Rejection

So I'm gonna clue you in on a secret

that's not so secret.

It's not rocket science that my personal financial situation

isn't as bright beaming as it once was.

It's been a struggle.

It's been beyond stressful.

But somehow I've made it work.

And I'll admit

I'm pretty proud of myself for pulling it off each month.

Well April 15-22 was definitely an odd and interesting financial week.

I had had a few extra expenses and therefore things were a bit of a juggle this month.

I had decided that maybe I would bust out

the credit cards for a few things that week.

Just to be safe that everything balanced until pay day on the 19th.

Well I never use credit cards.

I actually loathe credit cards.

I think they are an evil trap.

However still very convenient and useful.

On April 15th I was at Dollar Tree picking up supplies for my church activity

and decided to dig one out from the depths of my wallet and give it a whirl.

$21.98 total.

I gave the ole card a swipe.

and waited

and waited

"I'm sorry Ma'am your card was declined."

Confused I told her, "There's no way. I never use this thing. Let me try it again."

Swipe Again.

Wait.

"Sorry Ma'am your card was declined again."

My confusion turned to sheer embarrassment.

Who the heck uses a credit card at a DOLLAR store?!

And worse who the heck gets a credit card declined at a DOLLAR store?!

So I fumble and hand her the 2nd of my only 2 credit cards

while mumbling apologies and excuses that I never use these cards.

She tried everything possible not to roll her eyes.

She swipes that one.

We both hold our breath.

And wait.

She kindly hands it back to me and says.

"This one is expired".

I glance down at the card.

Exp June 2012

Hmm obviously I've used that one often.

So I whip out my trusty ole debit card and snag my bags

while shuffling out of there with my tail between my legs.

On Tuesday I got around to calling the first credit card to see what the heck was wrong.

Visa Rep: "Ma'am I see here there is a temporary hold on your account for fraudulent activity."

Me: "Oh wow, I had no idea.  I never use this card.  When did this happen?"

Visa Rep: "Well we tried to notify you in August 2012 that we put a block on your account. It appears someone in CA tried to use your card and it was flagged for suspicious activity."

Me: Trying to decide whether to laugh or be shocked, "Wow my card has been blocked since August?  Oops I didn't even know."

So after a quick discussion she permanently cancelled the card and mailed me out a new one.

So at this point I was pretty proud of myself for really staying on top of my finances.

I have 2 credit cards.  

One expired in June 2012.

The other was hijacked in August 2012.

I just now found out and

it's April 2013.

So in other words it was a long week counting the days until pay day.

On Friday 19th morning, I pull into the gas station on my way to work.

If you recall from a previous post, 

I had already dropped kids off and realized I forgot my laptop,

and driven all the way home to get it.

So now I was out of gas.

I swipe my debit card.

WHAT?!

Swipe it again.

What is this some sick joke?!?

So I whip out my replacement credit card that luckily came in the mail the day earlier.

Sweet now I can get a measly $20 of gas and be on my way.

Well I was checking my email when I got to work and realize

there's one from my mortgage company saying that my mortgage payment bounced.

What?!

So I check my bank account online and there's more than enough money.

Hhmm that's odd.

Make note to call them later.

Well then as you recall from a previous post,

I suddenly got struck with kidney stones and had to drop everything

and rush to Urgent Care.

As I was crippled over the steering wheel crying on my way there 

I decided to pull into the ATM real quick and just try my card prior to paying Urgent Care.

I'm sobbing from pain and reach over to the ATM and slide in the card.

I wait.

The ATM spits my card back out.

"Card invalid. Transaction Cancelled."

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!

I'm in excruciating pain and clearly can't walk inside the bank.

Guess I'll call on that one later too.

So then I somehow finished the drive to Urgent Care.

And we all know how that went down.

Well one of my extra worries as I was hobbling out of Urgent Care

was if my stupid card would work to pay for it.

Pathetic to say the least.

Luckily they told me they would just bill me later.

And salvaged the sliver of pride I had left from another "declined" status.

Later that day when I had awoken from my drug induced coma,

I called Bank of America.

Somehow I always get the most delightfully unhelpful customer reps.

It went a little something like this...

Me: "Hello my debit card has been declined twice today and there's plenty of money in my account and my auto bill payments are also being declined now. Can you please tell me what in the world is going on?!"

Rep: "Sure let me look it up....Well I see here your card has been cancelled. There was a massive breach by a third party retailer and all the cards were cancelled and replaced."

Me: "WHAT?! Shouldn't I have been notified? Or you think it's fun to just secretly shut down your customers' accounts and make them scramble figuring out why?"

Rep: "Well all of the customers should have been called and the new cards were mailed out 4/6.  You should have gotten a call and new card prior to us shutting down your account."

Me: "Well nope, I didn't receive a single phone call or the new card! So instead I have absolutely no access to my own money and my auto scheduled bills are bouncing left and right. 

Rep: "Well sorry ma'am but if you could check your mail I'm sure your new card is there.

Me: "Well I'm sorry sir but this is the WRONG day to pick on me because I now have kidney stones and can't even move! So unless you want to magically show up to my front door with a cheesy smile sporting your little name badge on your crisp polo shirt tucked into your perfectly pleated khaki dockers along with a shiny new metal wheelchair in your hands that can push my stone riddled dehydrated kidney butt down the street to the mailbox, there's no way I can check my mail."

Long story short.

No, I still never received a phone call.

No, I still never received a replacement card.

Yes, I did have one single dollar bill on me.

No, I couldn't even access a single penny from my account.

Yes, I did have to steal money from my kids' piggy banks.

Yes, I did spend several hours calling every auto pay bill center to explain the problem.

Yes, I did have to live in financial lock-down until the following Tuesday

when I finally was able to walk my own butt inside the Bank.

After many management apologies,

I now have a "temporary" debit card

while the new one will take 5-7 business days to arrive.

Heaven forbid they forego standard policy and 

simply foot the bill to overnight the card to me.

I mean it's not like they already caused me an ounce of inconvenience.

Oh and they are willing to reimburse all of the late fees, etc I got from

other transactions bouncing during this time.

That is after I'm required to fill out numerous reports, fax documentation

 and I'll assume multiple phone calls by me to follow up that they actually complete this.

Oh and they did have the audacity to try and sell me on opening a credit card with them.

I just glared at her.

She quickly shut up.

Now I'll wait to see if the card actually ever arrives.

We're on Business Day 6.

So far the outlook is bleak.

I think I would have rather taken my chances with hackers.