#586 Grift-wrapped

I’m getting sick and tired of bankcard company junkmail disguised as important stuff. You know—the outside of the envelope says, “Account Information Enclosed.”
You just got to open it.
Personally, I think bankcard junkmail is the scourge of advertising. I would be interested in someone computing the volume of paper, ink, etc involved in an average week in just bankcard company junkmailings alone.
How many extra gallons of gas are consumed by postal vehicles because of the sheer weight of bankcard company solicitations?
How many trees are killed just so you can be offered a special six-month low interest rate?
How many gallons of toxic ink are bled into the environment just so MegaBankCorp can entice you into using special checks? (Oh sure, there’s no interest on those checks but the fine-printed upfront advance fee is a 4 percent surcharge.)
Nevertheless, I’ll skip laying all that environmental havoc at the door of bankcard companies because I have another, bigger bitch to fry.
They lie.
They promise you’ll receive a special interest rate. Then any number of micro-cataclysms in the fine print will trigger a massive interest rate to kick in and come barreling down on your budget like a piano on a coyote.
Oh gee, we’re sorry Mr. Consumer, the fine print states very clearly that the first full moon after the vernal equinox suspends all promotional APRs still retaining a balance transfer for purchases made before the Perseid meteor shower in any year other than an odd numbered leap year.
So I guess you could say they don’t really lie.
They just obscure the full truth.
And they fail to mention that with the new law recently passed by congress, you the consumer, who they mercilessly bombarded with tantalizing offers, can not seek bankruptcy relief should you get in over your credit head because they keep chipping away at your resolve to budget more and borrow less.
Congress had to help the poor banks out because they were really hurting with all the defaults from high credit risk people they invited themselves to lend money to.
Funny, my bankcard junkmail has never eased up one bit.
America ya gotta love it