Credit Card Bill

 Credit Card Bill rode into town and I don't like his horse. No, really. I am speaking of credit card billing that has changed drastically. One day I look at my online credit card balance and pay it. Off. The next day, I see, mysteriously, maybe five hundred dollars as a balance. I panic. I look at all the entries and they don't add up to five hundred dollars. I call the credit card company thinking I have been scammed. They assure me, I have not, but...   And the "but" is always something that works for their company but not the one under my roof. They tell me that those are pre-authorized amounts that I agreed to with other companies I use. But, I say to the real voice at the other end of the line, these bills are not due yet. They aren't due for one or two weeks. Ah, says the voice, we are doing it as a convenience so that you can anticipate what you WILL owe when the bill becomes due. I wonder, does this mean for their convenience or mine? It turns out, for theirs. If I pay early, they get the money and collect the interest. Ah ha! The large amount that shows as balance isn't real. It is listed in another column a click away that tells me what I have arranged with some of my service companies and it is called "pre-authorized payments". Of course, say I, that's because I want to make sure they are paid on the date their bills are due. The voice answers, yes, and I answer back, but you list them as  my balance due when the bill is not due for another two weeks. What is that? I don't want it to show as owing until it is owed. The voice and I are getting nowhere so I say thanks ( I think) and hang up. It seems to me that a credit card company is there to offer me credit when  bill is owed and then I see the amount and I pay it. That's what used to be "credit". You saw what you needed to pay and you paid it. Credit Card Bill waves and calls out waving his Stetson,  the way we do it now, And he rides out of town into the sunset on his pinto roan.