Eric the Red

It seems that paying off ones credit card balance in full raises national security flags. From the article:

“They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn’t move until the threat alert is lifted.”

Lord help us, from those who cost the credit card company money by avoiding interest and finance charges!

In a possibly related bit of fiscal terrorism, the Treasury Department is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling by a modest $781 billion (with a “B”), to $8.2 trillion (with a “T”) in order to avoid universal default and higher interest rates across on all of their credit cards (known as the taxpayers). What are the finance charges on $8.2 trillion anyway?