This is one of those times I really wish I knew a Garcia-like person...I'm having the same troubles Emily is. Fortunately, I'm a writer who works for a newspaper publisher... *potential evil grin*
Standard disclaimers apply.
"Okay, this is ridiculous…no, I'm saying that I made the payment…what do you mean, it went on last month's…no, that's not what I was told, and I went to two different branches…okay, why only…fine. Whatever." Emily punched the 'end' button on her cell phone as hard as she could. It was times like this that she really missed the old handset-and-cradle style phone, because no amount of fierce button-pushing could ever really be as satisfying as slamming down a phone in someone's ear.
"Wow," JJ said. "Do I really want to know?"
"My bank is trying to jerk me around," Emily explained.
"So is everyone's bank, Em," the blonde said pointedly. "Reid just had problems with his last month."
"Not like this."
"Okay, how bad?"
"It's like this—I have this credit card payment due, and I'm right at my limit, you know?"
"Emily should stop spending time at the outlet malls…"
"I have. I stopped using the card, and I'm making payments. The problem is that they expect a lot of money all at once, instead of the smaller payments once a week like I make. I mean, no one has a thousand dollars just lying around every month, do they?"
"Not working for the government, they don't."
"Exactly. But—and here's the thing—it's the credit card logistics and fees that are killing me."
"Didn't they pass some kind of law a while ago…?"
"About minimum payments having to be partially applied to the principal, yeah. So now the companies are taking their cut in these impossible fees."
"How impossible?"
"Oh, because I apparently didn't make all of my minimum payment last month, I got charged forty dollars. And because the finance charges ate up the tiny bit of cushion I did have from being over the limit, guess what happened?"
"You went over the limit."
"By two measly dollars. So I get hit with another forty dollars. Now my minimum payment went up like one hundred dollars, so instead of paying three hundred and fifty dollars this month I have to pay almost five hundred. It's like it's this never-ending cycle, and there's nothing I can do about it."
JJ smiled. "Yeah, you can."
"What am I going to do, arrest the bank CEO for making confusing rules regarding their credit cards? Which isn't illegal, by the way, but really ought to be…"
"No, Emily," JJ insisted. "We have Garcia."
"We have…oooh, right…"
"Come on. She's had a few problems too with the bank, especially on her credit cards."
"So she…?"
"Uh-huh. I'm sure she can 'work something out' with them."
"Some bad press for them would be nice too. And a warning to every customer in the state."
"I'm sure we can do that," JJ said, knocking on Garcia's door.