Friday, March 03, 2006

Credit Cards & Homeland Security...

Someone please tell me this is a joke... long story short, a retired couple decided to pay off their credit card (isn't that what you're supposed to do? No? Always thought so), so they sent in a check for $6,522... and the bill wasn't paid. When they called to find out why? That's when things go sideways...
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.
Alarms go off if you try to get out of debt??? Now that is an -ism way beyond fascism.

Walter called television stations, the American Civil Liberties Union and me. And he went on the Internet to see what he could learn. He learned about changes in something called the Bank Privacy Act.

"The more I'm on, the scarier it gets," he said. "It's scary how easily someone in Homeland Security can get permission to spy."

Eventually, his and his wife's money was freed up. The Soehnges were apparently found not to be promoting global terrorism under the guise of paying a credit-card bill. They never did learn how a large credit card payment can pose a security threat.

But the experience has been a reminder that a small piece of privacy has been surrendered. Walter Soehnge, who says he holds solid, middle-of-the-road American beliefs, worries about rights being lost.

"If it can happen to me, it can happen to others," he said.
Again: please tell me this is a joke.

Thanks to Americablog for the story.