they end up getting screwed anyway?
Just as another FYI, I heard on the radio yesterday an ancedotal episode about a husband and his wife who were flagged down by HOMELAND SECURITY because they tried to pay off a credit card with one large lump sum payment!!!
Basically they had been making minimum payments for a while, until they came into some money from a family estate or something like that. They decided to pay off their credit card (about $6000 worth of debt I believe). For some reason that activity flagged them with DHS, who then began spying on them!!! I guess DHS wanted to know where the money came from, to make sure it wasn't 'terra-ist' money or drug money or something, who knows.
This Patriot Act stuff creeps me out. I know banks monitor activity on transactions larger than $10K (wire transfers, withdrawals, etc.) because I briefly worked at a bank.
Just a word to the wise! Watch your back.