While in the process of obtaining a loan from the bank that I have been doing business with for more than 35 years, I felt the bank was being just a little too picky.

I was seeking a loan on a piece of property that had a local assessed value of $133,000. I was seeking a little more than a third of this amount. Upon returning home the same day and opening mail, a large financial company was soliciting me with an ad that had my bank on the heading; it implied I could receive a charge card for up to $100,000 with no interest until January 2001.

The next few days, while providing information to the bank and dealing with its childish mentality, I thought about this application for up to $100,000 credit limit. I never told the bank manager about receiving it either. The manager is not one of the ones who has the childish attitude, and if it hadn’t been for him I probably wouldn’t have gotten the loan when I did. (There was a time factor involved.) He had also informed me that my credit rating had come through and that it was the highest he had seen since he had been managing the bank in more than 15 years.

Things like this don’t impress me very much, but it got me thinking. So when I got home, I filled out the application for the credit card. I also wrote on the application that if I couldn’t get a limit of at least $50,000 to disregard this application and please take me off their mailing list. Two weeks later I received a credit card from these people with a $5,500 limit. I already had cards with over $10,000 limit.

The people out there in the world ought to know that these big card companies are sleazier than some of the so-called loan sharks down on the corner. And yes, I did not activate the card, but instead cut it up. I also called the company and told them to take my name off their mailing list.

Richard Eaton

Fairfield