Evidently someone sold my name. Well, I hope they got a lot for it.

At least ten charity telemarketers have called in the last two weeks. I’ve been sucked up to, wheedled at, pushed and hung up on. None of it has made the slightest bit of difference; I’ve turned all of them down. These for-profit telemarketers have been hired by charities to try and raise money, but most of it goes to the telemarketing firm. …which is why they refuse donations under $10, if you can believe that!

I don’t begrudge the operators a job, really I don’t. But I believe that when a person donates to a charity, the money should go to that charity. And yes, I know charities are like large businesses with operating expenses and ad budgets, just like any corporation.

But as far as I know, none of my charities employ such means to collect funds; I donate directly to the organization, never through a third party.

My charities, just in case you’re looking for a worthy cause:

Disabled American Veterans
Soldier’s Angels
Haley House Fund
…and just recently, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My friend Rachel is raising money for them by running a marathon. The marathon is in 16 days and she’s $422 short of her goal. Please consider helping…!

And of course I know how ironic it is that I blegged.

I hate Chase. The bank, the credit card; whatever you’ve got that says Chase on it, I will loathe it with a white hot hate.

All the hilarity started one month when I made the mistake being late on a credit card payment. Just a few days late was enough for them to yank that beautiful low APR of 2.9% and jack it up to 21%! That meant our payment went from under 200. a month to 300.!

In an effort to somehow fix the situation, I sought to consolidate that card with another one, and wrote one of those ubiquitous checks from another account to cover the balance. I do that a lot and have succeeded in lowering many high interest rates.

BUT the credit card account that I wrote the check on had been taken over by Chase… I knew them as something else. And of course Chase spit that check back, saying that they couldn’t take it because it was Chase. It wasn’t the same account!!

Also, they now wanted 600. immediately because I had been late.

I paid the 600. but also did a balance transfer of the entire balance less 1,600. onto a new card. And still I got another bill shortly afterward for almost 200.!

The card is in my husband’s name, so he called them [that was safer, anyway]. He wanted to know why, if we’d made two payments, why the 200. They told him that both the payment and transfer were in the same billing cycle.
He tried to speak with them about lowering the rate and was told he’d have to call back and talk to someone else! [!]

SO. I’m going to gather some of their promotional items, e.g. pens, notepads… and make a little bonfire and maybe roast some marshmallows.

Do you like my new Chase logos? Helped me burn off some excess hate… Heh.

1A man is getting into the shower as his wife is getting out, when the doorbell rings. She quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. She opens the door to Fred, the next door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Fred says, ‘I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.’

After thinking for a moment, she drops it and stands naked in front of Fred.

After a few seconds, Fred hands her $800 and leaves.

Wrapping herself in the towel, as she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks: ‘Who was that?’

‘It was Fred the next door neighbor’ she replies.

‘Great!’ the husband says, ‘did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?’

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders (and Management team), in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.