When I worked for GE, one of my responsibilities was to help draft the legalese found in the terms and conditions of credit card agreements. The GE attorneys I worked with were absolutely wonderful, and together we strove to make the terms straight forward and understandable even if it meant some may deem them overly verbose.

Because of this background, I find the fine print of the credit card offers and terms changes that come in the mail fascinating, and I routinely read the junk mail just for fun.

WEIRD. I know.

BT received a CIT (change in terms) for his AmEx card a few weeks ago that left me scratching my head and a bit perturbed:

“To adjust the Minimum Payment Due, we will not exclude late fees and the overlimit amount from (1) nor add 1% of the New Balance in (2). Then, if (2) is the highest (but less than 4% of the New Balance), we will add $15. If we do the adjustment, we will not add 1/24th of the overlimit amount of any new late fees in the Minimum Payment Due.”

HUH?

I know that my light in the attic may be a bit dim and that I’ve been out of the industry for a while, but how the heck is the average Joe Schmoe supposed to decipher that load of malarky?

Shame on you, American Express.