Paul's Comments

The other day I had to go buy a few things for the move. Well, I go over to Sears and I find a very nice suitcase I can use, at least for packing my clothes. I go to pay for it and the clerk asks me if I'd be interested in applying for a Sears credit card. Well, I'm thinking, back when I ran out of money a few years ago, I couldn't pay them. (I ended up paying them - or their collection agency, I don't know which it was - several months later when I did have some money.) Since I had basically stiffed Sears, I figured, why bother? But, I figure, okay, go ahead, I haven't applied for any credit cards in a while, it shouldn't affect my credit.

Well, I get turned down for the Citibank card but, surprise, surprise I do get approved for the Sears card issued by HSBC. I looked at the application and it also says the annual fee is "NONE," so I decide, okay. (I've seen HSBC's applications and typically they ding you for anything from $39 to $59 a year.) So they approve the transaction and I walk out the store with about $80 worth of merchandise on nothing but my signature. (I would have paid with my check card as I don't have any credit cards. Or, rather, didn't have any.)

So I figure I'll be getting a Sears credit card. Okay, not much, but if necessary I might be able to use it to rent a car from Avis to use for moving. Well, I get the card today, and I discover it's a Sears HSBC Mastercard, not merely a Sears card. And I also discover in the "terms and conditions" that the card has a $59 yearly fee.

If this isn't "bait and switch," it's definitely slimy and unconsionable. So I call the card activation number and actually speak to someone there, as opposed to it using exclusively an automated system. Probably because I didn't take their unemployment security insurance, which is usually worthless.

Well, anyway the clerk tells me I should mail in the application I signed. (I'm not stupid; I made a photocopy.) She gives me an address and I am mailing them a letter about it. So I will see what happens. Worst case: they decide they want the $59 so much they cancel the card. In which case I'll pay them, but I'll have had more time than the minimum. But I will not pay the $59; I did not agree to that when I applied for the card.

So, boys and girls, what does this tell us: be sure you read, and keep, whatever forms you have when you apply for a credit card, you may find that the company will try to screw you.

As has been pointed out by others, if you look at the standard manual for diagnosing mental illness, the "DSM IV", and you check out all of the characteristics that apply to a sociopath also apply to another entity: corporations. The dominant type of business entity invented in the 19th century has the exact same psychological characteristics as that of a person with a mental illness equivalent to a psychopath or sociopath. Someone having no concern at all about others and exclusively interested in their own needs and wants to the exclusion of anyone else.

I should know; I'm on the board of directors of three corporations and an LLC.

[Update 8/27/2008] They did end up crediting me for the $59.00 so, since I got a $15 instant rebate for applying for the card, I guess I ended up a little bit ahead, for once.