Credit Card Companies are Evil (and Stupid)

So, nowadays I automatically pay the full balance on my credit card because I've vowed never to let myself again get in debt. And I have my bill pay service set up to automatically pay it.

I was keeping an eye on my bill, because I wanted to take any extra money I had this month and buy some more stock. But though the bill was due, my account was reading that no money was due.

I had a funny feeling that maybe they were letting me keep a balance on the account for a month so they could charge me interest the following month -- and so I manually paid it. Well, that wasn't the case apparently, the bill came in, and I ended up paying the bill twice thus resulting in a credit balance on the account. Silly me, but here's where it gets fun.

I just called the credit card company to determine what the easiest way to retrieve my balance would be. The phone representative indicated that I could receive a check and it would take about 7 days. That's fine. I asked if it would be possible for me to get a cash advance on the money at a bank instead, since that would be faster. She responded, "Sure you could do that, but keep in mind that the higher rate would apply." Higher rate for what? She explained again, something nonsensical that I can't even remember. I was silent for several moments as I tried to re-phrase my question. And sensing my confusion she explained again, "The interested rate on a cash advance is 22 percent."

I just told her to send me the check and hung up. Now that I'm off the phone I can finally phrase the question in my head, "How exactly do I payoff the cash advance amount when there is no actual amount due?"

It's all I can do sometimes not to be overwhelmed with a general hatred of people. More and more I go into encounters with others just assuming the worst and feeling lucky if there is any acceptable outcome whatsoever. I mean, the conversation could easily have gone, "Bank of America retains all account credits as per page 459 of your terms of service. If you dispute this, you're welcome to hire a lawyer, which you probably can't afford, to combat our extensive team of well-paid lawyers. Well-paid in part that is with your generous account credit... Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

I don't always feel this way, and to be fair big business is worse that individuals. But geeze, sometimes I look around and think that as a society we should be a little better than this.