Bogleheads.org

UpperNwGuy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:22 am OP,
Welcome to the frustrations of booking travel to, from, and within Spain! This kind of problem (credit card being rejected) occurs frequently with both Iberia airlines and Renfe (the Spanish rail company). Your bank is not at fault. The fault is with the terrible websites of Iberia and Renfe.

+1.
It's not "Big Bank's" fault. It's Iberia. I've had the worst problems booking with Iberia & Renfe. I think the workaround for Renfe was using Paypal? I don't remember how I finally got my Iberia flights ticketed.

psteinx wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:07 am I saw Costco as an option.
...

Using Costco travel won't help you on this one. As far as I can tell, for hotel-only bookings in the US, they have exclusive agreements with IHG and Hyatt hotels. When I've compared rates in the past, they do have rates that are slightly lower than the IHG member-only rates, but then you'd lose out on point earning and elite benefits if that's important to you.

(I just checked Memphis for you and it was only IHG & Hyatt).

Ask your orthodontist's office what their options are for billing. When one of my kids had braces, we wanted to use FSA dollars over 2 years. The office billed us some amount up front, and then the remainder was split into monthly progress billings.

I once called Vanguard to ask this explicitly about new Treasury issues from auctions, and they confirmed what I suspected: if the date of settlement of the old T-bill matches the date of settlement of the new issue, it will clear without a problem. The dates are apparently meant (by the Treasury) to line up that way. This is correct…in & out on the same day is not a problem. Treasury sends you your maturation payment very early in the morning, while pulling your payment for the new issue around noontime. The main thing to be aware of is that different durations settle on different days of the week. 13 & 26-week bills settle on Thursdays, while 4, 8, & 17-week bills settle on Tuesdays. https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/221...

LookinAround wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2023 11:53 am ... assuming Schwab’s 1 week out of market in cash isn’t collecting interest
...

Do you know that it's not collecting interest? I'm pretty sure my settlement fund at Vanguard earns at a decent money market rate, not too far off of T-Bill rates.

If I have T-Bills at Vanguard maturing on Tuesday 3/14, when will those funds be available to make another purchase? May I place an order today for an auction closing on 3/13, with settlement on 3/16, and use those funds?

... All I can offer is sympathy since after retaining all my 5498s for decades, I carelessly discarded them about a decade ago. I do have all my returns including 8606s and they're all correct as far as I know, but the lack of 5498s might come back to haunt a lot of us depending on how tax laws evolve. It seems like your problem will be the lack of 5498s, not the 8606 filings that can be done retroactively if you have the data and documentation. Are you suggesting that 5498s need to be saved for a lifetime? My guideline has always been that supporting documents should be saved for a tax return for 6 years. So if a non-deductible contribution was made for the 2016 tax year, and a Form 8606 was filed for it, you can safely toss any backup do...

celia wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 2:01 pm I’ve never heard of a volunteer being compensated for their travel...

I'm a volunteer and get reimbursed for my mileage (at the business rate of 65.5 cents/mile!). But this policy is clearly laid out and applies to all volunteers who meet certain conditions when driving to meet clients.

For the OP - I would not expect to be reimbursed at a mileage rate. But I'd absolutely expect the charity to pay for tolls, and possibly gas. If I were you I'd speak to the director; something like "I love helping the food bank by offering my time and my truck for these pickups/deliveries. But the cost of gas and tolls has become burdensome; is it possible to be reimbursed for that?"

I'm primarily at SoFi (early direct deposit, high savings rate + savings sub account ability, pretty good ATM access), with BOA credit card system (Platinum Honors, multiple CCR + the 2.62% card ). Investing is with Fidelity.... How do you access the 2.625% rate with all of your assets at Fidelity and SoFi? I thought that required a certain asset level at BofA. ($100k) They obviously keep the $100k at BoFA/Merrill Well yes, that is the obvious answer, but he didn't mention any banking at BofA. I mentioned that I have BOA for the credit cards, but yes I have $100K there as well for the Platinum Honors. Guess I figured it was implied by mentioning the latter point, but could have been more clear Thanks for the reply. I might finally get off ...

tj wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:39 pm

boglegirl wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:37 pm

MBB_Boy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:55 am I'm primarily at SoFi (early direct deposit, high savings rate + savings sub account ability, pretty good ATM access), with BOA credit card system (Platinum Honors, multiple CCR + the 2.62% card). Investing is with Fidelity....

How do you access the 2.625% rate with all of your assets at Fidelity and SoFi? I thought that required a certain asset level at BofA. ($100k)

They obviously keep the $100k at BoFA/Merrill

Well yes, that is the obvious answer, but he didn't mention any banking at BofA.

MBB_Boy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:55 am I'm primarily at SoFi (early direct deposit, high savings rate + savings sub account ability, pretty good ATM access), with BOA credit card system (Platinum Honors, multiple CCR + the 2.62% card). Investing is with Fidelity....

How do you access the 2.625% rate with all of your assets at Fidelity and SoFi? I thought that required a certain asset level at BofA. ($100k)

Mr money mustache might be a good forum for this.... I was going to suggest that, too, because I thought this seemed more in line with the MMM forum. But the OP is already cross-posting this there. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/365-day-challenge-$500-total-discretionary-spending/ Yes I am, and I am getting more replies here; lots of positive replies here actually. It's encouraging. I love this forum. (I enjoy both forums -- I've gotten a lot of help from here and there as well.) Show me a rule where what I am posting is not in line with this forum. I'm a Boglehead as well. We don't all have to agree. This post isn't for everyone. If not interested in what I am saying there is the option to just ignore me. ... No...

... 1. Visit your local hospitals that have a cafeteria. Sometimes you can be blown away with high quality healthy meals for a frugal dollar. So, for example, if you live in the Fort Worth area...visit Southwest Harris Hospital. The cafeteria is open until 2 pm daily. You can get a lunch for $5.89 which gets you things like Pecan chicken meal including two sides and corn bread/roll. Our favorite and the sides we chose was green beans (mash potatoes, broccoli), peach or cherry cobbler, and corn bread (yum). They have a good selection of main dish and sides. ... R&G - do you have any senior centers in your area? They typically offer a daily plated lunch for either free, or a very low/nominal fee, depending on your age and financial circu...

er999 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 12:28 pm Mr money mustache might be a good forum for this....

I was going to suggest that, too, because I thought this seemed more in line with the MMM forum. But the OP is already cross-posting this there. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw ... -spending/

... Or other essentially free hobbies like gardening... I'd love to hear about this "free" gardening. We've spent about your $500 on gardening alone in the last month. *most* of it will not have to be repeated next year, fingers crossed. The main expenses were some soil amendment (our soil is truly terrible) and fencing supplies (our yard isn't fenced so we have to put up protection from deer around our fruit trees and veggie garden). I do free/cheap when I can - in the last couple of weeks I've accepted a free fig tree, tomato plant, and 7 ornamental plants - but I've always found gardening to have a fairly high startup cost. ... But we did at one point have some initial expenses, like for a pitch fork, wire fence for compost bi...

I have $583 (family plan HDHP ) taken out of my paycheck every month, but it never shows up in my HE account until the last week of the next month, And at times has been as late as the 10th of the following month before it appears, that's 40 days between the time they get my money and it shows in my account !!! My employer gives me $62.50 every month, and that shows up immediately, but not the $583 that comes out of my check, that's always late. My employer assures me they're sending both their portion ($62.50) and my portion ($583) to HE at the same time. And this month is no exception, here it is the 27th of February and the $583 that was taken from my check at the end of January is still not showing in my account. Is this happening to o...

JenniferW wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 12:24 pm ... Or other essentially free hobbies like gardening...

I'd love to hear about this "free" gardening. We've spent about your $500 on gardening alone in the last month. *most* of it will not have to be repeated next year, fingers crossed. The main expenses were some soil amendment (our soil is truly terrible) and fencing supplies (our yard isn't fenced so we have to put up protection from deer around our fruit trees and veggie garden). I do free/cheap when I can - in the last couple of weeks I've accepted a free fig tree, tomato plant, and 7 ornamental plants - but I've always found gardening to have a fairly high startup cost.

Fyi you can get promo code on doctor of credit for free paramount plus every month for current and new customers. Just sign up and cancel every month. I don't know how they're making any money off subscriptions with all the promos they've been running the past year. I've had about the last 6 months free without much effort (a couple of times I applied a code, once I tried to cancel and they said "but wait, here's another month free if you stay", and for 3 or 4 months I had an AmEx offer that paid all but 99cents of each month. I was going to cancel in March when my current month is up -but I just noticed when poking around looking for something else on my Samsung smart TV that I bought last year, that it came with a promo for 6 m...

Thanks for the further replies. He's in Texas, so I'm pretty sure he's not eligible for medicaid as a single adult who doesn't check any of the boxes I found listed at benefits.gov. His hours have dropped this year due to his health issues so once I get a better picture of his income I'll try to help him apply for ACA using the "life event" special enrollment period. I've already asked him to create an account at SSA.gov to find out his future benefits (he's late 50s, so that would be helpful to know) and he's reluctant - he's convinced that if he so much as enters his name and ss# into a government website, the IRS agents will barge through his door or...something. I don't know. It's hard to reason with someone who thought it was...

Thanks for the replies so far.

I've found out that:
1. He's not eligible for Medicaid in his state.
2. He doesn't even have a W-2 for 2022...he doesn't think they sent him one. I'm guessing they did, or he has a way of getting it electronically. He's going to ask payroll for help.
3. His hours have been reduced significantly this year due to his declining health. So he *might* be eligible for a late ACA enrollment based on that; I'll look into it further.

Title says it all but here are the details: I know someone who has worked in low-wage type jobs for many years and he's just admitted that he's hasn't filed a tax return in at least a decade. He adjusted withholding so that he didn't pay much or anything in. It's too bad because I think he wouldn't have paid much in taxes if he'd filed, and he'd have been eligible for ACA or Medicaid. He's in poor health now and has 2 problems: 1. How to file the back tax returns. 2. How to get ACA eligibility (only after #1 is completed, I assume?) He has no resources to pay someone to help him with this - I am willing to help if it can be DIYed without paying an attorney or enrolled agent. But I don't even know where to start. For example, he's had the sa...

I owned a Lexus for 10 years. After having the first 2 years of maintenance done for "free" (included in the purchase) by the dealer, I found out what they would charge for continued maintenance $$$ I switched to using the Toyota dealer near me which had great specials, although their waiting room wasn't quite as fancy as the Lexus dealer's . As others have mentioned, you don't have to use a dealer either- but if you want to, Toyota would be cheaper for Lexus maintenance, and I assume the same for Nissan/Infiniti.

My husband's employer now has an easy process to convert after-tax 401k contributions to a Roth 401k every pay period. We tested it out with a contribution of approx $3k last pay period. The day it hit the 401k account, we went through the very easy (I think it was 3 clicks on the website) process to convert, which was processed the next day. However, there was about $80 in gains already! (I guess they don't process it until the investments have been re-priced at the end of the day). I understand those gains are taxable. 1. What happens to those earnings? The wiki says this: "In this case it should be possible to roll the earnings back into the 401(k) pre-tax sub account". Should my husband contact the plan administrator to find o...

I normally buy a cheaper phones outright (such as a couple model years old phone) for a cheap price and upgrade as needed. I currently have an iphone 7. Verizon sent a text that I can upgrade for free to a 14, with the savings being applied over 36 months. So basically I'd be locked in for 3 months. I normally avoid any kind of contracts but wondering if this is a good deal since it's not like I'm not going to be in a position where I wouldn't need a phone. Wondering how others approach this - just take the "free" upgrade and be locked in for 3 years, or avoid it and keep the month-to-month flexibility/freedom. We currently have 3 phones on our bill and will likely soon be adding a 4th. They currently give us a $35/mo loyalty dis...

sureshoe wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 4:53 pm ...
Just not something wife is comfortable doing without another adult. I would be curious if a lot of women on here take Ubers/Lyfts by themselves.

Yes, we do.

I'm a woman, and would not be at all concerned with taking an Uber or Lyft in broad daylight to a cruise port in Florida.

Something similar happened to my parents 30 years ago (and it actually worked out in their favor). They bought a new car, which my dad promptly took on a trip. The dealership called a couple of days later and claimed they had done paperwork for the wrong car, and that my parents owed them $2k more (that's a lot today, but it was really a LOT 30 years ago). So my parents agreed to return the car...as soon as Dad returned from out of state. The dealership got a used car back with 1500 miles on it - my parents got free use of it for that week or so.

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article today on other PBM competitors: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mark-cuban-and-amazon-are-shaking-up-generic-drugs-11675370270?st=h24sbw1xuksjz58&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink I checked out how using Amazon Prime RX or Cuban's Cost Plus website would affect us. Our household only has 3 prescriptions that we fill every month. One is not generic, so Cost Plus & Amazon Prime don't apply. For the generic ones - only one is on Amazon's Prime plan, and it's close to $5/month, so doesn't make sense for the Prime plan of $5/month. Only one is available on Cuban's site also (weirdly - the other one!) and it's similar in cost to the pharmacy discount we get. Even though neither of those woul...

ekid wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 2:19 pm ...
I was behind a poor old man (roughly my age) trying to buy generic Flowmax (tamsulosin). Price was nosebleed level. I told him about "get on internet; look up (one of the discount places)".

He objected "I don't know about that stuff". (He'd never, ever been on the net and wasn't about to try.)

Does he deserve what happens to him?

It seems that most pharmacies have their own discount program that they want to apply in cases like this (my grocer's pharmacy does, Walmart does). It's too bad they didn't offer to apply it for him - or perhaps it's not on their discounted list.

... 2) Release of the deposit to the sellers may require your agreement and you may have grounds to delay/withhold this release in good faith given the seller's bad faith dealings ... Yes, I imagine the escrow company requires signatures from both parties to release the escrow funds. We took a buyer to small claims court because he backed out at the last minute (changed his mind - nothing to do with our house) - and the judge had to direct him to release the escrow funds to us. He was withholding the funds in bad faith - you might have what's considered a good faith reason to withhold. So the seller might be willing to split the escrow deposit with you just to get it done. (In another contract we were in, our realtor told bus the house cou...

michaeljc70 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:23 pm ...
I was told recently by a pharmacy they default using your insurance. This may differ by pharmacy, but the point is they can reprocess it using a coupon if needed.
...

It does differ by pharmacy - our pharmacy (which I don't want to change because it's *really* convenient) - always tries to apply a lower coupon price for us, even when we'd rather use our insurance because we're past the deductible. I've learned that I have to call in advance, or ask at pickup, for them to use our insurance instead of their discount program.

Given that the Costco Visa is not as good as other cards for anything except dining, travel, or gas, we don't use it as much, but do in Costco because it is easier. Nice to have direct deposit option this year. Not nice they pulled the added 2 year warranty benefit. I agree - I use it for gas & dining (unless another card has those categories as a bonus), and for Costco purchases for which I wanted the warranty benefit. (using US Bank Altitude Reserve at 4.5% for other Costco purchases). So my reward this year won't be as high as many listed here, but I earned a ton of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Fidelity 2% cash back, US Bank AR points, & other rewards worth far more than the 1% I'd have earned if I used the Citi Costco card fo...

We purchased this dishwasher from Costco couple of years back: KitchenAid 44 DBA Hidden Control Dishwasher with FreeFlex Third Level Rack and Express Wash Cycle It has been much better than our previous dishwasher (GE profile) in cleaning the dishes, space and noise level. There was one recall related to this dishwasher last year - Kitchenaid sent a repairman to take care of it for no charge. Overall happy with the purchase - will see how it holds up in the coming years. I bought this same dishwasher (Kitchenaid) from Costco last year, when the Bosch we had ordered 9 months earlier was still on backorder when we needed it. :( We LOVE it - the 3rd rack on the KA is so much more usable than the Bosch which we'd had in another house and liked...

Blue456 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:39 am ...
+1, had this happen to me. All of the sudden you can't log into the app and every payment will get rejected. You will need to go to branch to get this account unlocked. And this was to an account that was open in local branch in the first place. Please make sure to be aware of this real risk and plan accordingly.

You don't have to go to a branch. I did it over the phone.

There's a big difference between bank bonuses and brokerage bonuses. In my experience, bank bonuses are pretty easy (except for Citibank, apparently, and cases of churning). But I wouldn't go for a brokerage bonus unless I had a real reason to want to switch brokerages...too much risk of things like loss of basis data.

Harmanic wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:45 am ... The latter would be less risky and the former would disruptive since we would have to find two new jobs and find a way to help our child with a disability become more independent....

This would be a huge consideration for me. We did a big move a couple of years ago, and although we don't regret it, we moved away from one of our children who did NOT have a disability and that part has been rough.

muel87 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 8:16 am Makes sense. So there is really no rationale for doing lump sum.

I think so. The best rationale for making a lump-sum contribution outside of payroll would be choosing a better HSA than the one your employer has chosen. But you'll still have to maintain the employer-sponsored HSA for their $300 contribution, which as someone mentioned above, adds some complexity. (just by virtue of maintaining 2 accounts).

I linked a Wells Fargo bank account to the new Chase accounts I opened for the Bonus promotion. The link was approved by both banks on Wednesday. The next day, I transferred $100 as a test run from Wells to Chase, and it was in process by Chase this Thursday and Friday. And on Friday, a hold was placed on the deposit by Chase. Wells has already debited my account this Friday. Yet, this deposit shows up in my Chase account, but with the hold. I decided to do a $15K transfer from the Wells account to the Chase Savings account. Initially, Chase said it was pending review and then it rejected the request, a few minutes later. If I have to go to a branch to make a deposit to fund the savings account, I'll be pissed and might even decide to unwi...

My husband turns 65 in 2025 and we know that any IRMAA penalty will be based on our income this year. Please check my thinking on a couple of things: 1. Any IRMAA penalty would only apply to the months he’s paying for medicare. Since he turns 65 mid-year, this might be a good year to not worry too much about staying under the income limits, as his annualized penalty would only be half of future years. 2. He’s planning on working a couple of years after 65 (although who can predict the future). His company has more than 20 employees and staying on their health plan would be considered creditable coverage, so no penalty for not enrolling immediately in Parts B and D. There are a whole lot of other considerations as to whether he stays on the ...

Nyc10036 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:09 pm

Triple digit golfer wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:43 pm Reading this gives me a headache. I'm not going to be jumping around like a circus monkey for what amounts to, if I execute and jump through all hoops perfectly, well under $900.

I am always tempted until I read the 97 stipulations and then people discussing all the problems.

It is not that hard.
I didn't have the $15K for the additional bonus.
Went into a branch.
15 minutes and I was done.
I consider it an excellent exchange for $300.

I agree - it's a pretty easy $900, although the hoops that Chase makes you jump through means a little more effort than some. I'm not employed outside the home so I don't mind spending an hour or two on big bonuses like these - it's my little contribution to the household budget

Bumping this old thread because this just happened to me. I opened a Citi Savings account to get their $450 bonus for depositing $50,000. Then I couldn't log in today, and when I called they have put a fraud alert on my account... ... This is nuts. I opened a similar offer with Chase just last week and ended up spending a total of over 2 hours on the phone on 3 separate calls trying to get my account unlocked and a transfer to get approved. They put a fraud alert on my account because I tried to transfer $ in from an account that I had properly linked and verified. They acted shocked that I wanted to, you know, put ACTUAL MONEY IN AN ACCOUNT THAT THEY WERE OFFERING A BONUS IF I PUT MONEY IN. At least they didn't close my account. I still e...

I haven't seen this mentioned: if you have an employer-sponsored plan, you can ask your HR department for help with crazy billing issues. Ours helped us out when something was processed wrong.

I can't speak to the time frame for filing a claim. But I had a recent similar mishap in a driveway. No damage to my car, and very little to the other car. I lost my accident free discount, and am paying a penalty/surcharge on top of that. Total cost to me is over $250/year, for 3 years I think. Ouch. I realize it's cheaper than what they paid out under the claim but I didn't realize how much a tiny fender bender would impact rates. (I've never had an at-fault accident before).

dcabler wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 9:45 am Moved it all over from HealthEquity in early 2022. Now, my withholdings from my employer still land at HealthEquity, but I move it over to Fidelity whenever the cash balance builds up to around $1K. then rinse/repeat.
...

Can you tell me how that process went? My husband's employee HSA is at HealthEquity. Do we have to liquidate the assets to transfer? Are you paying fees for any transfers?

TJat wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 5:56 am I don’t believe it makes sense either. It sounds like you’re too focused on Roth conversions and aren’t choosing an optimal outcome. Option 1 is to take the 7k in interest and pay taxes on it. Option 2 is to forgo 100% of the 7k on exchange for the ability to convert 7k of tIRA and pay taxes on it. You will have more money if you pursue option 1.

Tax avoidance is a good strategy, just not when your method is to make less money to begin with.

Agree...and OP is concerned about leaving the maximum to his heirs. He, and his heirs, will have more money under Option 1.

Just realized our US Bank Altitude Reserve has a warranty extension of 1 year. This is fantastic because I typically use mobile pay with that card for my Costco purchases, since it earns 3X points which equal 4.5% back - a better return than the Costco card's 2% cash back.

Realistically - I'm not planning on filing any extended warranty claims. Fingers crossed that the TV, cell phone, and 3 appliances I purchased using the Costco Citi card in 2022 last well beyond their manufacturer's and Citibank warranty. But using a card with an extra year of coverage - that I want to use anyway for the cash back - gives a little extra peace of mind.

meadowrue wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:56 am ...
3. I was there 5 years ago so yes, that makes sense. I should have done more homework. Lesson learned! I will still try to negotiate because I have a good relationship with the PT (we have a family connection) but worst case, I’ll chalk it up to a mistake. On the plus side, I am back to full health and I have a great plan for staving off sciatica pain in future!

5 years ago You are definitely considered a new patient.

I'm glad the PT worked for you though! I've had sciatic pain and it can be debilitating.

... The basic uniform in my office is a fleece Patagonia vest inside during the day and/or a Patagonia micro puff jacket to/from work. It’s so common that it’s almost laughable. There are a few running jokes on Instagram based on “the midtown uniform”. I was at a high end steak house right before Christmas and all four guys at the table next to me were wearing the uniform. If you want to be slightly different, any similar brand will do. Full disclosure, I definitely have “the uniform”. Lol. Wow you're right - I googled it and it's even an instagram tag. There doesn't appear to be much creativity in the uniform though, which would rule out Cotopaxi and possibly others recommended on this thread. 99% of them are black, navy, or gray (I saw o...

Been happy using the Dark Sky weather paid app for a few years, based on prior Boglehead recommendations. It allowed users to see approximately 10 days worth of future hourly data including rain probability and amounts, wind MPH, and of course temp. Unfortunately, the app has closed and apparently been incorporated into the Apple Weather app. However, in the Apple app, I am unable to see, for example, next Fri's (6 days from today) hourly data of the above info. Is there a way to see this info in Apple's app? If not, is there another iOS app that is like Dark Sky? Thanks! I paid for this app, too, and really liked it. Apple refunded most/all of my purchase price - not sure if they did that for all users or just those who'd purchased in 202...

My subscription on my 2022 car has been expired for about 2 months. I miss it a *little* and did a quick search for offers online. I found pretty good deals for Amex card holders and T-Mobile subscribers, but those are streaming only and I wanted my car radio reactivated. So just for fun I tried the new-account-only $1/3 months trial. It let me log in to my inactive account and accept the offer! So I'm good to go until April 7 when hopefully they'll give me a $5/month offer or similar, good for a year.

For me, the Sirius subscription is just a "nice to have" item for road trips. So not worth a ton.

enad wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 7:12 am It sounds like the corporation has figured out a way to make extra money without actually raising rents...

Bingo!
When we briefly looked into renting an apartment 2 years ago, we found almost nothing where we would have ended up paying the advertised rent. They all had uncharges for items such as "trash valet" and "amenities fee". (things that if they are mandatory - should be included in the rent). I suspect this insurance is a similar scam.