[Mb-civic] Pay off your credit card and they call Homeland Security on your ass

[Mike Blaxill]

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RAISEALARM-02-28-06

Pay too much and you could raise the alarm

By BOB KERR
The Providence Journal
28-FEB-06

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Walter Soehnge is a retired
Texas schoolteacher who traveled north with his
wife, Deana, saw summer change to fall in Rhode
Island and decided this was a place to stay for a
while.

So the Soehnges live in Scituate now and Walter
sometimes has breakfast at the Gentleman Farmer
in Scituate Village, where he has passed the test
and become a regular despite an accent that is
definitely not local.

And it was there, at his usual table last week,
that he told me that he was "madder than a
panther with kerosene on his tail."

He says things like that. Texas does leave its
mark on a man.

What got him so upset might seem trivial to some
people who have learned to accept small
infringements on their freedom as just part of
the way things are in this age of terror-fed
paranoia. It's that "everything changed after
9/11" thing.

But not Walter.

"We're a product of the '60s," he said. "We
believe government should be way away from us in
that regard."

He was referring to the recent decision by him
and his wife to be responsible, to do the kind of
thing that just about anyone would say makes
good, solid financial sense.

They paid down some debt. The balance on their
JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an
unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment,
a check for $6,522.

And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The
Soehnges' behavior was found questionable.

And all they did was pay down their debt. They
didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell
phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun
through customs.

They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card
balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide
the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online
to see if their account had been duly credited.
They learned that the check had arrived, but the
amount available for credit on their account
hadn't changed.

So Deana Soehnge called the credit-card company.
Then Walter called.

"When you mess with my money, I want to know
why," he said.

They both learned the same astounding piece of
information about the little things that can set
the threat sensors to beeping and blinking.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial
ladder at the call center, that the amount they
had sent in was much larger than their normal
monthly payment. And if the increase hits a
certain percentage higher than that normal
payment, Homeland Security has to be notified.
And the money doesn't move until the threat alert
is lifted.

Walter called television stations, the American
Civil Liberties Union and me. And he went on the
Internet to see what he could learn. He learned
about changes in something called the Bank
Privacy Act.

"The more I'm on, the scarier it gets," he said.
"It's scary how easily someone in Homeland
Security can get permission to spy."

Eventually, his and his wife's money was freed
up. The Soehnges were apparently found not to be
promoting global terrorism under the guise of
paying a credit-card bill. They never did learn
how a large credit card payment can pose a
security threat.

But the experience has been a reminder that a
small piece of privacy has been surrendered.
Walter Soehnge, who says he holds solid,
middle-of-the-road American beliefs, worries
about rights being lost.

"If it can happen to me, it can happen to
others," he said.

(Bob Kerr is a columnist for The Providence
Journal. E-mail bkerr at projo.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)