Friday, January 4, 2008

Feeling Vulnerable

Yesterday was payday. Except we did not get paid. Everything is fine job wise, just a hiccup with the payroll company as two companies continue merging into one, but they forgot to tell us that our normal Thursday direct deposit would be a Friday (hopefully) check in the mail. Normally this would not be a problem.

I am usually pretty on top of money. It's my thing. I used to work in Treasury Management career wise, where I was in charge of millions and millions of dollars and its travels from account to account. I have never not known what is going on in our bank accounts. Until yesterday apparently, when I overdrew our checking account.


Had our regularly scheduled paycheck come in this would have never happened and I would have been blissfully unaware that our balance had dipped pretty low. The year end brought three insurance payments and other various year end debits that I knew would lower our balance, but I was too busy happily munching on Christmas cookies and New Year's feasts to check on my well oiled machine called Quicken.


Needless to say I was quite angry, scared, nauseous and nervous. I have never had to deal with the three scariest letters in a banker's repertoire, "NSF". It is scathing, almost like a scarlet letter (letters?) on your chest.

We have a savings account at another bank and I immediately transferred funds from one bank to another. Except it will take 2-3 business days. Of course. So as I type, we are still hemorrhaging in our checking account as I anxiously wait for the postal carrier to bring the mail and hopefully our paycheck. The NSF fees have gotten close to $200.00 as all of our Friday bills have been paid against a defunct account while I sit banging my head against my keyboard. Ironically, the amount of our deficit is just a little more than the NSF fees. Of course.

What's that old saying? "Ignorance is not a valid excuse"?

So why am I sweating this so much? I know that the check is in the mail and the transfer will get to my checking account from my savings account and that this will soon pass. I am nervous and nauseous because I thought that I was in control and now I am helpless to fix this immediately. What a good lesson in submitting control to the Lord. Maybe I needed reminded that all I have could be taken in just a moment and none of it is really mine anyway.

Now if I could just figure out a way to get reimbursed for those NSF fees... where is that phone number for Human Resources? Who can I blame? Or maybe I should just give that to the Lord as well.

Happy Friday!

2 comments:

Samantha from Colonial Curve Cottage said...

Ouch okay? Just big ouch.

Anonymous said...

This happened to me not too long ago while i was in the hospital with baby and the bank will, as a courtesy, credit you one of the fees. I had a big argument with them though as to their strategy of paying the most expensive items first so that the little items also get an NSF fee that would have cleared fine had they been paid first. I know that they are a business to make money but I have banked there forever. I would try to get one credit back.