LINK
Angry retiree pays off Visa bill with pennies
Updated Wed. Nov. 23 2005 10:17 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
When Don Rogers found out that his bank had outsourced its credit card processing to a U.S. company -- potentially, he believes, putting his personal information at risk -- he decided to do something about it.
The 62-year-old retired city councillor from Kingston, Ont., paid his $230 Visa bill with Citizens Bank of Canada in 985 installments -- often pennies at a time -- in protest.
Rogers was worried that by allowing a U.S. company to review all his purchases, U.S. authorities could gain access to his personal information under the Patriot Act, a controversial piece of legislation that the U.S. hopes will help them crack down on terrorism but that has privacy advocates worried.
"This has huge implications for privacy of Canadians," Rogers told CTV's Canada AM Wednesday, "because once your personal data enters the United States, it becomes subject to American law.
"The Patriot Act could kick in and your information could be forcibly turned over to the American government."
Rogers complained to his bank, but didn't like the response.
"They were very pleasant at first and sympathetic. But as I refused to let go of the issue, their position hardened somewhat."
When the bank refused to stop outsourcing their Visa billing processing to a company in Georgia, Rogers decided to fight back.
"I usually pay my credit card statement with one payment each month, transferring it by Internet from my bank account to my Visa account," he explained.
"And I thought well, hey, what would happen if I transferred one cent? So I tried it and it went through. So what I did was basically pay off a large part of my Visa in one cent and five-cent, nickel dime payments."
The result was a payment statement that grew to 35 pages long and a half-inch thick.
"It came with a heck of a thump through the letter slot," Rogers laughs.
The maneuver created a huge headache for accounting personnel at Citizens Bank and generated a phone call from the bank's information technology department.
"I told the guy, 'Well, I'm trying to get your bank president's attention. He said 'You have got his attention'."
Rogers has also gotten the attention of a number of news outlets who have pressing him for interviews – much to his satisfaction.
"It is gratifying that the little guy can fight the big corporations and make an impact."
Rogers says he still isn't sure whether his stunt is going to make his bank change its policy. He's given them until Jan. 1, 2006, to return their payment processing back to Canada.
"The way it was left about a week ago, the last discussion I had with the bank's vice-president in charge of Visa was that they would be back to me shortly and we declared a temporary truce. So I'm waiting to hear from them."
Rogers jokes that the moral of the story is: don't mess with a retiree -- "retired folks are dangerous. We have time on our hands" – but he believes that other Canadians should be asking the kinds of questions he asked.
"Most Canadian credit card holders have no idea whether their personal data regularly goes down to the United States. They should ask their bank. It's a legitimate question to ask."
And if you don't like the answer, try the "Rogers one-cent solution", he recommends.
"I think Canadians have to speak up. There's Canadian sovereignty involved."
