Phew! I agree. Another scam is direct debits ("Pay your bills the easy way by DD then you can forget them") - but many people are paying, in advance, and like the Scots say "Many a mickle makes a mockle" - in the case of the organisation getting all these wee payments in advance and banking them for the interest makes a huge sum.

As you may know, there's no advertising on BBC TV channels, so we have to pay a license fee each year. For the poor, who might find it difficult to pay in one go, they are encouraged to buy license stamps, till they have enough to pay the license. Meanwhile the BBC is pocketing all those stamps' interest, in advance. These people would be better advised to put this money in a savings account till they have enough.

I hate big corporations living off the ordinary Joe's small contributions.

>As terrible as banks are (and believe me I KNOW) nothing comes close to how North Carolina handles insurance rate hikes. North Carolina requests an insurance rate hike and then it goes through a long process for approval (I'll leave out the specifics). In the meantime, North Carolina insurance companies CHARGE THE RATE INCREASE to the insureds. They POCKET The money while the approval process is still in progress. They get to make interest on the money, etc. If the rate is denied or a lower rate is implemented, then the insurance companies have to rebate the customers (if they can locate them). However, in the meantime, they have had the use of the customer's money for MONTHS while the rate increase was being processed for approval/disapproval. To me, that should be illegal.
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