Dear Credit Card Companies,
Thank you for all the suggestions to "go green" and receive only email statements. I really appreciate this. While you're busy jacking interest rates through the roof, sending letters with type the size of one molecule that announce the latest exorbitant fee increase for any late payments, changing the date payments are due, reminding us that if we bank online and the payment doesn't make it to your doorstep by that special day then we'll owe you another $30.00 or so on top of the interest rates you charge, it's comforting and touching to know that you have a minute or so in your busy lives (cough) to worry about the environment.
I'll have you know, Credit Card Companies, that I'm NO SPRING CHICKEN--I'm sure you've figured that out when you see 1959 in the DOB column--yep--right after the Civil War, or was it WWII? I can't remember. Obviously, my memory is not what it used to be.
But I digress. I've been a fervent environmentalist ever since I saw this tear jerking movie in 1970 or so called "Say Goodbye" which implied that by the time I was, well, NO SPRING CHICKEN that the planet would consist of arid deserts devoid of ways to support life.
And I am doing the best I can. How about the fact that I drive a small 2006 Nissan Sentra to work WITHOUT TURNING ON THE AIR CONDITIONER? True, that has something to do with the fact that I can't afford to pay for the gas it would take to use it, and I can tolerate extremely high temperatures without swooning. Believe it or not kids, but Gram here remembers a day when middle class families had ONE tv and ONE window air conditioner in the family room. At night, windows were opened and fans turned on.
We have also stopped using the dryer this summer, put in new energy efficient windows last year, and were forced to install a new H/A unit two years ago when our old one died a horrid death on the hottest day of the year. (Be sure to read my touching obituary entitled "Requiem For An Air Conditioner") Ah, I shall remember that certain Friday night at 10:20 PM when the old unit gave a last pathetic gurgle and died forever....I am trying to go green, so that I might keep some green in my wallet.
My point? You're asking me what the point of this entry is? Well, that is an excellent question and I shall answer you. You see, I had a credit card with Citibank and patriotically agreed to get only email statements. Then we had a most unfortunate series of events with the old folks in our happy little nuclear family. Everybody got sick and I got distracted. Then I *had* to have an Iphone. So that meant changing phone companies. Then I had to get a new email. And so on and so forth, and what happened was that I forgot to notify Citibank of the change in our email address.
You did get my attention with the urgent overnight letter, and I called you, apologized for the mixup, and asked what my balance was so that I could pay it off. I then asked how much of that balance was fines. $120.00. That's right. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DOLLARS. Citibank, I understand that the years and years that I have paid my bill on time, in full, and faithfully mean nothing to you, and that THE RULES prevent you from reducing it any further than $60.00, but I still think that SIXTY DOLLARS is a lot of money for one honest mistake. And I made a mistake. Indeed I did. I accept responsibility for it. But still--sixty dollars???
My point? You're asking me what the point of this entry is? Well, that is an excellent question and I shall answer you. You see, I had a credit card with Citibank and patriotically agreed to get only email statements. Then we had a most unfortunate series of events with the old folks in our happy little nuclear family. Everybody got sick and I got distracted. Then I *had* to have an Iphone. So that meant changing phone companies. Then I had to get a new email. And so on and so forth, and what happened was that I forgot to notify Citibank of the change in our email address.
You did get my attention with the urgent overnight letter, and I called you, apologized for the mixup, and asked what my balance was so that I could pay it off. I then asked how much of that balance was fines. $120.00. That's right. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DOLLARS. Citibank, I understand that the years and years that I have paid my bill on time, in full, and faithfully mean nothing to you, and that THE RULES prevent you from reducing it any further than $60.00, but I still think that SIXTY DOLLARS is a lot of money for one honest mistake. And I made a mistake. Indeed I did. I accept responsibility for it. But still--sixty dollars???
Believe it or not, I idiotically accidentally clicked on another company's fervent request to receive "handy and easy electronic statements!" I got my first email from them the other day and clicked on the link provided. It led me to another company that I had to sign up with in order to pay my bill online. NO THANK YOU. I immediately called them and requested that they switch us back to paper statements STAT.
Let's face it. While it is quite possible for snail mail to go astray, it's also even more possible that a glitch somewhere in a circuit board might result in an email not reaching you, innocent consumer. I sincerely recommend that you request paper statements from your credit card companies.
Frankly, I am sincerely concerned about the amount of paper I receive and may I make a suggestion on how to cut down on some of it?
STOP SENDING ME CREDIT CARD OFFERS EVERY FREAKING DAY URGING ME TO TAKE OUT ANOTHER CARD AND RUN UP SOME MORE DEBT.
It's just a thought.
Smooches!
Lorrie
Update 4:52 PM...I binged "citibank ceo" and found a phone number that connected me with their corporate office, and the nice person I talked to removed all fines and charges. Yowsa! Thanks, Citibank, you rock!!! But your front line staff still told me they "couldn't" remove any more than they did, and when I asked to speak to someone higher up, they "couldn't do that" either.
Update 8:26 PM.....And...our governor Mark Sanford is a total idiot, and once again South Carolina is the laughingstock of the country thanks to his moronic behavior. Somewhere in the handbook called "Governor For Dummies" it MUST say "Don't be the only governor in the country to reject a much needed stimulus package" and it also must say somewhere "Don't disappear for days and then show back up and confess that you journeyed to Argentina for an assignation on Father's Day Weekend." I just know it!!!
Mark Sanford
Citibank
South Carolina governor
Argentina
Buenos Aires
Sanford Argentina affair
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment