We are NOT amused

No, I don't think I'm Queen Victoria back from the dead.

And speaking of the dead, I received this in the mail today:

I don't know if you can read it or not (click on the image to enlarge), but it's a letter from one of Dad's credit card companies, offering their condolences on his death, notifying me that his card had been cancelled, and inquiring as to who will be paying the balance on his account.

I could understand this if he were actually deceased, but he's still very much alive and breathing!

The good news is that it apparently was an internal error and hadn't spread anywhere else . . . like to the Social Security Administration. Had this wrong information been disseminated, I would at present be scrambling to get his Social Security benefits, his Medicare, his supplemental health insurance, his other credit cards and both retirement benefit accounts reinstated. And gods know how long THAT could've taken! Meanwhile, he would have been deprived of his sources of income and medical funding.

What if this had happened to someone who was traveling, and who had only the one credit card? They could have found themselves stranded, with no means of paying for transportation, meals and lodging.

What if it had happened to someone who hadn't spoken with a parent for a few days or perhaps a week? Can you imagine the shock and heartache of finding out a loved one had possibly died, not from a friend or relative, but from a credit card company?!?

Folks, for those of you with Bank of America credit cards, be warned that they do not require a death certificate to declare you dead and cancel your account. (See the end of the second paragraph.) Be glad your local friendly bank probably doesn't operate that way. Mine sure as hell doesn't. They require a copy of the death certificate to be on file before they will make such changes . . . although one of them still hasn't taken my mother's name off of all account records, despite her having been dead for over a year....