Sunday - 2008-0803-2000 - Rain - Man in Rain; Spiral Index Cards; Plants; Owl; The Mailing of Checks for Bill Payments Conundrum; Top Banking Executives Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity - Part I; Credit Bureaus; Top Banking Executives Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity - Part II

Rain - Man in Rain (London) Larger Image A solitary "Man in Rain" from Rob Gardiner nyclondon.com.

At some undetermined point, I discovered the virtues of spiral index cards. The cards are stiff enough so that it makes for an ideal note pad in any location. You can also jot a note to give to someone else. Perfect for e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

An excellent device for listing items and prices when you're trying to do some comparison shopping. Or to remind yourself later what was what.

I keep going back to the nearby nursery trying to decide on plants for my front bed.

Wednesday, I wandered through the rows noting plants and prices. I'm interested in a natural look rather than a symmetrical design. A major factor is also price. As I've discovered many plants can be expensive. So I was trying to select the more affordable shrubs and then envision what I wanted. It turned out to be a frustrating experience.

I took photos of a variety of plants with my cell phones camera. That evening I e-mailed them to myself, then extracted and saved them from the e-mail. I then realized I couldn't match the photos with my notes.

My retirement check is automatically deposited on the first, so I was able to return Friday and buy a couple of evergreens. But I'm not at all certain if they're what I need or not.

In glancing at the accessories, I was immediately attracted to a roughly two-foot ceramic owl. The design is semi-abstract, based on black and white ovals.

The style has a vague familiarity to it that puzzles me. About the best match I can come up with is expressionism, and I know that's not exactly right. Another possibility is a variation of aboriginal totem art. Browsing through a couple of Google searches, I came across an owl of a different design intended to keep evil from the home or garden in which it resides. An idea that I find appealing.

The owl now has a new home along with four or five potted plants to the right of my front door. And I certainly hope it will keep evil at bay. By the way, the plastic hedgehog and the chubby bunny still sit among the plants to the left of the door. I'm not certain if either has any animistic significance.

As the end of a month approaches, I try to have ready payments for bills ready to be slipped into the mail the last day of the month. This time I made the mistake of mailing payments on the next to the last day of the month, in this case Wednesday. One of the payments was for a bill from the medical clinic. When I visit the clinic, the clerks totals the bill, then asks me for a seemingly arbitrary amount. But once the payments are processed, it may be revealed that I've not met my deductible, so there's a shortfall.

The payment was picked up from the mail box Wednesday evening for a Memphis address. By some bizarre stroke of fate, the medical billing company must have ran to the bank the second they got the check, for it cleared sometime Thursday.

In the meantime, I used my debit card twice on Thursday. It should be noted that funds were available to cover both of these transactions. Of course, the bank uses the highest amount process first practice, which means the medical payment was processed first, followed by the other two transactions. Since the funds were not available for the medical payment, that transaction incurred a $36 non-sufficient funds charge. At this point, there was a negative balance, which means the each of the two debit card transactions also incurred a $36 non-sufficient funds charge. Total - $108!!! That's outrageous.

Banks with their vast lobbying power have made certain that such practices are legal. And they make literally billions from it. A new biological taxonomy genus should be created for top banking executives that would be somewhere between pond scum and bathroom mold.

I'm also an advocate of bringing them before a crimes-against-humanity tribunal. A financial Nuremberg trials. Along with those responsible for the mortgage crisis. I can't hear the pleas now, "But we were only following order!"

If that doesn't work, I'm all for voodoo dolls and sharp needles.

Alas, America has become a neo-fascist state ruled by a plutocracy of an immoral "reign of thieves."

In the future, the medical billing company will just have to fucking wait for their money.

At the end of May. I thought I'd try to check my credit reports. In the US, there are three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Why there is a need for three is beyond me.

The three companies fall under Federal Trade Commission guidelines. "The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months."

The guidelines specify a particular web site for use in obtaining your report online. I visited the site and opted for a report from Equifax. You are also able to make corrections and note inaccurate information online. The report was a puzzle, to say the least.

It included debt to a collection agency with which I was totally unfamiliar. Although, I think they must have received the account from a credit card during the bankruptcy proceedings since that particular card is not listed.

There were three accounts listed that were paid off literally years ago.

Also present were two duplicate accounts.

One last item indicated was the mortgage on the house I used to own that was transferred in late 1995.

I corrected everything I could figure out, but when I got ready to sent the update, I got a system error that indicated their computer was having problems and would be out of commission for several hours. All that work for zilch. FUCK!

A couple of days later, I attempted to obtain the report again. Since I'd used up my one free opportunity, it was necessary that I pay for this report.

However,I never could figure out how to get the report. And as I found out later, I'd inadvertently signed up for a credit monitoring service. I noticed an Equifax fee on my debit card report but did not dispute it. IDIOT!

At the end of June two Equifax fees appeared. I called on June 30 and was able to have one removed. My assumption was that they represented different months. And one of the fees was for the previous month. I thought I made it clear I wanted to cancel the service.

BUT at the end of July another Equifax appeared. Again I went through the process of re-cancelling the service. I was really in a foul mood this time, and again I thought I made it clear I did not want the service. The fee disappeared from the on-line debit card report within a few hours. However, I found the experience very disturbing emotionally.

On Saturday, August 2, ANOTHER Equifax fee appeared. My first thought was that it was suppose to be a credit but was inadvertently listed as a debit. So yesterday, I AGAIN called Equifax. Only to discover, they had me listed as subscribing to three different services. Jesus H Christ! So when I thought I was cancelling a service, I really was. But I didn't realize there was another one. And another one.

You may have noticed, I still don't have the credit report I want, so I can make a stab at updating it.

OK! I think I've cancelled all the invidious Equifax services. BUT I notice that the fee is still listed a pending debit on my on-line report. Why this not was not cancelled, as the one Friday was, is a mystery. I'm fairly certain the Regions software is designed to process certain transactions at certain times. If I should buy an item using my bank card as a credit card, the refund will not show up for four or five days. Of course, any purchase you make will be immediately processed. So the scum of the financial world have found another way to manipulate your money to their advantage.

Another reason to find top financial life forms guilty of crimes against humanity.

(In Sunday - 2008-0803-2000 / Out - ca. 2008-0808-2200) Parts of this entry were inadvertenly altered to create a new page. Once the error was discovered, it had to be re-configured to its intended form.

Pax! Erin go braugh! Je accuse...