheel. My hands often get cold on my morning commute and gripping a warm steering wheel helps keep my fingers toasty!

Service Visit

I took my car in for some minor servicing. After driving it for a week or two, I noticed it seemed to be pulling to the left a bit, so I needed an alignment. I also found two paint issues on the hood - one was a small chip and the other looked like a little imperfection in the paint - like a small paint bubble was there and popped during drying. I also noticed the edges of the rear spoiler weren't firmly attached to the hatchback.

Tesla service was quite professional. A technician took my car for a drive and confirmed the alignment issue and also checked the paint. He said the paint issues were probably from debris while the car was being shipped to my delivery location on a carrier. The spoiler has to be replaced - they can't just glue the corners down. They didn't have a replacement spoiler in stock, so that is still on order.

All work was done with no charge and I was given an older Model S as a loaner while they worked on my car. They originally wanted to charge me for the alignment, but I said the car only had 1,000 miles on it (at the time), and I had noticed the alignment issue since I first picked the car up. I admitted it was probably my fault for not bringing it to their attention sooner and if they had to charge me, I would understand. My service adviser consulted with his manager and she approved a no charge alignment, which was nice.

Paint Coating

I opted to get a ceramic paint coating applied to the car. After reading comments from a bunch of other Tesla owners, I decided on Opti-Coat Pro. This is a ceramic coating that chemically bonds with the paint to form a protective barrier over the car. It takes a month to fully cure and harden, but once it does, it provides protection against chips, fading, and messes like bird droppings. It also helps keep a great shine on the paint and makes water bead more readily. When this coating is applied, any paint imperfections are basically frozen in place, so I wanted to get this done as soon as possible, before any washing swirls or polishing marks got into the paint. It was pricey (about $1,000), but I had that much saved in my auto maintenance budget for a planned suspension replacement on my old car, so I used those funds. I plan on keeping this car for at least 10 years, so I figure this was a good investment to keep it looking good.

Software Bug

I have come across a bug in the audio system. Twice now, the audio just didn't work. No radio, no Bluetooth audio from my phone. Even the turn signals stopped making sounds. The fix was to reboot the 17 inch main display. You can't do this while driving, but I pulled over and parked to do it. It only takes about 60 seconds for everything to come back online. Both times, this fixed the problem. This appears to be a known issue from at least a year ago. I forgot I can submit a bug report from the car, so I'll do that if it happens again.

Road Trip!

We've planned our first Tesla road trip! For the holiday season, we'll be driving down to Arizona to visit family. I spent a couple hours using the trip planner at EVTripping.com. We're going to try to make the entire trip using only free Tesla Superchargers. I've made a spreadsheet of our route (because I'm a geek that way) and it looks like the trip will take about 25 hours of driving and 7 hours of charging spread over a three day period.

Planning the trip was an exercise in juggling several variables. Not only do we have to plan how long to drive and where to stop and charge, but, because we are also taking our dog, we have to plan our overnight stays at hotels that accept pets.

Our first overnight stop will be in Mt. Shasta, California at the Best Western Plus Tree House hotel. This site has 4 Supercharger stations available at the hotel and there are 16 more right across the street. This will be interesting because the location is up in the mountains and the temperatures in December are in the mid 40s. That adds up to significant energy usage.

Our second overnight stop will be in Riverside, California. This stop is not quite as convenient, but only because we are travelling with a dog. There are 24 Superchargers on the top floor of a parking garage (open 24 hours and free for Tesla charging), but the closest hotel that accepts pets is about 10 miles away from there. Not bad, but not quite as convenient as charging right outside your hotel door. We'll have to stop and charge a bit on the way to the hotel (at the end of our full day of driving) and top off again the next day on the way out at the start of the next day. I want to leave Riverside with a full charge, because from there, we cross the California desert and don't charge again until we hit Quartzsite, just across the Arizona border. I'm pretty surprised we can go that far, actually. The trip planner says we can make it using only 65% of our battery. I used to make this trip when I drove from California to Arizona State University back when I was in college, so I know there is a serious elevation drop (about 3,400 feet, according to the trip planner), which is likely why the energy usage is low. And if things look a little dicey, there are a couple Superchargers in Indio where I can always top off. (Going back will be a different story, though. I haven't planned that trip yet.)

Hotel charges will be about $200 and I figure maybe $250 in food costs. That's one-way, so double that for the return trip. Energy is free, so I'm looking at about $900 total cost for the trip. A quick search on Travelocity shows a single round trip plane ticket for our travel dates is about $750, plus we'd also have to pay about $100 in pet fees. That means we're looking at a savings of about $1,450 over flying for my family of three plus dog. Of course, I'm trading time for money, but my wife and I both have vacation time we need to use before the end of the year and my daughter will be on winter break from school, so we've got the time to spare.

It's going to be a different type of road trip for us. We normally want to drive fast and get to our destination quickly. But with an electric car, we need to watch our speed (going over 80 MPH or so really burns energy) and we'll have to stop to charge every 2 hours or so. I think this will be a more relaxing drive (especially with Autopilot), but who knows. The slowness might drive us crazy.

Still Love It!

All in all, the car is amazing and I still love driving it every day. And it keeps getting better! Two days ago, the software was updated to include a "navigate on autopilot" feature. A new dash cam feature was also deployed as part of the recent Version 9 software update. It had some issues initially, like corrupting the thumb drive it stores files on if you didn't manually turn off recording before shutting off the car. A software update about a week later seems to have fixed that issue.

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