SCAM

One of the fascinating things about right wing talk radio (and perhaps left wing talk radio as well) is how the hosts of these shows have so much “Personal Confidence”, by which I mean “Chutzpah”.  These shows are designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. On many of these shows the host will demagogue the concept of Rugged Individualism to their audience. What it seems to come down to is that to be a Rugged Individualist one must see the world as the host does. Does this not subvert the very concept of individualism? I recall in the sixties when my generation eschewed (although we had no clue as to what eschewing was) collegiate attire and we all donned T shirts and jeans just so we could be different. What we were, ultimately, was a ragged army impressed into service by jeans salesmen. Live and Learn. That’s what I have attempted to do for much of my life and I feel, for the most part, I have succeeded more often than failed. Which brings me to the point of today’s missive.

Hi All,

I wanted to make those of you who may bank with Bank Of America that it appears a scam is underway to raid your accounts. I have not had an account with BOA in almost eight years yet I received an e-mail this morning wanting all kinds of personal account information. According to the e-mail return address, it is coming out of Germany. Here is the body of the e-mail. You can click on the link to see what they are asking for. I find it telling that as a bank holiday to day, this e-mail should arrive when one can not call the bank itself.

As we all recall, not that we can ever forget, the BCC in collusion with unrepentent lobbyist, the former Honorable John Thrasher, passed a garbage tax on us all backed up with the threat of forfeiting our homes if we did not bend to their will. One of the lame excuses was that this tax scam would help combat unsightly litter around the county. Now that this has, after a year, proved to be a lie, can we get our money and freedom back? I doubt it. Not until the commissioners responsible see the writing on the wall with their imminent loss of feeding rights at the public trough ala Tommy Hazouri.

As confusing as it sounds, have you ever had the feeling that your money is not really yours and that you have, in a way, return to your early years when you were told how, where and why spend your money? Today you can not have more than a limited daily amount of money dispensed  to you from the  bank ATM machine no matter how much money you have in your account; and have you noticed how everything is co related like the fact that the majority of companies only accept credit card or automate withdrawn as a payment method before even considering you as a customer? Well, what you probably don't know yet is that "anybody" can take money from your account even after you have already closed a service and stop the automate  withdrawn from your account. It happened to me! About a year ago I canceled an Internet service and an e-mail was sent to me advising me that the account was canceled and that no more withdrawn would be made from my checking account. However, about three days ago while reviewing my account on line I found out that a charge for $35 had been taken from my account from this Internet service. What it surprised the most was that the bank just paid it!! And this was only the beginning of a serial of unfortunate events (like the book). Thanks to this unexpected withdraw and before I could make a deposit to fix this "hole", one of my monthly payments hit my account and placed it in negative. I called this creditor and advised them what had caused the check to bounce and compromise myself to mail a money order to cover the check and the NSF check. Of course the bank charged $28 to my account for the same NSF fee. So far I had lost 35 dollars paid to that Internet service plus $28 that the bank charged me when the other check bounced and $30 for the fee for this check. Before I can even digest this I found out, two days later, that the company I just had sent the money order to, couldn't wait or simply did not make a note on the computer advising my conversation with the customer service person and the they had sent my check to a collection agency which had already presented the check for a second time which cost me another $28 on NSF fee from my bank. Two days later I discovered that the check had been presented for a second time but with a different amount $25 and guess what?! The bank paid it and charged me another $28 for the NSF fee! By then my account was  overdrawn by more of $100! So I contacted the bank to find out why in the name of the Lord they have paid this check and to request for the NSF fee to be waived. What really killed me was the "Mrs. Attitude" representative that answered the phone. She, in a very "tolerant" voice, explained to me that the second time the charge was not the check but the fee that the collection agency collects  for taking care of  the check for that company.   By then my jaw had  already hit the ground and a thousand bad words were  crossing my mind like ghosts in a haunted house. "It's the law" she said "these collection agencies are entitled to collect their fees from the accounts as many times as necessary until they are paid, and they do not need a physical authorization or check to do so" . So go figure! You trust your money to the bank and they just give it away to whoever claims it? No phone call, no courtesy note to let you know that "so and so" is trying to withdraw money from your account, nothing!! And on top of this they charge you $28 as a punishment for being so blind and stupid to trust your money to them. Someone should remind this people that is our honest and well earned money deposited in  their banks what pays for their salaries. To be honest, sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't be better keeping  my money under the  matress like my granny used to do. On these days,  when we sometimes dig for pennies under the couch to complete for a galloon of milk or gasoline, it is indeed very frustrating to figure out on what side "our bank" really is. After all, still is your money and let's face it: If it wasn't for my money, and your money, the banks wouldn't be nothing but big buildings with empty vaults.