Dallas Mortgage Reverse

Q: I'm beginning to get more than a little frustrated with the people who I do credit card business... ie AT&T Universal. When I got back from my recent trip, it was shortly after the first of the month... went down, picked up my mail and paid all my bills... and of course they were all 3 or 4 days late. Now with AT&T, I knew there would some finance charge... so I tossed in an extra $10... My balance was quite small... Today I brought up my account on the "puter... They had hit me with a $25 late fee... This was something new... I had no advance knowledge of this policy. I did call and got hold of a supervisor who agreed to reverse the charge... said he would do it a gesture of good will... Actually I think it was fear that I might have some way of getting my hand through the phone line and grabbing his throat... Last month, I found out that they selling access to my data base... I found out first from a vendor during an unsolicited phone Pitch. Then after call AT&T, they admitted they are in fact doing this, So my question, I thought I'd throw out here... was wondering if any of you are doing business with credit card companies with whom you are really pleased...

A: It seems that every other credit card is being bought by some other company. Ya never know who the heck you're dealing with. I just found out the other day that our Bank One Visa has been sold to First USA. First USA used to be the old line Mercantile National Bank here in Dallas until they sold their credit card division to Lomas & Nettleton also here in Dallas. L&N was the world's largest mortgage company until Jess Hay, their grand wizard, decided to make L&N into the next Amex. In the process they went broke. So L&N sold the credit card division to First USA. Another card with a company owned by Traveler's Insurance is going to be Citibank because of the Travelers/Citibank merger. Frankly, I have absolutely no card which I would recommend at this time. Perhaps when they finally shake things out and decide who's who. and about them selling your information to telemarketers. Lots of places are doing this. My phones are unlisted/unpublished and I got a call from Southwestern Bell telemarketing me to buy more of their services which I don't need. I caught myself in time and asked the young fella on the phone, "Wait, before you start your pitch. Are you telling me that Southwestern Bell gave you my unlisted/unpublished

number so you could telemarket me?" After a pause I heard, "I guess so." All you have to do is tell them to put you on their Do Not Call list and if they do call again you can collect up to $1500 each time they call. You gotta prove it though and for that you either have to record the call where you tell them not to call - I always record phone calls. And you need Caller ID to prove that they called again. I bet we don't get one telemarketer every three months now. I've never gotten any money but the threat sure does make 'em stop. Before anyone says anything, here in Texas you can record a personal phone call if one of the parties knows it's being recorded. .