I should be ashamed of myself

I got a letter from my bank yesterday and I suspect most everyone else in America who carries a debit card in their purse or wallet got one too. It came with two or three printed leaflets and the gist of all this paper was to inform me that at the end of August there was going to be a change in the way my debit card works.

Now as it happens, I don’t have a credit card – anymore – but I do carry this debit card and I use it in situations that, in an earlier time, I might have used a check.. Nobody in their right mind would, if they saw my FICO score, give me the time of day let alone credit, but apparently this card came with a feature that loans me money. The letter informed me that if, for some reason, I lost track of the balance in my checking account and made a purchase or a withdrawal from an ATM in excess of what was actually in my account, the bank, acting out of the goodness of it’s corporate heart and in my best interest would go ahead and honor that purchase or withdrawal and charge me a mere $35 for the convenience – each time. This service is called an “automatic overdraft feature.”

I don’t believe I was aware that this courtesy until yesterday. Although I have incurred one or two such fees since I joined this bank a few years ago – about the time my previous bank disappeared in a whoosh of red tape – I’m usually pretty careful about keeping tabs on my checking balance. I was not always so prudent and have learned not to put my fingers in the financial fire, as it were, by hard experience. But now the bank has been told by the federal government – Congress, I take it, passed a law – that I have to request this service that the bank has in its gracious egregiousness been providing all this time be continued.

So the letter, in effect, says that if I want to “keep this important safety net in place” I have to give them permission to continue it. Because, as the letter continues, “We know that life is unpredictable…Don’t loose that peace of mind.” Now I want to be fair the this fine institution, for after all they’ve taken the time and effort to warn me about this change, but frankly it seems to me that what they’re suggesting is that I shouldn’t worry about what my bank balance is because they’re right there to cover all my oversights – for a mere $35 a pop. And what, you might ask, would happen if I decided to let this thoughtless act of Congress change our “relationship?” Well, they would have no alternative than to refuse the charge or decline the withdrawal. Gee, why would I want them to do that when I could pay them $35 every time I want to act like I have more money than I actually do?

The World's Oldest Cat???

You are looking at what may be the world's oldest cat. Witter came into my home (via my ex) back in 1990 after the death of our beloved Trout (not pictured). At the time she was already full grown, so figure she was between six months and a year old. She was not my choice and I have been insensitive to her, especially because she has a bad habit of biting. But over the years she seems to have mellowed. Now in old age she is growing increasingly senile and as a result I never know where she's going to relieve herself. For the past year I've banned her from the bedroom for just that reason, but with the 100+ degree weather this past week and me living on the top floor of an old building with only a few inches of black tar roof between me and the brutal sun, I've relinquished and allowed her in. In return, she's been a real lady.