credit where it’s due

Wow. For the past couple of days I’ve been getting calls from an 800 number I didn’t recognize. Figured it was some marketing thing so just haven’t been answering. Finally took a moment to see what it was and if I could I’d chop up my credit card right now.

It seems that my credit card company wanted to warn me about the CARD Act which takes effect in February. The one aspect in particular that they thought I needed to know about was the ban on allowing over limit charges. Apparently they consider it a feature not a bug. They gave me a lovely example of how it is great if I’m in an emergency, like running out of gas, and need to go over my credit limit to fill my tank. Ye gods, how will we ever survive without that option?

The woman on the phone then assured me that I could keep the ability to go over my limit and, as a bonus, they would be dropping the over limit fee by $10! So that $5 of gas that keeps me on the run from the zombie hordes would only cost me $34 instead of $44 (plus interest of course). She seemed a little surprised (which surprises me) that I declined and asked to have the “feature” removed. Are there really that many people who agree to this offer?

So if you have a credit card, make sure to check before February and be sure they don’t opt you in to keeping the over limit “feature” (unless you really want it).