Have you ever made a costly mistake with your own finances, cash, credit, etc.?
I ruined my credit freshman year with bunch a credit cards I didn't need. I took me damn near 10 years to clean it up & some of the forgotten items still periodically come back to haunt me. {Damn Zales! I don't even remember what the hell I bought.}
It took many a payment arrangements, negotiating, finagling and several tax return checks, but I knew I had to get it done if I didn't want garnishments out the ass. I also knew I needed to take care of it so I wouldn't need Vaseline when I was ready to purchase my home. In the end, my efforts paid off.
One other incident (kinda careless on my part) happened at the ATM. I drove up at about 630 am after I put the boy on the school bus. I checked my balance, got my weekend pocket money & headed to work. It was the 1st of the month, so I took a smoke break (even though I don't) to write checks (pre on-line banking) for my bills. I have a habit of checking my balances everyday {and twice on Sunday} and before I pay large bills. Keep in mind I had just checked when I was at the ATM a few hours before. I dial up, listen & my checking account is short $300 (part of my rent money)! My heart started racing. I checked my savings & it was $300 short also. WTF?!?! All I could think was "$600 in the damn wind!"
I dumped the contents of my purse on my desk. Damn....I drove off & left the damn card in the machine, without cancelling the transaction. I called my friend/co-worker in a panic. She called her husband (banking pro) and he told me what to do.
I called the bank & explained to about 50-11 people what happened. The next day I had to go in and sign an affidavit. A day or so later, my banker called & said my $$ would be back in my account by 300 pm. Thank you Lord! I certainly didn't expect it because it was my fault. The money didn't make or break me, but damn, that's a lot to lose in one sitting.
The person who took the money certainly wasn't expecting to find my open access card in the machine & they were caught on camera.
Thank God you got it back... and whoa to the one who tried to be slick... Next time, slow down sis...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I dug myself most of the way out of one hole and screwed around and dug ANOTHER one for myself... but I didn't fall in QUITE so far this time and I'm digging out and putting the shovel away for real this time.
ReplyDeleteYeah... I ruined my credit in college, too. I got the "you don't even need a job" card that they offer during your freshman year, and followed that up with a gang of store cards. The Spiegel catalog and the Home Shopping Network were my best friends AAAND I was working in a mall. I ran up almost $10,000 in credit card debt in like 2 years... on DUMB stuff. It took me almost 7 years to pay off the debt and 10-12 years to totally clean up my credit. It's excellent now, and I'm very proud of that.
ReplyDeleteYes and I'm still fixing it. It's a slow steady process, but every accomplishment makes me smile. I will return to discuss in greater detail later.
ReplyDeleteExactly! It was still dark outisde & I was just trying to get my money & bounce, obviously not paying enough attention to what I was doing.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya... I've done that before... well left the card in the machine,, but no one did anything,,. I remembered and went right back to get it... But Im always paranoid about the drive up teller, for some reason I dont ever feel secure sitting in my car thinking anyone can roll up and do whatever... So I get out and go inside the bank or to the walk up teller... But
ReplyDeleteI drove up on somebody's card still in the machine... I took it, and I took it to a bank the next day.. I wasn't even thinking about trying to gank somebody for their money, I was just thinking about how I would feel if I left my card in the machine and somebody found it.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we dont have a lot of honest and caring folks like yourself...
ReplyDeleteMy mistake was throwing a shower for a relative, and I really could no afford to. Issue was others were supposed to contribute, and pay me back. Well when the time came for the pay back, folks developed amnesia and did not pay me. So poof went my American Express card. Dealing with a collection agency was one of my WORST experiences EVER!!! But now I know more about dealing with those fools, but I hope I never have to deal with them ever again in life. The constant calls, the "well can you borrow the money?" I can't pay YOU so how in the hell am I to borrow money and have no way to pay it back?
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine told me about a website called creditboards.com I was finally able to get some info I needed, and negotiate with those folks. I told them what payment they would get and then sent my letters in, and eventually they accepted it. Took me 5 years to pay them off, but I did it!! Now I'm working on my other credit cards. Whew.
The collection calls are the worse & I'm talking before caller ID came along. They made me never want to answer my phone. Probably why I'm still not to swift to answer the phone, even tho I know it's not a creditor.
ReplyDeleteMy money was so tight at one point that my phone was disconnected for damn near a year. I used my mother's phone (she lived across the lane) or the pay phone around the corner. I still had my lil trusty pager so I was good.
I've never had an Am Ex. I always had Visa and MC so I didn't see the need for that one.
On top of those cards, I had Famous-Barr (now Macy's); Dillards, Zales, Lerner (when I could still shop there dammit); Spiegel and a few other I know I'm forgetting. Approved for all of them on a whopping $7.00 an hour (part-time) salary!
Lawd where do I even begin? My problem (curr in treatment...lol) is impulsive buying. Especially when it comes to shoes. I also have a tendency to buy things in bulk thinking that I will be prepared should I have a need for the item(s) and not be financially fit at the time of necessity. My debt came from those "pre-approved" catalogs back in my younger years. My thought process back then was, I didn't solicit them they sent the pre-approved catalogs to me so I'm not at fault, yeah ok. And also not keeping on top of my credit once I became educated about the credit system and how it works. I'm not where I want to be now but I'm halfway there and doing much better than I was.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see I'm not alone. I'm a shop-a-holic too. One of friends has told me on more than one occassion, "you already have that" when out shopping. *smh* I'm a bulk buyer too (damn Sam's Club). You would think I had 5-6 kids, was preparing for a family reunion or an apocalypse. I hate running out of necessities.
ReplyDeleteWow! I wish I WOULD find somebody's ATM card in the machine!!!!!
ReplyDelete(You know I would turn it in, right!)
Girl, how did you DO THAT! My goodness!!!!
Most ATMS now have a safety mechanism where they will beep for a about 10 seconds and if you still don't retrieve the card, it "eats" it and can only be retrieved by a bank employee. Some will try to contact you, but if they can't, they will cancel it for you. I have made a lot of silly mistakes, but I am working on cleaning it up. Credit cards, boyfriends who left me hanging, poor choices, payday loans ... I just got to the point where I just shut EVERYTHING down, and I am starting over from scratch. My plan is to pay off things bit by bit. My car will be paid off by June and that will help a lot. By the end of this year, I plan to have a lot of things patched up. Darn shame that I will be almost 40 before i experience A1 credit, but it will be lesson WELL LEARNED and I will make SURE my kids are schooled on handling their finances!
ReplyDeleteNever too late to learn anything... Its when you NEVER learn is when it really counts as bad....
ReplyDeleteAmen, I agree!
ReplyDelete