My big catch #1

This is my big starfish catch in Gig Harbor fishing. We had great fun on Sunday on the boat, cruising and fishing. I did catch a 2' shark.....which we let go and no one got a picture of. And that ain't no fish tale...........

Starting the backyard patio -- it's hard work but hopefully worth it. This is just lining them out and testing...... Did you know I have bricks from the 1900's and 1920's? Did you think bricks could be antiques?

26.99%

I admit, I'm often too busy to closely monitor my incoming bills. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice...well, you know the rest (President Bush didn't) I looked at my Mileage Plus Visa bill closely a month ago and wondered why in the world was the interest charged on the balance so high? Then I examined the bill closer and discovered (after much searching) and much to my dismay, that the interest rate on the card had jumped to 26.99%. That's absurd! I looked back through my 2005 bills and in December of 2004 it was 10.85% and then somewhere in February it jumped to my new outlandish rate. What was the catalyst? I have no idea.

I know that credit card companies nowadays will raise interest rates if you're late on a payment, (even by a day), if some sort of promotional period has expired or if you go over your limit. None of these had happened to me, however, I did see that First USA Visa had merged with Chase Visa (the new owner of my Mileage Plus account). That is when the rate went up. Credit card companies don't want you to call or look at your bills. We owe it to ourselves to constantly monitor our credit card bills.

I called each of my credit cards, B of A, Chase and my Mileage Plus Visa. Each of them lowered my rate, one all the way down to 8% EXCEPT Mileage plus Visa, they kept the high rate. Needless to say I will not be using that card and will probably cancel it. They said to call back in 2 weeks. Yeah right. Take control of your finances, remain viligant!