Snow day #9?

I’ve lost count, truly. All I know is we’re going to school in June (we’re generally out by or around Memorial Day). It’s OK. Not complaining about a job where the weather affects whether or not you go in. Lots of folks don’t have that benefit.

Hard to see, but that's my unplowed street at 5:30 a.m.

Hard to see, but that’s my unplowed street at 5:30 a.m.

I was surprised to get notification of closure, rather than delay, this morning at 5:20. But then I looked outside. All area schools are closed today, both where I live and 22 miles away, where I work. I do feel bad for the people who have to dig out their driveways so they can dig out their cars. But hey, it comes with living in the Great Lakes area, ja? No biggy. Onward. Though I am kicking myself for not bringing more work home…

So, there’s this, Capital One customers. Nice. The IRS and police would need a warrant from a judge to visit you at home, but the credit card company can drop by your house to collect any time they choose. Read the fine print, fiends. Or just use a debit card exclusively. Truly, there’s very little a debit card can’t do when compared to a credit card, although there are some rare exceptions, like funds capture above and beyond the total, and car rentals.

Then I read this, and while that may be true for some companies, Chase has never done it to me.

Problem 4: Theft protection

Lose your credit card to a thief, and your exposure is limited to $50. Lose your debit card to a thief, and you’ve got trouble. Why? Because that thief is out spending from the minute your card is gone, and your bank account is being depleted in real time.

Yes, your exposure is also limited to $50 if you inform the bank within 48 hours. But in the meantime the money is gone from your account and it might not reappear quickly.

The bank has up to 10 business days — and up to 45 if an investigation is required — to restore your balance. And if you take more than 48 hours to report a lost card, your liability limit is $500, not $50. Worse yet, if you fail to report a loss within 60 days of a bank statement showing the fraudulent transaction, your loss is unlimited.

I’ve had my debit card compromised three times in the last ten years, and each time, Chase immediately refunded all purchases made by the hacker (both times in excess of $600), canceled the card and issued a new one within hours. Their fraud division has real people to talk to, and I’ve never once encountered an issue on any dispute.

Not that I love banks, mind. (That’s another lengthy post.) But in a world of gargantuan financial institutions set down to rob us blind, Chase — for my money — has been a minor offender.

How did I get off on that tangent? This post was supposed to be about snow days. But since I’m on a stream-of-consciousness bender, I’ll tell you about a story I stumbled on last night. I never knew about the horrifying mid-air collision between a United and a TWA jet over Brooklyn in 1960. Never heard about it, ever. Had you? The photos are eerily reminiscent of a monochrome 9/11 retrospective. No survivors, although a young boy from Wilmette, Illinois hung on for a while before succumbing to his burns. Tragic.

If any good can come out of something like this, it is apparently the advances in “black box” technology that have enabled the air travel industry to refine its safety efforts. For a confessed aviophobe like Yours Truly, that is encouraging.

Well, hasn’t this just been a literary mash-up? Hey, good news: my blogging mentor, Ross — my Mr. Miyagi of online writing — has a guest post coming up. I love guest bloggers! RtB fiend David wrote a beautiful one about his combat experience in Viet Nam, and Ross has written one in the past as well. Do you have something to say? I wish you’d say it here. Hit me up; we’ll get you a username and password. :-D

Happy Tunesday! I’m off for more espresso, and maybe even the treadmill **gasp**.

FO

2 thoughts on “Snow day #9?

    1. Rat Fink Post author

      The way things are going… :-D

      I think we’re having somewhat of a reprieve before one more huge blast of winter. Glad I didn’t have a vacation planned for early June!

      Reply

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