Although I don’t monitor my account everyday online, I do monitor it often and I always know what is going on with my account/s! Yesterday, as soon as I got off of work, May 19th, I went into the bank and made a cash deposit of the monies I needed to cover my unexpected emergencies. The teller gave me a receipt with my balance on it and all was good! Just so you have this straight: my account was in the black when I checked it online, when I went into the bank and after my deposit! When I left the bank there was MORE than enough money to cover everything that would be coming out of my account and more! This morning I go online to check my account and of course my account is in the black but I have two overdraft charges. (heavy sigh…) Of course I call and today on May 20th, they tell me that my overdraft charges were due to two transactions that posted to my account on the 18th. But here’s the thing, there was absolutely no way I could have known that! Seriously??? Although there is a place online that tells me what transactions are in hold and what transactions are being processed, neither of these transactions were either place for me to see. I told Jerri, my CSR that I was in the black online, in the black when I walked into the bank and even deeper in the black after I made my deposit and walked out of the bank. And basically what she was told me was: “no you weren’t, but it’s not your fault for not knowing!” I was in the red the day before on the 18th but they kept it a secret from me! I didn’t know because it didn’t appear online, my teller didn’t know because she is just a person positioned to take my money and withhold the truth from me without empowerment to be a “real” CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE! So although my account never visually went in the red, Wachovia bank has taken 70 of my hard earned innocent dollars hostage and refuse to give them back because it secretly went in the red!

My question I kept asking was: “what could I have done differently?” Their response: “nothing, you had no way of knowing the transactions had gone through on the 18th”. That is what Jerri told me when I called the Wachovia customer service line and the same thing Nenee Marquez told me when I called the Wells Fargo/Wachovia Headquarter office and asked for Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf. Of course she wouldn’t let me talk to him but I tried!

Here’s the other thing, if I had just been careless and if the emergencies had not arisen, my fault… I guess, but even then, how can I know if it doesn’t show up for me online nor for my teller inside the institution poised to care for my monies in the appropriate manner. And check this out… Wachovia does their debits before their credits. Here’s a great example of what I’m speaking about: if you have $10.00 in your account and you make a $1,000,000.00 (one million dollar) deposit Friday after 2:00 pm, on Monday morning if a check for $10.50 comes in, your account will go into the red/negative briefly and you WILL be charged overdraft fees, even though you still have $999,999.50 in your account! What in the world!!!

I’m hurt. I have been a great Wachovia customer! I have tried to make them my warm and fuzzy financial institution since coming to GA however, I’m not stupid. I did open another account months ago and will now be forced to make them my new warm and fuzzy. It’s all good! To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1. My time with Wachovia is just about over. I will reroute my direct deposit, settle up with them and say goodbye. I’m just saying….

Holla back!

Monday I was running errands around Indy (Indianapolis, IN) and I had a “Big Mac attack.” I get in the drive thru line and in between the ordering monitor and the first window to pay; a man walks up to my car window and asks for money. He says he hasn’t eaten in 3 days. He’s dirty. He’s shaking. He asks for $3. Right away, I do not believe any of this. Plainly, I’m thinking, this man needs some drugs. So, I told him to meet me inside and I’d buy him something to eat. Meanwhile, I pay for my food and ask the cashier to add a $10 gift card to my order. I park to go inside and another man asks me for $.50! By now I’m wondering what’s going on? What can you buy for $.50?? It’s $.75 to ride the bus and the same for a newspaper!! Someone else gave him the change and I gave the first guy the gift card. He didn’t seem very thankful for it either!

My brother told me I shouldn’t have given anything. Truth is, I have a hard time passing up anyone who says they’re hungry. If it were my son out begging in need, I would want someone to respond. And besides, I want all my blessings. I don’t know when nor how that act of kindness might be returned to me someday!!  Anyway, beware of Mickey D’s at lunch time. Take extra money or keep your windows up!!

P.S. – I forgot one “shining” detail of my story at McDonald’s….the guy’s nose was running too!!!!! No kiddin’! lol.

So here’s the question. In today’s economy, are the numbers of the homeless and hungry increasing? How does one trip to McDonald’s warrant two requests for money from hungry people? I’m reminded of a song Yolanda Adams sings that says: “Save the world, feed the hungry people”. Is that task up to us as individuals or is it up to our government or both? Didn’t President Obama put money in the stimulus package for homelessness? Does anybody know how that will work? If you know the answer to that question, please let us know and tell us:  how have you reacted when a homeless/hungry person asks you for money?  Did you give it to them?  Did you ignore them?  Did you think of them as less than or lower class?  Did you stay focused on the fact that we are all God’s children and but for the grace of God there go I?  Do you know anyone, up close and personal, that is or has been homeless and hungry? Holla back!