The Demon Kitty of Beekman Avenue

Just to reiterate, GO SEE THIS SHOW OR SWEENEY WILL COME AND GET YOU! If not, the Demon Kitty of Beekman Avenue will!!!

Woe to Piggybanks Everywhere!

Watch out, Americans. You are about to be ripped off, if you haven't been already. We have been working our butts off to get on top of things financially. Finally we pay our bills on time, put away a little extra to feed the piggy, we're on top of things. We plan to pay off our credit cards entirely in the next year or two. Not enough, say the Banks. Too bad, say Them. We will screw you over, says The Fine Print.

Now we have an even more urgent reason to pay off our credit cards: Did you know that credit card companies can raise their rates as high as they want, at will, for no reason whatsoever, and there is nothing you can do about it?

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But he put coal in the stockings of all the good girls and boys and gave the gifts to Citibank, Chase and all the other big boys of credit. (Oh, and his name is not Santa Claus, it's Uncle Sam).

Chase Manhattan (or are they just "Chase" now? WHATEVER) decided, just because they wanted to, to raise our rate to 29.99 percent! "29.99 percent?" you ask. "That's outrageous," you say. "You must have been late on payments or something."

No, no. We never were late. Not once. Not by 5 minutes. And they told us this. They also told us they raised our rate because we used most of our credit with them. Not that we went OVER the credit limit. No, we did not do that. Just used "most" of it. And they said we could either close the account and pay it off immediately or, well, too bad, you get to pay six times the interest you were just paying.

You think, "Just transfer the balance to another card." The trouble with this scenario, kids, is that zero percent and low interest rates on cards are getting harder to come by, for everyone, not just us. If it hasn't hit you yet, just wait. Our total credit cards are NOT a lot. They are about 1/20th of our annual income if that helps you figure it out. So it is not like we are using a ton of credit.

So why did Chase single us out? Because they could.

So watch out Piggy. Rip offs and scams courtesy of states like South Dakota and Delaware are coming to a mail box near you. Read the fine print. Pay off your bills as soon as you can. And boycott the banks, especially the biggies that are these rip-off artists. We certainly will never be doing business with Chase in any way again. I won't even withdraw money from their ATMs even if I have to walk ten blocks out of the way in the cold to avoid it.

And now for something completely different:

GO SEE SWEENEY TODD. YOU MUST. DO IT. GO NOW. BUY THE TICKETS AND GO. OR SWEENEY WILL GET YOU! (Theatermania has some great offers but it's even worth full price if you can pay it). But don't put it on your credit card! Pay with debit or go to the box office and pay cash. : ) I mean it!