(and I can’t write anything here because everything I think of is a swear word, and I try not to swear on my blog.)
In the last month, I have had to close my checking account and open a new one due to fraudulent activity. It could have been a nightmare, but my bank had a program in place, and it was still a nightmare, but it was less of a nightmare than it could have been.
And just when everything was looking GOOD, I had a typo, and I tried to transfer $10,000 from my account to my daughter’s Paypal debit card instead of the $10.00 I intended to transfer. IN my defense, this transaction did not offer me a confirmation page to ask “Are you sure you want to be that generous,” and I could have responded, “NO!!! Are you insane? This is the same child who eats everything that is remotely good and is secretly scarfing down the GOOD coffee cream.”
But the confirmation screen didn’t ask, and much like my teenage daughter, it just took the money that does not actually exist in that account. And when I called Paypal immediately, I was told 1) They can’t stop the transaction and 2) There is ALWAYS a confirmation screen.
Those people (I spoke to two men) are LIARS!
A different (direct) number to Paypal connected me to someone who stopped the insane transaction within 5 minutes, and I was thankful. The last thing I needed was more checking account drama.
I have had the drama, and it is almost over. When faced with fraud, my bank did help me. (And this was fraud and not stupidity and/or fat fingers.) Somehow, the bank hooked up my old account and my new account, and things that were supposed to go to the new account form the old one would get there eventually.
Originally, the bank lady told me it would take one business day for this transfer to happen. And I learned (once again) that banks do math and calendars differently than everyone else in the world. Because it actually takes two business days. It takes an entire day before it even shows up in a place where the banker (but not me) can see it, and it takes another day after that before it ends up in the right place.
Apparently, everything going into the old account is rejected at first and then sits in bank purgatory until my banker can see it and move it to where it needs to go, and THAT trip takes another business day.
A single business day sounds reasonable. But that means deposits made on Friday can’t be rescued from purgatory until the following Monday and won’t be in my account until Tuesday.
This makes it difficult to do things like pay bills, put gas in the vehicles, etc.
But it could have been worse. It could have been that everything was rejected, and it would then be weeks and months before things were put right. This was my fear, and in comparison, my nightmare is pretty mild.
But it was still a nightmare.
This week? Things are supposed to have SWITCHED and go directly into the new account without any purgatory time. I hope it is true.
I also hope that my new checks arrive soon. (And I can’t believe that after all of the problems I had last time I ordered checks that I had to do it again so SOON and all of those other checks had to be thrown away. Sniff).
