Journal TechnoLust's Journal: I DON'T have a fucking HOME PHONE! Stop Asking... 14

Everything that ties into your credit record asks for a home phone number. I don't have one. I don't have home phone. I don't need one, I don't want one. I'm sure there are a lot of people like me that have a cell phone and that's it. So why do these forms not allow me to note that the number I'm giving them is my CELL phone so they don't call me?

So I have this MBNA Quantum* credit card that I've had since my 18th birthday. My credit limit is $25,900. I hadn't used it in a while, so they gave my a 0% APR on Balance Transfers for a 18 months. This was during the time I wasn't working, and had racked up some credit card debt. Cool, I transfered some money over there and easily paid the minimum payment every time they sent me an email telling me the payment was due. A few months ago they were bought out by BoA, and I saw that I could see my MBNA card on the BoA page, but I still had to go to the MBNA page to pay it. No problem, I have been paying it that way for years.

Last night I got a phone call from an UNAVAILABLE number. I answered even though I normally don't answer CallerID blocked numbers. It was a lady from MBNA saying that she was calling because I hadn't missed a payment in 10 years and now I'd missed 2 in a row, and was I aware that I hadn't paid them. I told her that I hadn't seen an email and I'm on electronic billing. Apparently they switched me back to regular billing when BoA bought them... and it was in a BoA envelope with the words Statement Enclosed printed on it. Oh, yeah, I got that. I thought it was my BoA monthly statement and since I use online banking ALMOST EVERY DAY, I don't look at the paper statement that is 3 days behind at least. So those got chucked in the trash. Oh yeah, and the little thing on BoA that tells me the balance and when it's due? They removed that about the time they stopped sending me the eBills. So I hadn't had a reminder to pay it in 2 months. Not my fault, but not really theirs either. They DID send a statement, just not the way I had asked to be notified. I told her I would pay it today, and she made a note and thanked me for my time.

Last night I went to MBNANetAccess.com like always and I get a screen that says, "You can [read: have to] now pay your bill at www.bankofamerica.com. If you are already a BoA customer, log in and click ACCOUNTS and your credit card will be listed below your BoA accounts." I went there, logged in, and clicked ACCOUNTS and it's not there. I searched all over... not there. I went to the trash can in my room and saw the thing I thought was a BoA statement and threw away. I opened it up and sho'nuff, it's a bill for my MBNA card. Everything on there says BoA and NOTHING says MBNA. I had to check the card number to make sure it was the right one, since I have a BoA credit card I've had less than a year, but its limit is around $10k. So I STILL have no idea how to pay the damn thing, but I did see something interesting.

It appears that since I missed the payment, they cut my promotional 0% APR off early. No biggie, I only had like 2 months left anyway and my Balance Transfer APR is normally 6.99% Oh wait, what's this? The balance isn't in the Balance Transfers column. They moved it to a column called "Other". Which is at 20.72%!!! Fuck that shit. Ok, well, I don't have quite enough to pay it off, so I'm going to pay $1000 of it and transfer the balance to another card with a lower APR. Hey, maybe I can get a 0% promotional APR so I can hold off paying it off until my raise takes effect. Hey look! I got a pre-approved credit card in the mail today and it says "0% APR on Balance Transfers until January 2008". Sweet! Go to their website.

Here's where the "Enter your Home Phone Number" comes in. It didn't have an asterisk, so I left it blank. It didn't like that. I go and put in my cell number and click submit. While "Please Wait... Processing..." is on the screen another Unavailable call appears. I think it's MBNA calling wondering why I haven't made the payment today, so I answer. It's a computer at the bank I'm applying for a card from, verifying the number works. I didn't have to type anything or say anything or verify anything. It just verified someone answered, read me a short message, and then hung up on me. What if I put in a random working number? So anyway, I'm of course accepted, all I have to do is agree to the terms and put in my credit card number for the Balance Transfer and we're set. (I normally don't mention credit limits or financial information, as I consider it rude if there's no point, but I did in this JE to provide context for this next bit of information.) I read the fine print and notice the Credit Limit they want to give me. $750. Did I leave some 0s off my income? Hit back. No, they're all there. Mistype the SSN? No, it's correct. WTFSoF? They SERIOUSLY think I'm going to carry a card with a 3 digit limit? I can't even pay my FUCKING RENT with that. It's completely useless to me. You went to the trouble to CALL MY CELL PHONE to verify me and you offer me Seven Hundred and Fifty Fucking Dollars?!?!? I make way more than enough in a WEEK to pay it that off! I hit DENY only because there was no "SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS SIDEWAYS" button.

*They invented Quantum when every Joe Schmo started getting Platinum** cards. I've heard these cards can have a limit up to $250,000. Who needs a quarter million dollar credit limit?!?!?
**Platinum cards were of course invented when everyone started getting Gold*** Cards.
***Gold cards were invented to make people feel special when everyone started getting credit cards.