MattBlerg

198 posts
Email: [email protected] Twitters: @MattBlerg

A Reason, A Season, or A Lifetime

They look like friends for life.

I have been putting off meeting with two girls from grad school for the longest time.

One worked in the grad office with me throughout our time in school. We were ok friends; hung out outside of school and campus events sometimes, but she moved away for a while and we kind of lost touch. The other I had one or two classes with and I don’t think I ever hung out with outside of school or school functions. She was more of a colleague than a friend. I’ve bumped into both these girls around campus a few times since this semester has started, making a promise to have some drinks and catch up. We were supposed to get together on Wednesday, but they changed the location from my usual Wednesday hangout spot to one of their apartments. Continue reading →

Gap Closing a Third of all US Stores

Today Gap announced that they are closing one third of their U.S. stores to focus on international growth. Folks, you might have to get those flat front chinos somewhere else. Or maybe you already are and that’s why they have to close all these stores. Shoppers are abandoning Gap’s classic looks for stores with trendier options. The chain expects to remove nearly one million square feet from its Old Navy stores by the end of fiscal year 2013 as well. No word on whether Gap’s upscale store, Banana Republic, will be affected by store closings. Continue reading →

So Long Free Debit Card

If you’ve ever thought about switching from your Big Bad Bank to a Small Community Bank, now might be the time. Bank of America announced that it will charge their customers a $5 monthly fee to use their debit card for purchases. The way to get out of this fee is to not use your debit card for purchases. However you can still access ATMs to withdraw money without incurring the fee.

I’m a reluctant Chase (read: former WaMu) customer, and I can only assume that it’s a matter of time before they start charging to use their debit card as well. The only thing keeping me from switching is that there are thousands of ATMs in the cities that I frequently visit that I can use for free. But at what point is the convenience of having a bank where you can access ATMs fee free worth it?

Image via Flickr.