Marisa is Queen of the World: January 6, 2011 – Take it Over the Limit One More Time

Daily Decrees

Beginning January 1, 2011, your all powerful yet benevolent despot will make one decree daily that will become instant and unquestionable law. Though it is said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, it is yet unkown whether absolute imagined power corrupts. Perhaps it merely corrupts the imagination. We'll find out as Marisa, the newly ordained Queen of the World, attempts to change the world for the better by making 365 unilateral decisions. Ultimately though, it doesn't really matter whether you agree with her decisions or not. So feel free to comment as long as you understand your comments are in vain. In all honesty though your queen is hopeful that you will consider the vast majority of her decrees to be the kind of decisions you wish your previous leaders had made years ago. The best part of being the supreme ruler of the world is that changes can be made easily. There are no agreements to be reached, no protocols to follow, and no bureaucratic red tape...and that is the whole point.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

January 6, 2011 – Take it Over the Limit One More Time

Credit cards are all about charging customers interest, penalties, and fees. It’s the main way they make money. I personally do not think people should spend more on their credit cards than they can afford to pay at the end of the month. I suppose I could make a decree along those lines but I think that would be messing with individual freedoms a little too much. I may be Queen of the World, but that doesn’t mean I have to be domineering. Besides, I do understand that unfortunate circumstances can arise causing someone to have to carry some of their credit card debt to the next month. However, having to pay credit card interest is something I hope people will do as much as they can to avoid. Interest payments are where the credit card companies really win and the longer you let your debt ride, the more they win. Given this scenario, I don’t really understand why most credit cards carry limits to how much debt someone can accrue in a given month. Don’t they want you to spend more than you can afford? Why limit you then? It’s kind of like saying, “I want you to overspend to the point of owing interest but not to the point of repossession so I’m cutting you off.” It’s not really the limit itself that bothers me though; it’s the fee they charge you for going over your limit. If they really don’t want you racking up any more debt why don’t they just put a hold on the card and stop it from working? They do that when dubious charges show up, so why not do it when a customer has reached their credit limit? Instead, when you go over your credit limit they may or may not allow the transaction to go through but they WILL charge you an over limit fee. It just seems petty to me; like setting up a bunch of traps for consumers so that they are more likely to slip up and owe more money. Whatever the real reasoning behind it, I don’t like it. So…

Credit card companies are no longer allowed to penalize customers who charge, or attempt to charge, more than their credit limit for a given month. These companies may, however, put a hold on a card once the credit limit has been reached.

As always I remain you all-powerful and benevolent Queen of the World,

Marisa