Credit Card Bills Disguised as Junk Mail?
In yesterday's The Haggler column in the New York Times, David Segal writes about how he had been throwing away his credit card bill because it had begun arriving in a plain envelope with no return address on the outside. "The Haggler can’t prove it, but this seemed like a brilliant, low-cost way to pocket a fortune in late fees." The bank, Bank of America, said it changed the envelope after the "acquisition of several credit card companies" in 2006 and denied that it was trying to fool people.
Credit card companies richly deserve the scorn sent their way, but this is ridiculous. The envelopes are made nondescript in order to not attract the attention of mail thieves who are looking for mailed credit cards to steal, credit card checks to embezzle or account statements to use for identity theft. The camouflage is of limited effectiveness but blaming the bank for one's own unsafe practice of tossing mail unopened is a bit rich...
Posted by: Fazal Majid | November 23, 2009 at 05:32 PM