Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with account

A wordpress site where customers can log in to their account.

brenton — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:13:01 -0800

A wordpress plugin to make a "customer login" section. Ok, I know it's weird to ask this on mefi, but after failing elsewhere on the net, I thought I'd give it a try.

My wordpress site sells one and only one product, which is renewed weekly (aka a subscription).

I want the customer to fill out some data that I want, then they're taken to paypal to pay (and they have to fill out some new data [like credit card info] which I don't care about seeing, though some of it is redundant [name] so it'd be nice if that was pre-polulated in the paypal page). (By the way, this is a small operation so I can't afford to "upgrade" paypal beyond "website payments standard.")

Then later, customers can come back, log into their "my account" section, and make changes: like updates to their name or address, or canceling their subscription.

Also, I want access to all the data about all my customers.

There has to be a wordpress plugin that does something like this. I've tried a few e-commerce plugins, but they all failed in one way or another... what advice does metafilter have for me?

facebook page question

jschu — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:34:09 -0800

Question regarding facebook page for a business. I am doing a six month marketing internship at a new magazine. My first assignment is to create a facebook page to help promote the magazine.

My problem is that I need to be able to let others access and edit the page at the end of my internship. I created the page but it seems that it is only accessible through my personal facebook account. Facebook's help page say:

Maintaining multiple accounts, regardless of the purpose, is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. If you already have a personal account, then we cannot allow you to create business accounts for any reason.

Is it possible to let others have admin access to this page? Or should I just create a facebook "group" instead of a "page"?

I have $30,000 burning a hole in my pockets.

brenton — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:11:08 -0800

Where is the best place to put my $30,000 as I slowly withdraw from it over the next 2 years to pay for Grad School. As of today, I saved exactly $30,000. I will quit my job in a month, and I'm starting classes in the Fall. I won't have any other source of income for two years, besides school loans and these savings.

I currently have them in a WAMU Online Savings account, which was paying 4% interest before, but now is paying next to nothing.

To buy, or to rent?

heathkit — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:04:58 -0800

How do you find a good accountant, or other professional, to help you decide when it's right to buy a house? I have a friend who just graduated law school and is trying to work out whether she wants to buy or rent next year.

She's in an... interesting situation. She has education loans from law school and already has a job lined up in NY at a good firm. She wants to go back to grad school, so she only wants to work for a couple of years, and she also doesn't know if she'll want to stay in NY or not.

So, she needs to know her options. Is it better to pay off the loan, or just make the minimum payments since she can get loan forgiveness when her income drops when she goes back to school? How long should she stay in NY if she's buying? What should she do about taxes? Stuff like that.

She's asked me to help, but I have no idea where to begin. I guess the right thing to do is to get an accountant, but we're not even sure who to look for or what to ask. How do you make decisions like this?

Account Creation Script (not spam)

BrodieShadeTree — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:45:22 -0800

Simple need for autofilling a web page with a different set of variables each time. Assuming I have a CSV of the user accounts I need to create, how can I create or find a script that will let me create new accounts by entering the CSV info into set fields (name, email, password), submitting and then automaticaly proceeding onto the next user account? This is for Active Directory account creation on a website through a Citrix Client, totally legitimate, not spamming.

Most efficient balance for earning interest?

electric_counterpoint — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:46:44 -0800

Mathematically speaking, what's the optimal amount to keep in an account that earns a high rate below below a certain sum and a very low one above it? So I have an account that pays 4% APY on every dollar balance below $10,000 and 1% for every dollar beyond. To maximize the interest I earn, it seems like I should pack it up with the full $10K, right? But then my annual interest dollars are only getting 1%, so they won't compound as much.

Second question: imagine I have two such accounts, with equal terms, and $10K to distribute between them. Am I right to think the best option is to put $9615 into the first account, $385 into the second, and at the end of the year move the first account's new $385 into the second account (which then has a balance of $385+15+385, given its own interest)? Or am I missing something?

(The account is AmericaNet Bank's rewards checking offering, if you're curious. This question is mostly something I'm curious about rather than something I'd actually do, since earning the 4% on two accounts would require twenty debit card purchases a month, and who knows whether the terms will stay the same for more than a year?).

Mutual authorization required for withdrawal.

Nixie Pixel — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:54:54 -0800

Which national banks in the US can be set up to require mutual authorization for withdrawals from a joint account? I am starting a business with a person who is many miles away from me, and we would like to have the business proceeds sent to a single bank account. We would like to both authorize withdrawals from the account to provide security for the situation.

Are there banks that offer this option, a requirement for mutual authorization on withdrawals or transfers (and of course to be done from separate cities where we each live)?

Cayman Islands?

DieHipsterDie — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:02:59 -0800

I need a reliable off-shore savings account. Some place where I can easily and safely deposit less than $500 and where creditors or the IRS can not touch it.

Thank you for your recommendations.

For Shore?

Jaltcoh — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:06:03 -0800

I'm ready to start a savings account. Should I start one with ShoreBank, since they have a relatively high APY and seem to be "socially conscious"? Based on this post on Get Rich Slowly (which has over 1,200 comments), ShoreBank seems to have the highest APY. But then, that's so volatile given the current crisis that I wonder how much that really means.

I also wonder how accurate all this information is. For instance, I noticed that HSBC was listed as having a certain APY, but then if you went to their website there was fine print about how it was the APY as of some date a couple months ago. That's some pretty misleading airbrushing they're doing on themselves, since the rates have been steadily plummeting. My point being: how do I know ShoreBank (or any bank) isn't using similarly misleading fine print? (I haven't found it very easy to get clear information from ShoreBank's website.)

Most of the comments about ShoreBank in the Get Reach Slowly thread are positive, but this person makes it sound like the initial process of signing up was a bureaucratic nightmare. Also, everyone seems underwhelmed with the web interface.

Its image as a socially conscious bank is appealing. But a lot of what they consider socially conscious seems to be investing in "faith-based organizations." My views on religion are similar to those of Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Bill Maher, so I don't see investing in churches as a good thing per se. OTOH, (a) if they're specifically investing in church programs that happen do good charity/community work, then that's good, and (b) I obviously don't need to be a huge fan of every single client of the bank I open a savings account with.

It seems like everything about savings accounts on the web includes lots of praise for ING, but their APY is abysmal. That said, I'm completely open to anything.

(I have seen this AskMe question about ShoreBank, but that's outdated since it was back in the old days of early 2008.)

What is a reputable, low-cost, non-PayPal merchant account to accept credit cards online?

roxie110 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:19:28 -0800

What are some reputable, low-cost, non-PayPal merchant accounts that enable you to accept credit cards online? Extra credit question: what are the best designed and lowest cost Web store options? I've been using PayPal for years to sell on Ebay, but want to open up a standalone web store and accept credit cards directly.

So my question is a two-parter:

1) Who out there has a good, reputable, low-cost merchant account to directly accept credit cards online? My business volume will probably be a couple thousand dollars a month to start, but hopefully as I move sales from Ebay to my Web store, it will be several times that. I'm tired of shoveling money into Ebay/Paypal's pockets, so I'm open to any suggestions. My biggest concern, besides cost, is protection against fraud. PayPal does have certain protections for the seller against unauthorized credit card payments, and I'm terrified of losing hundreds of dollars to bad apples if I go to a non-PayPal merchant account. Any insight on that?

2) Can anyone recommend a Web store that's easy to set up, allows for a certain level of customization, and has sophisticated inventory management? I've spent some time trying to set up a ProStore Business-Level account but refuse to open it because their inventory management is a joke if you have more than 10 or 20 items (I generally have 150-200). The entire interfaice is utterly slow and counterintuitive--though maybe I'd need to upgrade to Advanced to get more functionality. The upside is that it synchs inventory with your Ebay store, and it would be hard to let that go, as I'm constantly adding new items to the store. Any suggestions?

MANY THANKS for your help!!

[WinXP] How can I create a separate user account that is completely separate from the main admin account?

Jimmeh — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:54:38 -0800

[WinXP] How can I create a separate user account that is completely separate from the main admin account? I.e. doesnt share the same programs, settings, etc I've tried this the normal way, but some programs that are installed show up in both accounts.

What I'm trying to achieve is to create an account that is completely free of distractions and only has the software I need for study. I'd also like to block certain websites etc.
I'd use the main admin account for leisure purposes.

Is this possible?

Should I delete my Facebook account? What are my other options?

mintchip — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:33:01 -0800

Should I delete my Facebook account? What are my other options? I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. With regards to staying connected with people who you otherwise see only rarely, it's very handy. Also, without it I might otherwise miss out on certain events that friends post casually on there. I wouldn't get to know what everyone is up to or see friends' pictures posted. I wouldn't get to "stalk" new friends and dates on it, as well as check up on people from my past that I haven't talked to in a while.

However, I also find Facebook to be really annoying and frustrating. It is a time drain. I'm not really comfortable having a huge list of casual contacts (that person at your job who talked to you twice and that guy you met at a cafe once) know what I'm up to in my personal life and who I hang out with. I've burned some bridges in the past so I like to keep my past and present separated. Facebook also makes me worry about my popularity (or lack thereof). For example, why hasn't anyone posted on my wall recently?? Were pictures posted for a friend's party to which I was not invited? Do some of my contacts have me on a limited status where I don't get to see their status updates in my feed? Why did the new friend who used to write on my wall stop? Et cetera. One cannot really answer these sorts of questions with any accuracy

Now, I guess the perfect solution would be that I suddenly become very laidback and not worry about such trivial matters. This being real life, however, that is not going to happen anytime soon. I have tried to use FB on a more limited basis, but in a way you can't; if people write on your wall you're pretty much obligated to write back. Then suddenly you're on it all of the time having the same concerns that I specified above.

Do any of you have these same concerns? What do you think is a good way to deal with this? Is it worth deleting my account? Do I need to tell everyone why? I appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

Facebook Disabled My Account

blueplasticfish — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:06:58 -0800

Facebook disabled my account, and I can see no reason as to why. How can I fix this? Who can I contact? I am a moderate Facebook user. I use my real name, I have approx. only 100 friends of people that I actually know, I don't harass anyone, I logon a couple of times a week, and as far as I can tell from their terms page, I am a model user.

Last week my Facebook account was "disabled by an administrator." I received no warning, no reason, or even a notification that my account was disabled. I have contacted the disabled@facebook.com email now 3 times. Needless to say, I have yet to receive any response. Is there a real email address I can send an inquiry to?

I have read on Get Satisfaction and some questions posted here about disabled accounts. But they all assume you have done something wrong, which I don't feel that I have. (Honestly, I can't even think of a minor offense.)

The only thing I can think of is that someone obtained my password and began doing malicious things on my behalf. However, I have asked my friends and they didn't notice any unusual behavior coming from my account before it was disabled.

What is my recourse? Does Facebook have a phone number? I would really like to talk to someone about this. I guess I could create a new account, but that violates the terms and conditions and I would have to re-add everything in my account from friends to photos.

Furthermore, I am all for getting rid of spammers and other shady denizens of the Social Web, but isn't this a little ridiculous?

Why Won't Gmail Send Me a Verification Code?

chara — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:20:36 -0800

I'm trying to set up my Gmail account so that I can use my non-gmail account as a sender, however, I can't receive the confirmation code necessary to verify that the non-gmail address is my account. What gives? I thought that the problem might be that I've set up my gmail account to receive my non-gmail emails, and I did that before I tried to set up my 'send mail as' account, but when I deleted that and tried to resend the verification code, nothing happened.

I've checked all the spam filters from both accounts, nothing. I've been trying to get this set up for a week!

What can I do?

"This Wu album is PHAT!"

AlbatrossJones — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:10:30 -0800

When I was 12, I did a good number of product reviews on Amazon. 10 years later, I'm embarrassed that someone might find my glowing reviews of (ugh) Eminem and Smash Mouth. I want to delete that Amazon profile (and subsequently all of the reviews), but I don't have the e-mail or password for that account--I wrote those back in the 28.8kbps dial-up days. NO RECOLLECTION WHATSOEVER. What can I do to get that account deleted? :-(

Why is it so hard to open a bank account in the UK?

dave99 — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 04:08:48 -0800

Why is it so hard to open a bank account in the UK? I've read and heard many stories about the difficulty new immigrants to the UK have in opening a bank account, with letters from employers, length of residence requirements, and other onerous requirements often imposed.

Why is this? I could understand with credit cards or overdraft the need to establish good credit. But what is the risk to the bank when a customer opens a savings account? Surely they would want as many new deposits as possible?

GMail Account Locked

miltoncat — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:09:46 -0800

GMail apparently has had an outage. Supposedly it has been fixed, but I still cannot log into my account. I am going insane. Please help. My password is remembered on my computer (MacBook, Leopard) and I am the only one who uses my computer. The other day I go to log in and it says that my username and password do not match. It's been almost 48 hours and I still cannot access my account.

I suppose there is a possibility it was hacked, but I highly doubt it. My password is not an easy guess and is a letter/number combo. My financial accounts have not been touched.

I have a Yahoo email on file as a secondary, so I tried to reset my password that way. I can login to my Yahoo account (which I seldom use) but for whatever reason, it's not receiving email. My inbox is empty.

Aside from waiting 5 days for them to send me a password hint-- which won't help, really, because I KNOW MY FREAKIN' PASSWORD-- what are my options?

I can get a new email address/provider, but in the meantime I am missing a ton of email. Pardon me while I rip out my hair.

Can a Canadian living in Canada get a European bank account?

Felicity Rilke — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:57:07 -0800

How do I get a foreign bank account? I'm asking this for a friend who says:

How do I go about getting a foreign bank account? I prefer Irish, though any Euro country will do. I am a Canadian living in Vancouver, BC.

Get me out of PeoplePC

DarkForest — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:28:27 -0800

PeoplePC, a cut-rate ISP, known for making it very difficult for people to cancel their accounts, is, as might be expected, making it difficult for a relative to cancel his account. The task has fallen to me. I've googled a bit about this, but wonder if anyone here has experience or knows a good way of getting this cleanly and quickly done. Thank You.

Programming neophyte looking for a language to start with. Or, what language should I learn to complete these tasks?

monkishies — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:24:00 -0800

What programming language should a neophyte start with to organize his life? Yes, another one of those questions. But I have two specific tasks that I'd like to accomplish and this makes choosing a language really hard for me. Especially since i'm a complete n00bler. I'm a complete virgin to programming other than the little bit of BASIC that was taught to me in High School ages ago. But I REALLY want to learn a programming language. One that I can use as a foundation but more importantly a tool for doing things on/to/with my internet connected PC.

I have two specific tasks that I'd like to start out with for my first programs that I believe will be simple enough for a beginner like me.

1. Organize my horribly disorganized library
---Read through a folder filled with books in .pdf/.chm/.djvu format
---rename the files with their isbn number (queried from somewhere like amazon)
---fill in the "title","subject","author","category","keywords", and "comments" sections under right click on file Properties->Summary (also queried from amazon or the like)
---compress the file
---create a subject/category folder and place the compressed file there

2. Organize ~20mb worth of bookmarks (in multiple .html files)
---Check for duplicate bookmarks in this collection of .html files
----Use the pages content to scrape tag words then input them in the right click on bookmark Properties->"keyword" section and if possible also fill in the "description" area. Delicious to me would be a last resort as it's become a mess with people using tags that often look like gibberish and probably only make sense to their user and/or their own piece of code.

It'd also be nice for these apps to be cross platform (Windows and Linux) but that's an afterthought really.

Now, I know this might sound like a tall order for a complete neophyte but I believe the first program that I've outlined above could be easy enough to complete for someone like me.

So, what should it be? Perl, Python, C, C++, something else? Maybe someone out there knows of a *free ware/beggar ware/Open Source* program that does what I desperately need to get done? Please impart your collective wisdom unto me, AskMeFi! I beg you!

Open UK Bank Account from Abroad?

pivko — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:30:30 -0800

Is it possible for an American to open a UK bank account from outside the UK without a UK address? I am working over the internet and am sent paychecks in Sterling. My bank takes over 4 weeks and charges $50 to deposit them. I was hoping maybe I could open up a UK account to make this easier. So far all the places I have looked at require a UK address.

Can a Swede open a US bank account?

dabitch — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:58:09 -0800

Getting paid by US checks is pricey and time-consuming when I have to cash them over here (Sweden) - solutions? Opening a us checking account? Can I? When I was a student in the US I had a citibank account, but I think my student status allowed for that one. I'm not sure a US account is the answer but it seems likely, I want to avoid the high check-cashing fees on those very small checks - it takes three days for any bank here to confirm that it is a real check, and the cheapest fee to do this is 150 SEK. Sometimes the wee checks aren't even worth that. Open to other solutions, but it seems having a US bank account, where I could cash the checks, and then transfering the money to my own bank here in sweden would be the solution. If so, can I open a US account? Google brings me lots of shady pages on the topic, I don't trust them. Swedish citizen in Sweden.

How do i use two instances of firefox at the same time?

freddymetz — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:58:51 -0800

How do i use two separate instances of firefox at the same time? The thing it, it has to be firefox (because of greasemonkey) so i cant use a different browser (or can i?) and i have to be able to log-in to the same website with two different accounts.
Any ideas?

Good Money Market Accounts

517 — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:47:08 -0800

Where can I find a good FDIC insured money market account? I'm looking of an account I can write checks from and that I can open for $1000. One with a high yield would be good too. Does anyone have some specific names?

Why can't we log into our google accounts from work?

taumeson — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:59:15 -0800

Why can't I get to the Google login page? From work we can't get to gmail.com or the Google Analytics Sign up page, for instance. If I use Anonymizer, I'm able to get in just fine, and because my cookie is set then afterwords it works fine, but if anybody else wants to get to Google from their computers we get "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage".

We do have a spam-blocking firewall. Could that be it?