According to this article if you pay a large chunk of your credit card bill off you may grab the attention of the Department of Homeland Security.  Here’s the relevant paragraphs:

They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they
learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account
had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but
the amount available for credit on their account hadn’t changed.

So Deana Soehnge called the credit-card company. Then Walter called.

"When you mess with my money, I want to know why," he said.

They both learned the same astounding piece of information about the
little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and blinking.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call
center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their
normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage
higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified.
And the money doesn’t move until the threat alert is lifted.

Walter called television stations, the American Civil Liberties Union
and me. And he went on the Internet to see what he could learn. He
learned about changes in something called the Bank Privacy Act.

If I understand this correctly the government is essentially able to freeze a portion of your assets without justifying itself.  Think about it: you send in a check to pay a bill so you can’t very well use that money for other purposes because it is already spoken for, but at the same time it is not being used for its intended purpose which is to pay down your debt.  Since you don’t know when the funds will be freed you can’t write another check against them, and if you don’t have your credit available to you then you can’t use it, even if you have a sudden emergency like being sick on vacation and needing to visit an urgent care center, or need to buy an airline ticket to visit your dying father…whatever.

I’d also be interested to find out what happens to your balance while your check is being held.  Are you accruing more interest?  I’d hope not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were.  After all banks have a lot better lobbyists and have contributed more bucks to lawmakers than we civil libertarians.

One could argue that none of us has a right to credit, which is true, but once we make arrangements with a company to grant us credit we expect to be able to use it.  If this story is accurate then the government is infringing on our business relationships with our creditors and is doing so without having to show cause.