62. August 3rd, 2010 Picture.

So it took trying to buy this coffee, in the Borders Book Store 'Seattles Best' counter, to realize that my bank account was overdrawn.  Yep folks, that's right, while attempting to buy myself a little slice of latte heaven, my debit card was declined.  I made up a quick story about my card being lost and the bank must have frozen my account, and pulled out my credit card to pay for my $3 drink.  Lie, $4.50, gah busted.  I went flying out of the store to meet my mom, who was sitting on a bench waiting for me, and I immediately called my bank.


I was super confused, I had JUST mailed my rent check that morning (my roommates had mailed their checks without mine, or so I thought...) so I knew that I couldn't be overdrawn.  I had plenty of money in my account, I had no idea what was going on.  I was panicking that my account had been hacked, which happened a few months ago and a few hundred dollars of bogus charges were racked up against my checking account.  It took a few weeks to get it all settled, but it was definitely more of a hassle than anything else.  Paper work, police reports, trips to the bank, just annoying.  I finally got a hold of a live person, and had him walk me through my recent transactions.  Hm, that is weird, a rent check had cleared a few days before.  Did my landlord FORGET to cash my July rent and just deposited the check?  2 days before I sent him another one?!  Oh no, if that's the case then I blew a lot more money on Nantucket than I though, and by a lot I mean my entire rent, and I didn't even notice.  This...could be bad.


Panic and heat engulfed my body and suddenly I was sweating and my heart was racing.  Holding a hot cup of coffee was definitely naht helping.  Having my mother ask questions in one ear while I try to listen to the banker also had a negative effect on my wellbeing.  After walking through all my questions, I finally realized that I HAD mailed my rent check for August.  I must have written it before going to New Hampshire and completely forgotten!  So, when I kinda bitched out my roommate for mailing the rent checks without mine, while she swore up and down that she thought mine was in the envelope, she was right.  I sent my landlord TWO checks for the month of August.  Whoops!  


I called my landlord to let him know that I 'accidentally' sent him two rent checks, but I started to get nervous when I left a message and he never called me back.  I had one of my old landlords cash 2 checks in a row, even though one was dated for the next MONTH, and he overdrew my account by $1,500.  He was an idiot.  I definitely didn't want that to happen again, so I called the bank to stop payment on the check.  My landlord owns lots of other properties, so I was concerned that his assistant or wife would open the letter, not realizing it was my second August rent check, and just deposit it without a second thought.  Aren't bills a bitch?  Thank goodness for coffee though, otherwise my account would have sat negative for god knows how long!  What happened to those text alerts I signed up for?  So much for alerting me about my negative account balance, way to go.

Upadte: As of August 26th, my landlords wife could not find my August rent money.  The check cleared on August 2nd, but she doesn't know where the money went.  She asked if I could call my bank and see where it was cashed and who signed it, but there was no bank stamp on the back of my check.  It was signed by my landlord and they are mailing me a copy to give to the wife.  Gah, I know they cashed it, it wasn't stolen or anything, they are just rolling around in so much money from so many properties they can't keep track of the money.  I could only DREAM of having that problem.  This checking issue just won't go away!  And now it's time to send another check!  That shouldn't be confusing.