Credit Card Companies Are Evil
I'm not usually one to invoke evil with any seriousness (is that even true...) but credit card companies fit the bill. They are demons with little horns, webbed feet, and a bad baby eating habit (aren't those anti-semitic stereotypes from the middle ages...).
Seriously though, credit card companies are horrible blights on our society and need to be stopped. They are so evil that they make me hate (and thus oppose the Presidential ambitions of) Joe Biden for his unceasing support of last year's bankruptcy bill. But I digress.
It is common knowledge, because it is a favorite topic of conversation for me, that I lived beyond my means on credit cards late in high school and in college and have, ever since, worked hard to eliminate my debt and master the fine adult art of financial management. I feel incredibly lucky that in a society where at its peak my personal debt was average for my deomographic I am able to nearly be rid of my debt at my age and will never need to rack up this kind of debt ever ever ever again. Buying a home or going to grad school aside, I will never again owe money for mundane purchases.
I am now down to one card with a balance and am cranking through that pretty quickly. You can, I assure you, expect a triumphant post when Julie and I have eliminated our collective personal debt once and for all. Again, I digress.
Through a protracted process of balance transfers and other interest rate slashing shenanigans I ended up with a credit card with Providian, now owned by Washington Mutual. I paid off my balance with them early in the fall of 2005 before heading west to California. When I got to California, however, I used the card to rent a car as they would not accept a debit card (my only means of transaction for well over two years). Because of my own error I forgot which card I used for this and just assumed that I used my debit card. This was my mistake. When I got a bill from them three months later claiming that I had a past due balance I freaked out and thought my card had been stolen.
I called customer service and after calming down realized that it was my mistake and wanted to pay the balance in full. By this point in the conversation, however, the customer service representative (who I admit had a language barrier) was being very rude to me. I paid the full balance and in frustration asked what I would have to do to cancel the account because I resented being treated so poorly. She told me what would be required and I said never mind. She then informed me that she had already cancelled the card and I would have to reapply. I was so angry that I immediately hung up and called back to register a complaint.
At least, I though I was done with them.
The next month I received a bill for $2.17. What?!?!?! I called again and was treated very well. They waived the charge and I went on about my business.
But you know that isn't the end. Were that the end of this sordid tale, the title would have been "Credit Card Companies are like generous fluffy bunnies." It isn't.
The other day I opened my mailbox to find another notice from Providian. I now owe them $2.18 (the extra cent for the finance charge). I call again and am told that 1) I never called last month and 2) that I should actually pay more than $2.18 just in case. In case of what? In case I should decide that yes, I do want to donate some of my hard earned pocket change to a giant corportation who is actively screwing with me. But now I'm angry and since I am no longer a child and hate being angry I decide that I am being petty and will cave in and allow a full three dollars to be debited from my checking account.
But wait, there's a fourteen dollar charge to pay by phone. A what!?!?!?! (oh, and I can't pay by the web site because the previous idiot I spoke with cancelled my account)
So now I am left with the agony of writing a check by hand for more than I owe. How is this legal?
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