"Why would you need a passport to go to Hawaii? That just does not make sense." Granted, I've only been on one cruise, but it was a 7-day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. This was in 1995, when American Hawaii Cruises was still in business. They folded after 9/11 because tourism dropped off so much. The parent company, American Cruise Lines, is still in business. They do river cruises in the USA. But, I digress... There is a law that only USA-registered ships can cruise around the Hawaiian Islands unless they make at least one stop at a non-American port. So, if ships sailing under the flag of any country other than the USA want to cruise around Hawaii, they either (1) start in Vancouver, Canada, (2) do a round-trip from the US mainland, stopping in Ensenada, Mexico, going to or from the Islands, or (3) stop at the Hawaiian ports on trans-Pacific cruises. So, in those instances, you'd need a passport to go to the foreign country. Norwegian has one American-flagged ship -- the Pride of America with an American crew, which allows it to cruise the Hawaiian Islands without having to go to any foreign port.

I have had a Visa card, (from the bank where I have banked for about 50 years.) I decided to try the Discover card, and stopped using the Visa. Recently I received a new Visa card in the mail, along with info about a fraud protection that would cost $10 a month. I didn't sign up for it, but it showed on my next statement. I went to the bank (I prefer eyeball to eyeball rather than phone calls.) They insisted I MUST have requested it. Also the new card had to be activated by phone, which I did not do, but I found out they had done that for me!! I finally convinced them to remove the monthly charge. I decided I would never use the Visa card again, but I kept it. It came in handy when I went to buy a fifty # bag of sunflower seed, and they didn't take Discover. Haven't used it since and won't go back there to get my Bird seed. I have liked the way Discover card handles things. Then, I got a mailing from them about a Wallet Protection for $3.99 a month. I didn't request that, but there it was on my statement last month. I emailed them saying I didn't request and please remove it. I got a reply right away which said they would remove it as of that day, but would begin "an investigation" into the matter and would go back over my history, which could take 4 months. It was time to pay my bill so I deducted the charge and paid it in full like I always do . Saturday I got a letter in the mail from Discover saying the matter was resolved and the charge was removed. I guess the lesson is: ALWAYS check your statements carefully. and if there is an error, stand up and don't allow yourself to be taken advantage of. I thought it was humorous that the 4 month investigation was done in two weeks! Still using my Discover card. Sue

Cynic >This one has me confused though: "...my cell phone provider gouged me for 4 consecutive months of payments even though I was paying cash at their store." If you have auto-pay, why are you paying cash at the store? Something's missing or I'm not following something. I was paying my bill in cash at their store. I had already called the (cell phone provider) ahead of time and told them I would be doing this. Each month my bill would arrive, each month it kept reflecting an overpayment. I would call them and they said it would be corrected. This happened FOUR months in a row. I contacted the credit card company and told them to cancel the card. Same thing happened with them. They would say it would be canceled. The following month I would get a bill for the same incorrect amount. I finally spoke to someone at the CC co. who said until the cell phone provider notified them, I would continue to be responsible for the charges whether they were right or wrong. They never said ANYTHING about having to have a cancellation number. BOTH the cell phone provider and CC company neglected to inform me of this necessary requirement. I wonder why? Well the reason why, is because THEY were MAKING MONEY and didn't want it to stop. These companies do not make it easy. They don't fully inform you when you sign up, and they don't tell you what you really need to do in order to cancel this type of payment. I finally contacted a consumer newspaper reporter. She said she doesn't care for automatic payments for the same reason and gets many calls regarding this. She contacted the cell phone provider's publicity relations department. That worked. They must have called my CC company because everything was taken care of within the month and I didn't receive any more credit card bills. My cell phone bills are what they are supposed to be. I still pay in cash. I no longer have the credit card. They send me solicitations all the time. Thanks, but no thanks. Contacting the AG's office is a good idea. dadoes >dreamgarden probably thought if he/she paid cash, the autopay wouldn't trigger. That's not necessarily the case. I wonder what IS the case? Who at EITHER company, was supposed to tell me I needed a cancellation number in order to stop the autopay? Out of a total of seven calls, 4 to the cell phone provider and 3 to the CC company, not ONE person mentioned this. Don't they teach customer service reps this information? I no longer wanted auto-pay and told them this. I said I would be paying in cash from now on and to cancel auto-pay. I don't understand how I could have been any clearer. >I recall a couple cases where I work of customers having autopay set up through CheckFree. One fellow died, his wife had NO CLUE about any of their finances and the auto-pay kept coming, for MONTHS. She no longer wanted the service, but she didn't contact us or was even aware the service existed, so how are we to know that? "How are we to know that?". How did you find out that her husband died? How do you know the wife no longer wanted the service if she was never contacted? Was she on the account too? Doesn't your company have some policy regarding taking money from a deceased person's account? > The other case, the fellow changed his account services, but didn't change the monthly autopay amount. We contacted him, he still didn't change the amount. Built up a large credit that had to be refunded when he eventually closed the service. When the fellow called to change his account services, was he asked if the present autopay amount was ok? If he was changing his account services, this would seem to be a logical question to ask a customer. Was he notified by telephone or in writing? This is why I like to receive paper billing. Sometimes when a credit card company calls (and leaves a message), they don't always state the nature of their business. When I have called back, they try to sell me some service or item I'm not interested in. Now I don't return calls unless they leave a message telling me something is wrong, or needs to be corrected. I had them put this in my file. I don't want to be bothered with solicitations or irrelevant matters that aren't directly related to some kind of problem with my account. In my opinion the above examples are just more reason to pay as you go and not allow company's to have recurring access to your bank account.

Leslie, I cancelled several credit cards a few years ago and was astounded to learn later the companies had kept my accounts open! This is so wrong, as it gives thieves unnecessary opportunities to commit ID theft. If you do cancel, be sure to follow up with the company to be sure no one else can use the account. Clark Howard gives good tips about this, as well. Here is a link that might be useful: Clark Howard