Hit and miss with the to do list this morning

When I was at my mom's on Saturday, rather than throwing misc mail in her wastebasket, I just put it all in my purse, because I'm pretty sure she goes back thru the wastebasket and pulls stuff back out! So, one of the things I put in my purse was this little 3 fold flyer about "rewards". Figured it was just junk mail. Well, now I know what/who she talked to for 20 minutes on July 11. It's some scam called "My Capital Rewards Membership" and for $18.35 a month you can get $100 a month in "rewards" and inside was stapled a piece of paper with this info and also saying "your monthly charge of $18.35 will automatically bill to the payment method you provided 30 days from now".  So, even though she swore she didn't give out any credit card or banking info, I am going to have to be on the lookout. IF she gave her credit card#, well, then I think we are safe, because on 7/13 is when I got the fraud alert for a $1 charge (not sure if they are related) and her card was cancelled and a new one received last week, so they won't have the new card#. Now I just have to make sure if/when they call her back (and I'm sure they will) she doesn't talk to them or give them her info again.

I finally was able to log in to her medicare advantage plan health insurance. But, it's still a crappy website because just about everything I click on says "not available at this time". It shows her payments, but nothing to set up auto payments. It shows she's had $38 in out of pocket so far, but shows no claims available (though she's been to the dr. 5 times). I'm trying to see if they have a mail order pharmacy (they'd better!) but even trying to put in her zip code to see available pharmacies gets a message that cannot be found at this time. I guess I'm going to have to call. I logged in again a little later and was as least able to get payment options. No way to pay online (good grief - it's 2020!) and to set up auto pay I had to print out a form, fill it out and mail it in. I was able to get that out in my mailbox this morning, before the carrier came. I also asked if I could pay her next premium over the phone, but they don't have that option.

I did have to call to figure out if mail order prescription is available and it is through Alliance Rx and I must register her with them. I tried to do that online, but I guess their website isn't fully working either, it won't let me complete the registration. It's like I can't quite get anything completed, LOL.

When she lived at her previous senior living apartment, cable was included in rent, but she got a statement from Xfinity every month, showing the $37 charge and then it would show $37 paid via credit card and zero balance. It confused her every single month. And for some reason the statements are still coming/being forwarded, which now confuses her even more so. I'm guessing her previous apartment hasn't rented her apt. out yet, so the name on the billing hasn't gotten changed. I knew her Xfinity log in so I just went in and changed it to paperless billing, haha. It goes to a comcast email that she never used/knew she had. So, one less thing to come in her mail. I had thought about calling her previous apartment, but figured I'd have to end up talking to 2 or 3 people and then of course it wouldn't get taken care of.  I found a link through the ftc.gov site to register (for $2 for 10 years) to cut down on junk mail, so I put her name and address in for that. Maybe it will help a little. I do have her cell phone and internet on paperless billing. If I can get this Blue Cross/Blue Shield figured out, I'd like to go with auto payments, paperless billing and paperless claims. I do have her doctors group set up with paperless billing to go to my email. I just paid her latest copay due with her credit card.

I wanted to just do an online transfer (quick and easy) from her retirement savings account to her checking, but it requires a PIN # she no longer remembers/has. I called to get the PIN# reset and they won't let me, even with POA, do it! What's the freaking point of having the POA but not be able to handle everything she can handle on her account? So, anyway, I had put in an email to her broker lady 2 weeks ago with 2 different questions about her account and she never responded, so I needed to talk to her anyway. She did apologize for not getting back to me. (that's like the 2nd time she's done that)

I wanted to know what mom has for her beneficiaries on her retirement account. She has 2 different papers in her file drawer. One is typed up on official document and another is just typed out on a piece of paper, and doesn't match the other one. The typed out had reduced my share (from the other one) and added my 2 kids. Broker lady says the one they have on file is the one on official paperwork, not the typed out one. Who knows what happened there.  I know last summer she had contacted my dd to get her SS# and said it had to do with her will, but I'm thinking she thought she added them to her retirement beneficiaries and did not, for some reason. Like DD said - to get anything done with them  you have to jump thru 100 hoops and SB probably didn't do it, or he did and they just never got it taken care of (like it took me months to finally get them to change the POA to me). Of course she has zero memory of what she did or what she wanted to do. That checkbook is no longer valid. It was set up for an account she had quite awhile back, but it's now closed and she just has the IRA and the new savings. She said they can do checks for her savings account, if we want, and I said no, that's ok. One checkbook/register to keep track of is good enough. Then I had her transfer some money to her checking account, since I couldn't do it online. Next time I am at her place on a weekday, I'm going to have her get on the phone with the help desk and request the PIN#. If I need to transfer money, the online way is so much quicker, less than a minute. When I have to call her broker, it's a phone call, leave a message. Get a phone call back....

And next time I'm at her place (I forgot on Saturday) I'm going to finish signing her up for USPS informed delivery. It wants to send her a text to verify her and I know if I try to do that with her over the phone it will just be a mess, so I'll wait. At least if I can see most of the mail she is getting I might be able to head off another scam before she calls them.

And just when I think I'm finally all done with taking care of mom stuff this morning I get another fraud alert text from her credit card! Same $1 charge as before. How would they have this new# again?! I called her bank, of course they won't talk to me (previous authorization no longer good) so I say can I call her and get her on 3 way and the idiot tells me no. So, I hang up, call mom up, have her hold while while I call bank back. Get a different person, as expected, my mom tells them she wants them to talk to me. Guy is helpful and says this is some continues monthly authorized charge, so that is why it tries to go to new card, too. He does have the ph# for the place and says once I cancel the service to call back. So, it's some rewards center (see above!) that yep, they somehow got her to give them her info to bill. I pretended I was her and told them to cancel the service and got a ref#. Then I had to call bank back and go through the whole 3 way call/authorization again, BUT at least she does not have to have the card cancelled. She can still keep using this card and they marked the service as canceled and not fraud. The lady asked if she signed up for it or it was fraud and I told her most likely I think she signed up for it not realizing what she was doing.

So, now it's 2pm and I've pretty much gotten ZERO work done today :( I really just need a nap.