I saw this just as we've gotten a refi loan on the house and were
thinking of paying down a credit card that has gotten too big a
balance. Should be interesting now. Big Brother is watching YOU.
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?
action=detail&&pk=RAISEALARM-02-28-06
Pay too much and you could raise the alarm
By BOB KERR
The Providence Journal
28-FEB-06
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Walter Soehnge is a retired Texas
schoolteacher who traveled north with his wife, Deana, saw summer
change to fall in Rhode Island and decided this was a place to
stay for a while.
So the Soehnges live in Scituate now and Walter sometimes has
breakfast at the Gentleman Farmer in Scituate Village, where he
has passed the test and become a regular despite an accent that
is definitely not local.
And it was there, at his usual table last week, that he told me
that he was "madder than a panther with kerosene on his tail."
He says things like that. Texas does leave its mark on a man.
What got him so upset might seem trivial to some people who have
learned to accept small infringements on their freedom as just
part of the way things are in this age of terror-fed paranoia.
It's that "everything changed after 9/11" thing.
But not Walter.
"We're a product of the '60s," he said. "We believe government
should be way away from us in that regard."
He was referring to the recent decision by him and his wife to be
responsible, to do the kind of thing that just about anyone would
say makes good, solid financial sense.
They paid down some debt. The balance on their JCPenney Platinum
MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a
large payment, a check for $6,522.
And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior
was found questionable.
And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a
suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak
a machine gun through customs.
They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And
they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been
cast.
After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their
account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had
arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account
hadn't changed.
So Deana Soehnge called the credit-card company. Then Walter
called.
"When you mess with my money, I want to know why," he said.
They both learned the same astounding piece of information about
the little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and
blinking.
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.
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.
(Bob Kerr is a columnist for The Providence Journal. E-mail
bkerr@projo.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
--
Ms Liberty - United States of America
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. – Thomas
Jefferson, part of proposed Virginia Constitution 1776.
50% of U.S. households own a gun but few people ever practice
with them. Your gun is not a lucky rabbit's foot that will bestow
protection on you, just by keeping it around. If you own one, you
have a moral obligation to yourself to learn safety, get training
and learn how to use it, then stay in practice so you don't
forget and get rusty. Take as much training as you can afford and
practice regularly. After all, you are the militia.
.
|
