Penny Pinching Mom

Very Angry

I check my online banking regularly to make sure I’ve got the amount of money I think I have in my account. I rarely write stuff down since I use my debit card much more than I use my checks, but I’m never clueless about how much money I have. Especially not when we’re as low on cash as we are now.

So I checked in over the weekend, and much to my surprise, it was showing a negative amount. It was obvious that some of transactions were pending, because the account balance was positive, but the available amount was negative. I nearly had a panic attack. I went over everything in my head that I had put on the debit card, but according to my calculations, I should have been in the black.

I asked Hubby if he had used the debit card for anything, and he said he hadn’t. I couldn’t call the bank to find out what the deal was since it was on the weekend, and they never know anything about pending transactions anyway. So I worried myself half to death all weekend.

I had Hubby deposit enough money first thing this morning to cover the amount of the overdraft (using money that was supposed to go toward groceries) until we could figure out what was going on. The transactions didn’t post until this evening, and when I found out where they came from, I was livid.

The stupid insurance company went ahead and charged the full amount for my, Hubby’s and Pumpkin’s life insurance, even though I turned down mine and Hubby’s. But that’s not all. Since I didn’t have enough in the bank to cover the amount that they wrongfully charged, they charged a freaking $28 overdraft fee! I am beyond pissed right now.

They’re going to be hearing from me first thing in the morning. If they don’t credit my account for the amount of my and Hubby’s life insurance and the overdraft fee, I’m canceling Pumpkin’s and taking my business elsewhere. And they can forget about me switching our car insurance over, which I had planned to do next month. I’ll leave the homeowners’ policy with them for now since it’s paid in full until next year, but I might even switch that on down the road.

It seems like nothing like this ever happens until we truly can’t afford it. But I’m not taking it lying down. If I don’t get my money back, I’m going to be extremely vocal about my displeasure.