April 2, 2010
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April the First
APRIL FOOL’S DAY
As soon as I got in front of a computer this morning I looked at Xanga’s front page to see how many “Goodbye Xanga” entries I’d see featured for April Fool’s Day. It’s early, but I saw one so far. Last year I created a very detailed “obituary” for myself, supposedly written by another Xangan, a “fake your death” entry. Right before I was going to post it, I decided, possibly rightly, not to. I figured even though it was in good fun, and was obviously posted on April Fool’s Day, it might needlessly upset someone. I am in my mid 50s, and could possibly pass away this early, given the fact my parents died in their 50s and most of my readers know this.
So I didn’t “joke around’ about death, and I’m glad I didn’t seeing the brouhaha that happened last year when Dan (TheTheologiansCafe) posted a fake death notice. Last April Fool’s Dave (vanedave) posted a fake “perez on x” blog supposedly written by TMC.com blogger Perez Hilton. He stirred up quite a maelstrom if memory serves. Wonder if there will be any neat Xanga punks this year!
When I was in high school (1968-1971) our school newspaper, which I edited as a Junior, had an “April Fool’s Edition” which was very popular. I wrote quite a few “fake” articles in the three years when I was on staff. I think my best was the article announcing a massive see through plastic bubble to be constructed over “Panther Square” to stop the pigeons from “bombing” the students. I’m sure that’s still a problem at the school.
When I first came to work at the company I work for now, the manager of the switch department used to create elaborate April Fool’s jokes. He was quite a prankster. I don’t remember anyone getting upset at his pranks, because after a while, everybody expected and looked forward to them.
I never can think of something to “do” for Xanga, however, but I did want to write about what happened yesterday, which if it hadn’t involved a creditor, I might have THOUGHT was an April Fool’s joke.
When I got home, there was a message on my machine from Citibank. I have a credit card with them with a $3000.00 limit, of which I owed about $2700.00 until last month, when I paid down $800.00 with part of my tax refund. They gave me a “pin number” and told me to call a phone number which isn’t the one on my statement.
I don’t blindly call anyone who leaves a message if I don’t know them, so I called the number on my statement, and asked them if they called me. The answer was “yes”. They’re LOWERING my credit limit. This has to be a joke, I thought. “Why would you do that?” I asked the clueless young gal on the other end of the line. Something about my credit score.
My credit score is 726. That’s pretty good, seeing how much I owe in credit card debt. I asked if my APR were being increased. I have a 5.25% APR on this card, and that’s pretty good. So far, no tinkering with the rate. The gal with whom I was talking seemed surprised I had that low a rate. (She probably announced this to her supervisor when she got off the phone and I’ll see an increase next month!)
“I’ve had credit cards with over $15,000.00 limits. Of the three credit accounts I have now, my consolidation account is $37,500.00. (Of which I owe under $29,000.00 now), my overdraft account is $6300.00. (And after paying them $2000.00 last month I only owe $1900.00.) The Citibank card is one I use. I recently signed up for an account on Amazon.com to rent movies through my computer to stream to my bigscreen TV with this card. By paying down almost a grand, I wasn’t so close to the limit. What a strange time to lower that limit!
“So what is the limit being lowered too?” I asked. “What I owe, so you can sock me with an overlimit fee on next month’s bill?” Pretty much. I won’t get an overlimit fee, but my limit is now $1970.00 and I owe $1950.00, so I can charge $20.00. Whoopee. “I guess you really don’t want me as a customer” I told her.
I would have asked if she were playing an early April Fool’s joke on me but I wasn’t thinking about jokes at the time.
She told me there was a program in which I could enlist (for no additional charge) which would help me by giving me credits toward any payments I paid over the minimum for the next six months. The kicker was that I couldn’t use the card during this time. “I want to be able to use the card.” I said. “I always pay over the minimum, I always pay ahead of time or on time, and I just paid $800.00. This doesn’t make any sense!”
I’ve been reading about the things credit card companies are doing to try to get more from thier customers after legislation went into effect last month crippling some of their more questionable practices. For instance, they have to state on the statement how much you’re really paying for your balance. I just hope Citibank doesn’t increase my rate before I pay off the $1900.00 I owe them.
Even with my almost $6000.00 windfall recently, I didn’t have enough to obliterate my debt, and of course I’m spending the most money to lower the amount of the card with the highest rate. As I stated in my last entry, I also want to have a buffer as I’m looking at hospital fees, and tonight I’m going to find out exactly how much it’s going to cost to repair my car!
Wish I could say this is an April Fool’s joke being played on me, but it’s not, and I’m not laughing.
I’ll go check out Dave now. Maybe he’s got an April Fool’s laugh for me this morning!
Posted: April 01, 2010 7:33 AM
Comments (15)
Your “mistake” was making a large payment. They were afraid you would soon pay it off and no longer carry a balance. So they screwed you.
There’s a reason I don’t use credit cards anymore.
I would be stressed out with that kind of credit card debt.
That is just messed up. Credit cards are the devil.
Re: April Fool’s
I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t have something as fun planned for this year. My April Fool’s plans this year were admittedly a lot more sinister in nature. Its been sort of difficult to really have fun around here the way I used to. People are just so used to being shitty around here. On top of that, so many of the people who brightened this place up have left.
My April Fool’s “joke” this year is reflective of the environment I perceive around here. It is my backlash at all the overwhelming negativity. I suppose I should do the grown up thing and rise above, but really where’s the fun in that?
Thanks for thinking of me though. Again, I am genuinely sorry to disappoint. I’ll try and make up for it next year.
“Wow” is all I can say!
I hope things work out for you in the long run. This is why credit cards are both a blessing and a curse.
Wow — it does sound like an April Fool’s joke — sounds pretty odd to me!
I think most of the credit card issuing banks are trying to revise their credit limits so that thy will not find themselves at some kind of disadvantage as the govt oversight and issuing rules change.
Even though I always pay my cards off – have no running balance (I’m what they call a “free-loader”), I’ve had my credit lines lowered in the past couple of months. The explanation was:”You don’t use your credit limit so we are lowering it”. A pretty dumb policy if you want to make money by issuing credit.
You’re right~ not so funny. I hear it’s happening to a lot of folks. I wish you well~ as you continue to plow foward to pay off that debt. :goodjob:
I was the editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper and I opted out of doing April Fool’s pages. We weren’t well funded, though and had to obtain most of our funds through soliciting our paper and hoping we’d get advertisments. I thought it best not to because of the money issue we had.
As for the credit card-I hate them! I’m in debt (only 500 in) but I’m only 20, and I’m slowly working to pay it all off and realizing what I’m wasting my money on that isn’t needed. As soon as it’s paid off it’s garbage!
No April Fools jokes on me today, thank god!
It seemed like it took forever to pay off my plastic bill but I was able to do so over a two year period. I did it the old fashioned way, living like I was broke, made huge payments and cut off a finger everytime I used a card.
In reference to a previous post, engine mounts do wear out. Most have a solid rubber insert to isolate the vibration of the engine from the frame of the car. Everytime you put the car in gear and give it gas, the engine tries to twist as it works against the resistance of turning the wheels. The problem is that the rubber that keeps your car from feeling like one of those cheap vibrating beds in a seedy hotel gets stretched and compressed. Over time they just give up.
I’m usually a little leary of handing out car advice on the internet (I’ve never been able to fix a car without putting my hands on it). However, if you ever want to pick my brain concerning its 17 of ASE Master experinence, send your questions my way and I’ll tell you what I know.
maybe she’s doing you a favor -like tough love
i don’t have credit card, only debit card…
i don’t think credit card is a good thing for me to have…
and about april fool, i never actually understand why people are doing it… it seems like fun, but i just don’t get it… but i do laugh at pranks generally…
Yes, I think credit card companies are trying to figure out ways to make more money since new laws prohibit some of their practices.
I’ve noticed that at least 2 credit cards statements I have include information on how much one saves by paying more than minimum payment each month. This is helpful, I think. I do try to pay over minimum each month on the 2 cards on which I carry balances. These balances are result of transfers from high interest cards to a low interest and they were for the life of the balance. Unfortunately, I continued to use one card to buy stuff after I transferred. That was a mistake because the new purchase(s) would be charged at regular highter rate. After I figured out what the deal was, I used only two other cards on which I know I can pay off each month. I charge only on those two because of their “cash back” features.
A bit of good news is that, reviously, payments were applied to amount at the lower interest rate first; but now companies are required to apply payments to the higher interest rate first — or at least that’s my understanding.
Also, I was advised by one credit card co. that my credit had been lowered, but not a whole lot.
Still, my credit rating is also unbelievably high considering amont of debt (although it’s shrinking each month). Part of that is because I read that you should not close out credit cards that you are no longer using. The amount of credit on those cards is a factor in credit rating. If you close them out, you lose the amount of credit on the cards which effects the credit/debt ratio, a part of determining credit rating.
It’s a complicated business, and I hate having to read all the fine print, but necessary I suppose. I’ve been told that if interest rate on any card is too high, you have had the card for a long time & you have been good about making payments, you can call the company to negotiate a lower rate. Some people have reported success with this.
I know this is long, but I think it’s important to share info. that helps deal with CC companies or helps to retain a good credit rating. Maybe some folks know, but I think a lot don’t.
May your Easter weekend be blessed.
~~Blessings ‘n cheers
Dear brothers and sisters in the United States:
You!
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I hate dealing with credit card companies. The last time I paid them off I tried hard not to use them again, but life goes on and so I found myself dealing with them again. I had several accounts cancelled, merely because I no longer had a balance. There’s a reason – I had them just for emergencies! I have had a rate on one card skyrocket, not because I was late on any payments, or behind on anything else, but just because they were afraid I “might” be, for some reason, when I called to ask for an explanation. They refused to lower the rate, and at that point I didn’t have any other open accounts left to transfer to! It was their loss, though, since I eventually transferred the balance to a Credit Union at a much lower rate, where I am treating it as a loan payoff and not a credit card, and I pay off the monthly balance of the original account so they don’t get any money. If they had just left things alone, they would have made a lot of money!