"BEWARE OF THE BANKING FEE SNOWBALL EFFECT!"

 

Hello and Happy New Year to one and all. I know it has been a few days since my last post, but to know me is to know that I can't go to long without something to bring to the attention of the numerous people who grace our planet. So as you can tell by the title of today's blog, something or someone in the banking system set me off today. Yes, I am going to use myself for today's topic. For the past 9 years I have been banking with SunTrust Bank. I have to say, that I am very pleased with how the bank, that used to be called Crestar has made some fantastic changes to their banking products, with the best one being ATM cash deposits that will post on that days business until 8:59pm. Holy Crap that is awesome! Last night was the first night I ever used it and it was FANTABULOUS! As much of my deposits are small amounts of cash here and there for my crafting business. Cash works for me and now it works even better if I get paid after the bank closes.

My gripe is with M&T Bank. My husband opened an account with them about two years ago because the company he works for has an account with them and was told that he should because any employees being paid more than a specified amount, have to have an account to deposit the remaining funds in. For example, say the bank had a cut off that they would not fully fund any checks over $900.00 that anything after that amount had to be deposited. Hum???? I understand that there are employers in this world that don't always have the funds in the account to cover payroll until a large deposit comes in from where it may be coming from, but I've been a teller before and you can see how much is in the account from which a check is being drawn from and if the funds are or are not available to be paid out.

Now, the company my husband works for goes out of their way for their employees and as a courtesy will cash the checks for their employees if they wish. Whoa hold on...Relax, they only have about 20 on the payroll, if it were anything more I'd be yelling hold on right along with ya. Smile. So now, we have the actual company owner going over to the bank and cashing checks, so why in the Hell would a bank enforce a set amount, that clearly all of the paychecks go over, and not allow all the checks to be fully cashed if an employee chose to have it that way? This was a red flag for me, but this really isn't the spark that set my undies a blaze, it was a conversation that I had with Laura, a customer service phone rep about our checking account that had been charged for overdraft fees on an account that was never overdraw until they assessed two $38.50 fees. OUCH!!! AND FOR WHAT!!!!!

Together over the phone we were both looking at our account on the computer. She went on to indicate to me that my check that I had made a deposit with had been placed on a one day hold. Of course you all know what my next response was - WHY!? I was informed that ANY PAPER checks can be held up to 5 working days and that I should consider direct deposit. Why, when this is an account only used if my husband makes more than then the bank will cash in his paycheck and we have four ACH debits for this account - which is an automatic payment that is drawn from our account on a set series of dates every month. Knowing the funds in the account were running lower than usual due to short work weeks for the last three weeks I decided to transfer the funds from my VA deposit in our SunTrust account (That is our primary account for everything under the sun) to cover all the pending payments. But the joke was on me, and I didn't find it funny in the slightest when I got up this morning and saw red numbers instead of black ones for our bank balances in the M&T account. I had specifically asked the teller if the funds would be available the day I had made the deposit if I write a check or should I go to my own bank and cash it first. She assured me it would be available because it was deposited before 2:00pm.  Here's a question for you...do you think what she told me was true?  If you answered yes, you are so very wrong.

But the shocking part still had nothing to do with being overdrawn as my statement does not show that at any time that any transaction that came against our account caused us to be overdrawn, The shocking part is that these so called fee's have been charge against us twice in less than a week, and WE WERE NEVER OVERDRAWN!! Three days ago I had gone in there for the same reason as  today.  That was only one fee and they reversed it as they could not explain why it was there, but as for today’s fee’s, I have already been informed that I was S.O.L. (Shit out of luck) even though there is no reason again for the fees to be there! Lovely hua? Somehow I feel like I have been set up so that the bank can skim some cash from me and I am just some pawn in the whole deceptive plan. Yes, I agree, that was a bit dramatic, OK, so I’m not a pawn, but I Just don’t have a good feeling about any of this and with this economy…something is very wrong.

Of course Laura didn’t say those exact words - that I was S.O.L., her words feel into place like this, “I’m sorry there is nothing I can do for you, Might I suggest going back to the bank where this happened.”  Hum, like I haven’t already tired this? Do you think I like trying to handle matters like this over the phone? I’d rather be face to face with some, then go ahead and try to feed me long lines of BS – good luck. And what makes this worse when you’re being charge $79.00 - getting another $79.00 for two ACH’s that drafted, ten days before they were due, on an account that I didn’t know was overdrawn until after the 2:00pm cut off time so any funds deposited now won’t be available until tomorrow.

Want to know what Laura’s answer was for the new style ACH deception in the world? “I can’t tell you how many customers are dealing with this same type of problem. I get calls about this all the time. Companies are processing payments earlier than when customers have indicated they can be withdrawn from their accounts.” Wow how flippen sad. Her answers were not what I wanted to hear. It all sounded more like one excuse after another with nobody willing to take responsibility that clearly an error had been made somewhere. Needless to say, I thanked her for her time and nicely indicated that I would no longer be doing any business with them. That the account will stay open only because it has to, but the money will be immediately removed after each payday.  

So to all of you out there who entrust the banks to be the guardian of your hard earned money, do your best to check you accounts frequently – daily if it makes you feel better, I know it makes me feel better. Check for fees and don’t take the answer “The payment posted before your check did on the same business day. It is all a matter of timing and the computer is in charge of it.” If you hear that – FIGHT IT! Computers make mistakes, because the computers cannot operate without the information provided by a human hand. If I was the cause that my account was overdrawn, then fine I earned the fee but accounting to my statement, I had enough money to cover all the debits that were posting to my account, yet for some reason the snowball effect took over my account and turn into a raging avalanche.

 

Just watch out for yourselves people, read the fine print and question anything that doesn’t look right, because sometimes the simple mistakes, that you think won’t be a problem, can have costly consequences, that again makes money for your bank. To quote my husband in regards to banking issues like this, “they got to make money somehow.” To me the next thing I will be dealing with is the agonizing math problem in my head that with the $158.00 in bank fee’s that I’m stuck with that at $3.00 for a gallon of milk, I could have purchased 52.66666 gallons of milk or I could have filled my truck up with gas. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!! UGHGHGH!!! 

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my words as I vented away the negative event of my day. I promise to be livelier in my writing endeavors. Thanks so much for stopping in and keep sending those emails…I love hearing from you. If you have a topic that you’d like me to write about just send it to my email address and I’ll do my best to talk about it.  Until next time – Blog ya later alligator.

 

"A New Year - A New Me"

 

It is 6:46 am, on the last Friday of 2012 and I sit here pondering what the New Year has in store. We survived the end of the Mayan Calendar. We survived another crazy election year with the outcome a bit disappointing, well at least that is of my own personal opinion that you do not have to agree with. We've seen countless acts of hate and violence over this year and now are for warned of a looming uncertainty of a fiscal cliff hanging over our heads. I think that with all this year has brought forth in our lives both in the world and personally, I can almost say I am feeling numb. As many of you know, I was on a quest to organize myself by the year 2013. I think I would be secure in saying that I accomplished only 70% of that goal, but something happened to me as I held myself publicly accountable for my disorganized ways and has me moving forward in a positive way.

Swallowing my pride, I found myself a therapist and having been going since July of this year - It was the best damn thing I have ever done for myself.  I found out that I have been a survivor of a sexual assault that happened in Adak, Alaska when I was active duty military, that I chose to hold captive in my mind for 21 years and holds the keys to acceptable reasons why I am a sporadic cluttered mess, among other things. I wish I had all the answers, but I am told that the process comes in three phases and I am just beginning phase two, which I am told is not a picnic. I've learned what triggers are, how they can greatly affect a person, and how to deal with whatever emotions stem from things that trigger me.  It can be a sound, smell, a place, a person, any number of things can be a trigger that generates the painful memory of what took place and that can alter a person and cause extreme behaviors. I am still on the denial train that I had been such a difficult person to deal with on occasion, but looking back on the last twenty years, I will take responsibility and say - yes I was over reactive, untrusting, controlling, fearful on so many levels that it even altered my work habits. I found myself on the verge of being a hoarder and scared to open up completely with anyone - including my family. (No more secrets…now you know why I did what I did, but I am not asking for your pity. It is what it is and I can’t change it, and I am at peace that people now have the information to offer some type of explanation.) There have been many friendships that have been destroyed because of my ways, and other friendships have fallen to the wayside because people didn't understand why I would react the way that I do with their negative comments that were “a joke” in their eyes. (Some joke. Never mess with a couple’s relationship nothing good can come from it.)

I guess I would say that I am taking a stand and confronting my stress disorder by making you all aware of what people could be going through and you may never know. I used to fake a smile and laugh, as I fear being judged if I showed you how much I was hurting. I hid my tears as I feared it would show my weakness and how venerable I really was. I loved so much that it pushed people away and I enjoy attention in a positive way, even if it appears that I don’t.  I like to consume myself with my art work as that is my therapy when I'm not sitting in a room spilling my problems to a person once a week (who I trust) who can remain neutral.

My New Year’s resolution is to resume on a positive path that I am building. I will continue to keep the weight off and steer clear of negative forces that try to shake me up. I am asking for your understanding and support as I journey deeper into the memories that have been safeguarded in my mind. That there could be days where happiness may not find me or that I may not want to smile, but if you wish to share one with me, I would be very grateful, even though you may not feel that I am.  I am just coming to the understanding that I have been kicking the can of denial and not only did it hurt me and alter me; it hurt many others along the way. So it's one day at a time, focusing on the three most important men in my life - My husband, who has stuck with me, when I would have left my ass years ago, and my two sons that are only just learning that mom really knows how to laugh and have fun. To my family and friends - thanks for hanging in there with me when times got crazy. I'm going to keep on with my writing and my quest to become 100% organized. I know I must be getting better as I was able to keep up with the orders on my web page for ornaments, which I haven't a clue how I did it. I painted over 1,000 ornaments and got them in the mail on time. I am stumped, but it did keep me from keeping up with my blog, which is something I also promise to be better attentive towards in the New Year. 

Many thanks to my continued readers even thought I have not kept up with my blog as I had hoped for the holiday seasons.  It is because of you the readers that I find the ability to bring my words and stories to the paper to share. I want to wish all of you and all the people of the world a very Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year. Let’s do our best to try to instill Peace on Earth and good will towards all. Until next time – Blog Ya Later Alligator!

A song that I remembered when I was a young girl in 1977 - When times were simple. Still brings a smile to my face. Enjoy.  (It's just another New Year's Eve)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wSP59NjoIY

 

"A Soldier's Night Before Christmas"

 

 

Well hello my loyal readers, and to my newest readers. Hope my words find you with a smile on this fine Tuesday morning. Course for some of you, your time zone could be ahead of me or behind me, but welcome just the same. I wanted to share with you a quick story about an observation and why I feel that if we could all just hold within us, just an ounce of compassion, life could be ever so much easier. After what I saw yesterday, I realized that there are people in this world that need this true life lesson.

I had been sitting in a patient waiting area in the Walter Reed National Medical Center, waiting for my appointment in the Dental Clinic, watching people walking by as they make their way to and from the various clinics on the floor that I was on. I noticed that all of them wore the same look of frustration, stone cold, anger, and some even tried to wear a painted smile to conceal the sorrow that consumed the rest of their body. It was obvious that people were not happy, until I heard the sounds of little feet running. I saw a mother and her young son making their way to the same clinic check-in desk that I had just been standing at. I never noticed her husband that was with her until he rolled up to the counter in his motorized wheelchair. My thoughts paid no mind to his disability, but what did catch me was the dozens of people who walked by wearing a frown with the exception of his sweet son, who was probably no more than two, and his father’s face that wore a genuine smile. It was when he turned his chair around that I noticed that the jacket that he had to conceal his legs had slid off revealing the extreme redness of recent scares of his double amputation and the loss of two fingers on his right hand. My mind pondered what he may have had to endure that the end result was this extreme, until I heard him tell the staff member at the desk he had recently been in the ongoing war overseas. I felt a rush of tears making their way onto the surface of my face that was soon turned into a smile after what he did next. His wife worked with the staff to get appointments that did not go as smoothly as she had hoped, but hung in there as their son became restless and was working on a bit of a crying fit. Without hesitation, her husband lifted his son up and placed in him in his lap, and then took him for a quick spin around the hospital on our floor. Both dad and son smiled and laughed as their wheels made a unique rhythm on the tiled floor as they wooshed by.

Wow, here is a father, a dad, a Soldier who has fought for our freedom and has suffered the loss of his limbs, and yet without missing a beat, reaches out to his wife to help her by entertaining his son, with laughter and smiles, while other onlookers displayed their disgust that their wish for library silence, had been broken by their sounds of joy. For me, their laughter helped me realize that no matter what we all may have endured in our lives; we never know the stories of others and what life is like for them. I wish citizens out there that feel that being negative and mean is the way life would realize - IT'S NOT!  We can't let the sorrow take hold of us and bring us to such a low, that we can't bring ourselves up.  We must rise up and move forward with love and happiness in our hearts and be blessed that we are still alive no matter what the challenges we have faced or the ones that await us. Life is too short.

As these feelings rushed over within me, a song began to ring out in my mind and touched my heart as if it were cradled in the palm of my husband’s hand being held ever so gently. “A Soldier's Night before Christmas," This is my husband’s favorite Christmas Song and it was this year when I really learned why it means so much to him. After all that I have learned this year about my Seabee Veteran, I look up at the heavens and thank god that he and his unit came home after their time in the Gulf War from 90-91. Like the song, they too had been Soldiers that had missed Christmas, with friends and family because of their duties as a United States Soldier, yet even thought they are home, there is a part of their souls that has been taken from them and remains overseas. I have never come face to face with the destruction of war or have been on the front line, but with all of his unit members who have been willing to share their personal stories of war, I have a better understanding and a deep seeded respect and appreciation of what, my husband, the soldier in the military hospital yesterday, and our men and woman in our armed forces go through when they come from war. I am thankful that at this time, my husband may not be in a wheelchair, or needs walking aids, but he still deals with pain both physically and other times mentally of his time during the war. I will never know everything about this man I love, and what he went through, but what I do know - I love him with all that I am and here for him no matter what.

 

 

Merry Christmas Ron & Merry Christmas to our military members and the families that wait patiently for their loved ones safe return home and to those who have come home and are trying to put the pieces of their lives back together as their family lovingly waits. This song I dedicate to all of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdEFaOoSBsw