In the category of TOTALLY ridiculous

Today's topic of discussion:
I called my credit card company to see what my balance was. You know the usual, dial an 800 number, enter in 5,000 bits of information, account number, social security, zip code, weight at birth, that sort of thing. And then some lovely psuedo-human voice tells you your current balance, last payment received and merrily we go.
Except yesterday. Yesterday I called, and after going through all the pre-subscribed loopholes got the following message in lieu of my account balance "Please hold while we transfer you to a service representative" Odd, I thinks to myself. So I get transferred, some guy named Mike answers the phone, asks for all the information I have already typed in and then says "How can I help you?" My response was "You tell me, I called for my balance and got forwarded to you." He says, let me look and puts me on hold for a few minutes. He comes back and says -- and this is the part that still kills me -- "Ms. Smith, your account has a temporary hold on it." To which I think more than odd, as I just made a payment. He goes on to explain that the reason my account has a hold on it is because I have made a series of PAYMENTS in excess of $200 over the last few months. My rather dumbfounded response, "so because I am PAYING you the money I have charged, and done so on time and in excess of the minimum amount due, you are putting a hold on my account?" Yes. that is the policy. So in order to remove the hold, I have to get a copy of my last check, on bank letterhead and fax it over to them.
HUH? So, your policy is creating more work for me? I go on to tell him I have every intention of keeping this payment schedule and will in fact, be paying multiple times a month to get this thing paid off. Am I going to have to jump through hoops every time I do this?
No he tells me. This is just a check to make sure everything is on the up and up with my bank. My thought at this point is twofold:
1. Who in the hell died and made the credit card company my quality check/financial advisor as to how I spend my money?
2. I am really sorry that by paying off my debt, you Mr. Giant-Soulless-Money grubbing-Corporation, will not be able to get that extra few bucks in interest off of me.
As was suggested last night, it might be time to actually take advantage of one of those transfer your account for no interest for 6-months offers that seems to fill my mailbox daily.

In the category of not ridiculous, online registration for the Des Moines Komen Race for the Cure has started. Team Save Second Base is available for anyone in the DSM area that is interested in joining the walk. Link is on the left.

Now Listening: The Ray! Soundtrack