How to swerve a credit card crisis
THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY Cert 15 ★★★
THANKS to Covid, traders have been processing significant numbers of refunds due to events, such as holidays and weddings, being cancelled.
In many cases, these refunds have been sent back to the credit cards used to pay for the purchase – but this has caused a new problem to emerge in relation to card purchases. Here’s what you need to know…
Refunds to cancelled cards
When a trader provides a refund, it usually goes back via the same method as the original payment. So if you pay by credit card, the refund is sent back to that card.
But many people have cancelled credit cards during the pandemic and have therefore found they cannot access the cash.
The good news is that your refund is safe, as the money will simply be put into a holding account by the card provider.
The bad news is that it can take a long time to retrieve the money. So my advice, if you’re waiting for a refund for goods or services you paid for with a card you have now cancelled, tell the trader immediately and ask for the refund to be paid via an alternative method.
Positive balance credit card accounts
When a refund is processed back to a card, it can create a positive balance on your account – usually when you have already paid the most recent card bill.
This potentially presents issues as credit cards are not designed to “hold” money in the same way as a current or savings account.
For this reason, consumers are not encouraged to hold positive balances on a credit card.
If your card has a positive balance and you are likely to use it again soon, your next purchases will rectify the situation.
But if you are not planning to use your credit card again in the short-term, ask the card company to transfer the surplus to your current account. Do not withdraw the money via an ATM as this may attract fees.
Credit card cash withdrawals
Financial experts warn that you should not get money out from a credit card as it can have a major impact on your credit rating.
This is because there is a very high interest rate attached to withdrawals and companies will flag any withdrawals up, impacting a customer’s credit file.
If you’ve seen Diana Ross’s Lady Sings The Blues from 1972, you’ll know all about Billie Holiday’s battle with drugs, racism and abusive men. Here, the tragic jazz singer emerges as a fearless civil rights pioneer.
Director Lee Daniels focuses on how the FBI hounded her in revenge for her refusal to stop performing Strange Fruit, that hauntingly poetic protest song about lynching. Seeing Holiday hauled off stage by federal agents for singing about something that actually happened feels positively
Orwellian. It takes a while for us to hear her complete the song uninterrupted but it’s worth the wait. This is a genuine “star is born” moment for Andra Day.
Not only does she nail Billie’s smoky voice but she shows us the pain and defiance that defined her since she was forced into prostitution as a child.
Sadly, while Andra Day eclipses Diana Ross, Daniels’ film is far less compelling than that earlier, starrier biopic. It’s over-long and its musical sequences are fussily edited. But the biggest problem is a lack of credibility.
In previous accounts, Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes) was a minor figure, an undercover FBI agent who went on to regret inveigling his way into Holiday’s entourage in the 1940s.
According to Daniels, working from the book Chasing The Scream by ex-journalist Johann Hari, Fletcher was her gallant saviour, the man who sacrificed his career to teach her the meaning of true love.
In a surreal scene, Holiday, who has just served a jail term for heroin possession, invites the man who betrayed her to take heroin with her and her friends.
Movies can convince me that love conquers all, a man can fly and Gerard Butler can save the world. But I didn’t buy this for a second.
The FBI hounded her in revenge for Strange Fruit, a protest song about lynching
Q
Our five-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel was diagnosed with a grade one heart murmur last year at his annual check. He is not showing any signs or having any treatment. What do you think his outlook is?
A
Grade one murmurs are the mildest of the six grades of murmur used by cardiologists to classify them. Those involving the mitral valve are very common in Cavaliers and are often detected for the first time at their annual check-up.
The mitral valve, between the left atrium and the left ventricle, clicks shut as the ventricle pumps blood around the body via the aorta.
If there is mitral valve disease, blood leaks back into the atrium, causing the murmur sound, and less blood is available for ventricular function.
Eventually, many dogs with murmurs will develop heart failure and require treatment.
In mild cases, some years often elapse before any signs develop, with some dogs living to an old age without developing heart failure.
Now that your vet has noticed the problem, more regular check-ups will be advisable to monitor any signs of deterioration, with perhaps referral to a specialist cardiologist if more detailed investigation is required, such as an ultrasound examination.
If there is deterioration, current treatment is very effective in prolonging the life of the dog. It aims to prevent any build-up of fluid in the lungs, reduce resistance in the circulation so that blood can flow freely and to strengthen the heartbeat.
Regular checks are all that your dog needs at present, hopefully for some years to come.
AQ
My four-year-old male neutered cat has gone completely bald on the back of each hind leg. My vet has advised I start flea control again to see whether the fur will grow back by the spring. I am really puzzled though. Can you help? Cats, as any cat owner will tell you, are quite unique in many ways, both in their personalities and habits. And also how they respond to parasites, such as fleas, or other causes of skin disease.
It’s one of the many reasons why vets like me find them particularly fascinating. Baldness on the backs of the hind legs is well recognised as a sign of an itchy cat and it is licking the area which causes the hair to be pulled out.
Don’t ask me why some cats just concentrate on that area because
I am not sure. Because of the equal baldness on both legs, I was taught at college that the problem was likely to be hormonal – we called it feline endocrine alopecia.
That was a bit of a stretch because no one knew what hormones were involved and various hormone treatments didn’t work.
Subsequent investigations of these cats discounted early theories and concentrated on diseases that could cause itchiness and provoke increased licking.
Allergies are now considered to be the main cause of the itchiness. This could include food, dust mites, pollens or, most commonly, fleas.
Good flea control is a sensible first choice, with fur regrowth possible within three months.
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