Thursday, March 02, 2006

Sputtering into my coffee

I just saw a post over at The Dees Diversion that has me speechless. It is amazing to me that the government is so micromanaging our world that a relatively measly amount of $6000 can inspire a Homeland Security investigation. I mean really how much firepower of any real import can be purchased for 6K, or who can be bought off for that paltry amount who could really affect world domination.

If your money is held up during an investigation, my question is, are you still accruing interest on that account, and if so who pays for that?

The article says:
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. So when I go online in a few days to pay a significant balance of my credit card off, an amount that is many times over my usual payment, am I going to be investigated? The Girl Friend thinks not, as my overall credit line is so small, relatively (smaller than the Soehnges payment in fact). But still, it galls me to think that someone with no other hinky behavior can be investigated, have their financial life put on hold because they are paying down some debt. The article doesn't say how long the investigation took, how long the couple had to wait to have their credit line reflect that payment, but for some people it could make a huge difference. What if their roof collapsed during that time and this was the only credit available to them? What if their care broke down and they needed to get to work in order to draw an income to, I don't know, live?

I am shocked that I was able to construct a sentence over this item. I am appalled.

1 comment:

M. said...

My boss, who's straightening up his finances preparatory to marrying long-time boyfriend and buying a 2-bedroom condo (not sure which is more stressful!) just paid off 2 car loans. Tuesday he was stamping around the shop ranting about how the payments hadn't been credited yet, etc., etc. - and now I wonder if I know why.

Scary, scary stuff!