asnakeny

I work for a computer technical support company, so I am used to dealing with computer novices (mostly middle-aged adults and senior citizens.)

A caller I had today, though, surprised me. He was a high school student in a financially-well-off area of the country. When I tried to talk him through installing some very simple software, it became apparent that he had no idea what the meanings were behind these common computer terms:

desktop, mouse, icon, double-click, cursor, Windows, minimize, copy & paste.

For all high school students: is this common in your school? Do you know anyone who fits this description?

Here are the specifics:

I received a statement in October for purchases made in the month of September. I did not pay the full amount, so interest accumulated over to the next month and I was assessed a finance charge as well.

The next month (November), I paid off my October statement in full along with the unpaid balance of my September statement and the interest and finance charges.

Then, in December, I received my November statement which included an additional finance charge. When I called up the bank that issued my credit card, I was informed that their policy is to assess 2 months worth of finance charges whenever those charges need to be made. Essentially, because I did not pay off my September bill in full until October, I was charged a penalty for November as well.

How common is this in the industry? Also, is this a practice that has come under scrutiny by any (US) state governments?