Where is Fluffy's Bailout?

Hi, all,

A lot of stuff has happened. First, the good news - Fluffy is still with us, and recovering.

Sadly, when we unwrapped his back left leg it had gone from being able to bear his full weight to being a limp, wet noodle. I don't know if it was a central injury (repeat cord bleed) or a periphal injury (like a neuropraxia), but I knew it was bad. I haven't known what to write, so I have been watching him day by day. It's only in the past few days that he's begun to have some muscle tone in that leg again. It's the beginning - but we're way behind from where we were before this.

We had brought him back to VSCOT to see the neurologist because we had seen the weakness (accompanied by spasticity in the opposite leg) though at that time there was no sign of bleeding. The criticalist saw him, and called the neurologist as we'd asked, but he insisted it could not be in the cord because it was not bilateral. A few days later he had the god-awful bleed you all read about. His strength hasn't been the same since that saturday we brought him to see the neurologist.

To add insult to injury, we had charged all of Fluffy's care to a mix of three credit cards. We refinanced stuff, and I paid them off almost completely. However, since it looked like I might be carrying a balance, even though I had no late payments, Capital One raised my interest rate from 7.99% to 17.9% (yes, more than double!!). Well, I have till April 17 to decide what to do. However, given that I had paid off almost all of the balance on that card, it was one of my "insurance policies" if Fluffy took ill again. Even if it had a full balance I would be able to cover at least the minimum payments (though I have made far more than that). Well, today I got home and they had lowered my credit limit to $500 above my balance! I've not made a late payment, gone over my limit, or even held a big revolving balance.

I had a very unsatisfying conversation with Amanda - employee KBH246. She insisted it was just routine and they had the right to change the terms at any time, etc., etc., etc. Like so many people she didn't care at all. It was so frustrating. The last thing we need right now is to feel like we're really strapped if anything happens, or god forbid that after $22,000 for this illness alone (not including the $20,000 of blood products donated to Fluffy by Sun States) that we would lose him now over a couple of thousand dollars.

I wasn't planning on running out and buying a big-screen TV or anything. I just wanted to know that in case Fluffy gets sick again or my car breaks down I had a little free credit in case I needed it - a bit of reserve.

Well, I wrote to the president - for his purple file. I don't know if it will do anything, but I had to do something. If you would like to object to Capital One's onerous policies you can write them at webinfo@capitalone.com. You can write to the president at president@whitehouse.gov.

So many times we all feel powerless. You open your cell phone bill or your credit card statement and your terms change and you feel powerless to do anything. You think well maybe you will change vendors but then their terms are just as onerous as the ones you were trying to get away from. Or you move to another bank and then the one you left buys the one you went to.

But perhaps it's time for us to all write our Congresspeople. And to demand better of those companies whose services we purchase. I promised Amanda from Capital One that I would write to my Congresspeople and the president, and I have done so. I also promised her I'd post to my blog and let people know about these things. These are the only recourses we have. If we don't take action and vote with our feet (and our dollars) we won't have anyone to blame but ourselves.