!@#$%^& Credit Card Companies...

For those of you who don't know. I lost my wallet in Barcelona over the summer. Sometime around July 17th or so I think. Fortunately I noticed it was missing and was able to get my cards canceled within the hour. Until now I wasn't sure if I had just lost it or if I had been pick-pocketed. When no charges showed up on my last bill I thought I was clear.

WRONG, Charges just showed up on my new bill today. So I called it in. It seems that they transfered all the charges from my old card to my new one. Which is normal when a person gets a security closure on their credit card. What IS weird is that the charges where made between AUGUST 28th and SEPTEMBER 5th and not one of them was posted until SEPTEMBER3rd. So of course none of them showed up on my last billing statement.

So of course I called and asked them what the @#$% was going on. When I described the problem even the guy on the phone was confused, had to put me on hold for a few minutes. (actually not very long, 2-3 minutes, it was surprising) APPARENTLY the charges where made by the government of Spain.. And charges made by a country CAN'T be rejected. DESPITE the fact that the card had been entirely canceled.

I'm still a little bit confused at how that works, was the guy buying stuff from the government (metro passes or highway tolls) or was it an actual government official? If it was someone buying something FROM the government (seems far more likely to me) why can't it be rejected?

Course the guy told me to send in the affidavit they sent me. Well I got that thing three months ago and since I'd gotten two bills with no charges I tossed the thing. Its messed up and stupid, but fortunately all I should have to do is wait for another affidavit and mark down what charges aren't mine and they should be removed. (Key word there is should by the way)

Guess I'm still not sure if I just lost it, if I'd been pick-pocketed you'd think the charges would have been made right away.