Credit card woes

I used to think that I was a pretty savvy credit card user -- the type that credit card companies hate, yet, for some reason, would go to lengths to convince him to keep my accounts open. I almost never paid interest on my cards, as it is against my inclination to buy more than what I can afford. Instead, I pay off the entire balance every month, except when there is a special deal such as a 0% interest during a promotional period.

Well, even I get dinged occasionally. Today I saw a charge of $15 on one of my cards, the description being "processing fee for annual summary". I don't remember asking for it, so I called the card company 0to inquire about it. The customer rep said that I must have signed up for it at some point in time. If I did, I must not have realized that there was a charge attached. It's probably one of those deals that are free for the first time, and then do damage to your wallet thereafter. I attempted to have the charge reversed, but didn't insist hard enough, because if I did enter into a contract, I don't want to renege on it. $15 is not a big deal, so I'll just let it pass and count that against the other perks that I had received from using reward-type credit cards.

But that was a long prelude. My real point for this post is the difference between the last time I tried to close this account and this time. When I asked the customer rep to send me a final statement and close this account, she did not even make a faint attempt to persuade me to keep it open, as another did last time. I suppose this is just another anecdotal evidence that credit card companies are reducing credit now (duh!), and when a customer of my ilk asks for it -- hey, all the better! Well, if the fact that a credit line has been cut contributes to the recovery of the bank that underwrote it, I can claim to have done my part to help the economy. Oh, and add $15 to that.