Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Procesing questions

I am a programmer working at a bank. Part of my job is supporting the credit card processing group. I’ve only been here a month, and am still learning the complexities of the systems. Today I’ve been working on code that evaluates new applications for our credit cards.
Part of the process is to compare applicant addresses against a table named BOGUS. Evidently in the past credit cards have been issued to people that supply bad information, then use the card and skip out on their debt. The addresses used by such people are put into this table, so that if any new applications come forward using this address someone will be alerted. Sounds logical – try to make the automatic program more aware of problems that can occur.
Looking at this table I came across a street address on State Jail Road in El Paso, Texas. Now, I’ve never been to this part of Texas, and don’t want to bring any pain to people who live there, but somehow mailing anything of potential value to somebody living on STATE JAIL ROAD in anytown would lead me to evaluate what was going on. Perhaps there are many happy families living on that street, if so I apologize.

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