Fools, Fools and More Fools

NEW YORK (AP) It's not my fault. I'm mentally ill. That's the argument a woman is using to sue American Express for two (M) million dollars after she ran up nearly one (M) million dollar in charges and couldn't pay the bill.

Prosecutors say the woman - 40-year-old Antoinette Millard - posed as a Saudi princess to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. She is now suing America Express saying she was mentally incompetent when she opened her account and the company should have known it.

The woman is free on 100-thousand dollars bail and awaiting trial on attempted grand larceny charges. Besides the phony princess the woman is also accused of posing as a Victoria's Secret model, which she was not.

Millard's lawsuit says American Express gave her a prestigious Centurion ``Black'' card at a time when she was suffering from anorexia, depression, panic attacks, head tumors and by reason of such illnesses was mentally incompetent. The card is for people who charge more than 150-thousand dollars a year, and carries a 25-hundred dollar annual fee. Her lawsuit says American Express should have known that Millard was acting impulsively and irrationally at the time she accepted the card.

This is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it reinforces what a litigious society we live in. Second, it reinforces how easily - and carelessly - credit companies hand out credit. I really don't feel sorry for creditors when they extend credit to fools and the fools don't pay. I guess those extending the credit are the real fools.