Why AIG doesn't deserve a bailout...

Here is a letter I sent into the Chicago Tribune "Voice of the People":

March 19, 2009

Dear Chicago Tribune:
I’m not surprised by this latest scam of AIG’s, using taxpayers’ money to pay employee bonuses. I say “latest” because I’ve been fighting AIG since March, 2007 when my 89 year-old mother became a victim of their predatory solicitation policy.
An AIG offer of a “complimentary” insurance policy was sent to her in the mail with the monthly bank statement. A few months later $22.80 was withdrawn from her account. She noticed another $22.80 had been deducted from her checking account a few months earlier. When she called her bank my mother was informed that she had authorized the automatic debits for her premium payments and was told that one of the withdrawals could be reversed but that she would have to get a certain form, sign it, have it notarized and bring in into the bank to get the second amount refunded. It took me one year, two letters, three emails and numerous phone calls to finally get the policy canceled and the two withdrawals refunded. During this time she received a second offer from a member company of AIG for another complimentary insurance policy.
The question is: how many of these letters were sent out to elderly bank customers? And the real kicker of this story is that the fine print that states, “the eligible ages are from 18 to 80.” As far as I’m concerned, AIG didn’t deserve any government help in the first place.

Sue Carrel