now, i will be the first to admit that we haven't been the best of customers. we're struggling to survive here, we're not going to have the best banking history. so, yea, we suck too, LOTS.
but . . .
the bank appears to have recently started putting holds on my husband's paychecks again. for the second time in a row, money that should be there, and i know it should be there, has disappeared and put us in the negatives. in a few days, it will "come back" and we'll be back in the positives BUT the bank will ding us the overdraft fee. honestly, we pay enough in overdraft fees all on our own, we do not need the bank to add to the mess.
this would not be as big a problem if the money was put on hold the day we deposited it. instead, the money goes on hold the next day afteri've paid bills. if i saw that there was a hold, i'd put off making those payments. but i always check the account online before i pay to make sure what we put in is in. to change that the next day, and then to keep that hold for the next 3 - 5 business days? wrong, wrong, wrong.
we don't have the excess cash to mess around with this. we need every penny available as soon as possible. we always have bills due or overdue when we get paid. even when we've been on our best behavior, money is tight, and we can't mess around with holds. we've already lost our cable because i couldn't go in and make a payment -- the money was on hold. the cable isn't that important, but i have a phone and a car insurance payment pending.
and to charge us the bounce fees on top of all this?
and a call to the bank didn't help that much. the hold will be released tonight, and i can call to get any fees (that should NOT be charged, in my opinion) removed. but, apparently, my branch is not the one responsible for this, the back office is. and the back office won't release the check until they physically see the check. saxy can't do direct deposit; mcat is a small business owner, and he is neither set up nor capable of paying for dd.
so i guess saxy will have to cash his check and deposit the cash after this. it's a pain in the ass, and mcat won't be happy about it, but we can't be going through this every week or every other week.
why don't we change banks? because we need a bank that is both here and in cali. and even our bank beats b of a . . . not that it takes much to be better than b of a. none of the other banks that i've seen or heard about down here also exist in cali. so, we're stuck with with this until they gives us the boot. (not even sure if banks even do that any more considering the money they make on bounce fees.)
and, sorry, linnorm, i'm still not taking checks. :P
so, tonight, at midnight, assuming the store is still open (it's supposed to be 24 hour, but saxy says it's not), we get to go grocery shopping so we can eat tomorrow. we've scraped by all weekend, but today we hit bottom of the barrel. if this money doesn't come through, i actually have no idea what i'm feeding the children tomorrow. a hamburger bun, a piece of cheese, and water, i suppose. i know it could be worse, but my kids need milk. both the little ones need food with fat in them (disabled kids tend to run thin anyway and froggy . . . not sure what's up with froggy, she's just under the norms for size and age).
from here, the day only went downhill: the power was cut off without warning by construction workers . . . 5 times in a row (i finally shut down the pc's until they were done), a storm has moved in and started a new migraine, my son has been a putz all day, my plans hit the toilet by 2 pm.
and i swear it's all the bank's fault.
banks suck.
p.s. there is some good news. sorta. we got the forms to consolidate my husband's soon to default school loan and my already defaulted perkins loan with the federal loan that's in forbearance. i guess it's a good thing that citibank decided that saxy had reached his limits for their forbearance program, but, i swear, citibank sucks.
and, oh gee, isn't that yet another bank?
word of the moment: sentient
conscious, capable of feeling and perception, responding with feeling, capable of responding emotionally rather than intellectually