If I'm paying off my credit card; can Ann Minch bail out on hers?

This morning I made the penultimate (next-to-last) payment on my credit card, a $176.23 testament to beating the debt monster I've been carrying in my wallet since college. I'm quite proud of myself for the obvious reasons (a PF writer with a mountain of unsecured debt is not a good look; looking forward to that TV that's been at the top of my 'reward yourself' list for three years) and the not-so-obvious (freeing up cash flow for investments, savings and a sprucing up of the crib that is in great demand from certain quarters).

But my fortune at being disciplined and financially stable enough to pay off my Visa makes me consider the millions of people in the US who are neither as disciplined nor as fortunate; people like Ann Minch, who the HuffPost profiled for her refusal to pay off a Bank of America credit card because, she says, they've gone too far in jacking up her rates. Here's Minch on video talking about her "debtors revolt":


Is Minch right? Should we have the right to just say "screw you" to lenders who are treating us unfairly, or is this the rant of someone who made irresponsible choices with credit and needs to do what I did and just pay up?

The Visa card I never applied for

I wrote before about why it's still important to open snail mail, even though it's an antiquated way of communicating. Last week I got a lesson in why that's important.

I got an envelope from my bank, National City, a few weeks ago. I let it lay around because I figured it was just a bank statement, which I check online anyway. But before I shredded it, something told me to read it first. Turns out, it was a letter telling me that the National City Visa card I'd applied for was denied.

There were several problems : 1) I never applied for a National City Visa, or any other credit cards for that matter. In fact, I have only one credit card and that's the only one I plan on having. 2) I've never been turned down for credit for any reason. This part was tertiary to the fact that it appears someone stole my identity, but it bruised my ego nonetheless: not only did somebody get me for my credentials but now I wasn't even worth their time in victimizing me. WTF?

So I called the bank. A guy in customer service told me to call their credit department. The credit department told me my application came from a branch, which turned out to be the branch on the same block as my office. When I called, the woman who processed the application said it was a "referral" from a teller -- in other words I'd been asked if I wanted a card one day when I was in the bank and the teller sent my application over. Except that I'd never been asked. And that I wasn't present when the application was done. And that there was no signature from me on anything stating that I wanted the card.

Nice.

So now I'm looking for a new bank (I'd switch back to my old one except they just bought National City), and fighting to get a negative inquiry off of my credit report. Do yourself a favor: open your mail!!!