“You can examine the whole 19th century from the point of view of who would have maxed out their credit cards. Emma Bovary would have maxed hers out. No question. Mr. Scrooge would not have. He would have snipped his up.” — Margaret Atwood

“Although we leave traces of our personal lives with our credit cards and Web browsers today, tomorrow’s mobile devices will broadcast clouds of personal data to invisible monitors all around us.” — Howard Rheingold

“The National Security Agency (NSA) has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.” — Edward Snowden

The world has gotten weird.  No, this isn’t about politics, the war, or the conquering of America by the commies and jihadis.  It is about a nightmare from Hades that my husband and I went through when Capital One bought Discover Credit Card.  The purchase was finalized in May of 2025 valued at over $50 billion.

I have come to believe that every business has hired DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) personnel and now the taxpaying citizens of America are reaping the dire consequences of their stupidity.

There are 10 top credit cards that do not have yearly fees.  The number one listed card was Discover.  For 36 years we used our Discover card when traveling, when making web and local purchases and so forth.  No problem.  I would check the card’s usage on the web from time to time and had caught fraud in the past.  When I reported it, or when the card company called me about fraud, they’d send us out new cards within a day.  Super service.

After the purchase by Capital One, I found that I could not get into their website.  When I called them and asked why, I was told that I needed permission from the primary card holder, my husband.  After working for Fortune 100 companies for decades and owning my own business for 36 years, I blew a gasket.  Um-hmm.  The person on the other end of the phone said all I needed to do was have my husband call and tell them that I could get into the account.

He lied!

One Friday we spent an hour and 45 minutes on the phone with this Capital One person asking my husband for every piece of information he could give them, and he wanted it put through the cell phone, including a selfie.  Yes, really.  Well, that didn’t work for whatever reason, so he tells my husband to go on the website and put in his social security number.  I immediately told the fellow he was crazy.  In today’s society, NO ONE with an ounce of brain matter would put their SS#, CC# or any other personal numbers on the web because of identity theft.  If hackers can break into the Pentagon, they can break into your computer.

We hung up.

Two weeks later we called again and got a woman who was able to allow me into the web account without my husband’s personal information all the way back to when he was potty trained.  So, okay, that’s good, I thought.

Wrong again.

I was then told that we would each have separate card numbers.  Why?  They explained that parents who add their children want to watch what their children are purchasing. We have no children at home or on our credit cards, and we’ve been married 43 years, so we don’t need two credit card numbers.

Tough beans, that’s the way it is. Okay fine.

Next up, I’m looking at the website and I see a defunct credit card is being used that was cancelled long ago by Discover.  What the!  So, I call them again and ask why a formerly fraudulent card is being used by people who charge monthly when it is no longer valid.  They tell me, “Sorry, but all information from Discover didn’t ‘port-over,’ (i.e., transfer into Capital One,) and you’ll have to call the people and tell them not to use that card number.”

Other credit cards, like DISCOVER, would automatically disallow the usage of the old card number, but not Capital One.  I asked why they didn’t do that, but the story was again that it was a previous card for monthly charges and they would honor it.  I screamed, “But some of these charges were purposely dropped when the card number was changed and now, they’re getting my money when I don’t want them to have it.”  “Well,” the guy says, “As I stated, it is your responsibility to call them and cancel the card.”

My blood pressure rose and steam escaped.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my husband and I traveled to Florida for a week and when we arrived at the hotel on a Sunday evening, we used our L.L. Bean Mastercard rather than Capital One which we’d decided to cancel.  The Mastercard was declined.  I was infuriated…as we pay all our bills in full every month.  We used Capital One. Grrrr.

On Monday morning I called Mastercard and asked why the card was declined.  She told me because it was charging in another state.  I said, “So what, it’s our card to use anywhere.”  She said, “Oh no, when you travel, you must call us and tell us where you’re traveling so we can okay the use of the card, otherwise we believe it is fraud.”  That was a new one on me.  She then asked me for my special word so she’d know it was me.  I said I can’t remember the word.  (They’re supposed to give you a hint, like your favorite dog’s name, but she did not.)  Then she says, “Well, give me the account number you pay your checks to us with.”  I said, “Lady, I have my credit cards, I don’t carry my household checkbook with me when we travel.”

No dice.  I had to wait until we were home and I called again and this time the woman said, “What’s the name of your favorite dog?”  I named all nine we’d had and she said, “Bingo, you named the one.”  Sheesh.

In talking to a friend in Florida, she told us that she and her husband have a big motor home and they had to call the credit card company to tell them they were traveling from Florida to the Carolinas.  Well, they stopped for gasoline for the big motorhome in Georgia and their card was declined.  She got on the phone and told the bimbo on the other end that to get to the Carolinas, you have to travel through Georgia.  That is how absolutely dysfunctional these credit card companies have become.

I’m thinking, “DEI again.”

Oh yes, I know the fraud is outrageous and especially with the illegal alien infusion over Biden’s four years and yes, I have had checks I’ve sent via the USPS that have been stolen, then washed and rewritten and deposited in the perp’s account via their cell phone.  Fortunately, our bank found the scoundrel and got our money back.  But you’d think that the card companies would know who pays their bills every month in full and who are financially stable, but they don’t.  So once again good people suffer because of the criminal elements or because of people who abuse their cards and don’t pay their bills.

There are eight million stories in the Naked City…this was just one.

Yes, and there are nightmares every day that decent people have to spend their time straightening out.  Anyone out there know a good credit card company with no annual fees?

Unfortunately, there is more in the nightmare category.

©2026 Kelleigh Nelson. All rights reserved.

Watch for my next article entitled, The Decay of Our Culture.