My Hundred Dollar Pack of Gum
Let me just start off by saying I was a few fries short of a happy meal back in my college days. I stayed up way too late and drank entirely too much. Needless to say clarity of thought was not my ally during those hazy days. That said, I’m sure you’re wondering how on earth someone could wind up paying more than a hundred bucks for a pack of gum. Well, lets follow the bouncing ball on its enchanted path to overdraft charges.
That particular Friday started off innocent enough as I recall. I woke up at noon, took a quick shower, grabbed a bite, and began my day. I then decided to skip my two o’clock Statistics class. I know I shouldn’t have skipped class but probability theory and standard deviations just weren’t doing it for me. In hind sight getting my butt to class would have saved me a lot of money. Anyway, after I made the executive decision to skip class I headed to the gas station. I realized on my way that I didn’t have any cash on me, but that wasn’t a big deal because I had my debit card. I knew my checking account balance was fairly low however. I was thinking my balance was around $20 bucks. This was my first mistake. All I had to do was call and confirm my actual balance, but I was too lazy.
I then proceeded to pumped $15 of gas, which was fine, but it was the next purchase that set in motion a rash of overdraft charges that had never before been seen. I strolled into the convenient store after pumping my gas and paid for a pack of gum. That $1.50 pack of gum, believe it or not, set me over the brink. I would later discover I was hit with a $39.00 overdraft fee, yikes! As it turns out I only had $16 bucks left in my account that day. The gas charge was fine but the gum purchase pushed me past my available balance threshold. Still, I was none-the-wiser at the time as I continued on my merry way.
After the gas station I swung into the liquor store and picked up some beer for the night. This was strike two. I already knew I was dangerously close to my remaining balance but made the purchase anyway figuring I could just transfer the funds over to my account when I got home that afternoon and avoid any fees.
Here is where a little bad luck and incompetence come into play. When I got home I did transferred the funds over just as I promised myself, but transferred them the WRONG way! I wanted to transfer money from my ING account to my Citi account, which was connected to my debit card, but instead accidentally clicked transfer funds from my Citi account to my ING. Strike three! That was $117 in overdraft charges ($39 x 3) that hit me within an hour!
What I should have done
- I should have called to get my balance
- I should have spoke to a customer service representative to at least dispute my accidental transfer request and get $39 waved
- I should have had an overdraft protection plan. Had I been using my ING debit card instead of my Citi I would have saved myself a lot of money. ING doesn’t charge you a flat overdraft fee, provided you fall within your qualified protection line. Here is how it works: If I was extended a $100 protection line, which I was, and made some purchases totaling $26, while only having $16 in my account the $10 bucks would be pulled from my protection line. Then I would have only paid interest (based on the ING Prime rate) on that $10 until my next deposit was made. Pretty sweet deal.
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To this day I haven’t bought another pack of Doublemint gum. It hurts too much.
ScholarshipPoints Code: GUMYUMGUM
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this has happened to me before, and overdraft charges are out of control!!! I was told to keep up with my account on my own to make sure i wasn’t overspending,unfortunately, I haven’t made it a habit, yet!
Wow man, should have called to confirm your actual balance even if you think your not that low on budget. Think before you act.
It’s things like these that keep me from using anything other than cash for any purchases…
so true
Omg that’s crazy, this is why I don’t bother with credit cards I only use cash. The good thing is at least you know what you did wrong and now you’ll never make the same mistake.
yeah, im definitely going to check my money status stuff from now on!
the well orchestrated scams of the banking industry continue
He should have checked to see how much money he had first before using his card. That’s not for me.
lol
some don’t realize that when you have an overdraft you are charged by the bank & whereever you made the purchase – Double whammy – but then he made another whammy oh well – I bet he learned the hard way.
Ouch!
lol wow that sucks!! learning experience, huh?? once i had a $1,300 cell phone bill at age 16. thank god i had the money to pay it!!(stupid internet obsessed!) hahah!