Isn't life wonderful?

[bladespark]

So... a series of events:

1. I decide I need to touch up my Windstone Mother dragon before selling her. (Anybody want a really, really, really old retired green Windstone in just-short-of-mint condition?)
2. I research materials, learn that a specific paint marker is used by Windstone for the gold bits.
3. I order the marker, to be delivered priority mail.
4. The marker company leaves a message on my machine asking me to authorize their sending the marker by UPS ground, as it's flammabe and can't go airmail. I do not get this message, as my phone wasn't properly showing voicemail.
5. A few weeks later I write myself a check for the exact balance contained in my old bank account, and depost it into my new, taking out $200 in cash at the same time so that I can buy some silver. (They don't take checks at the silver place, for reasons shortly apparent.)
6. Verizon institutes a new mailbox system, their warning about losing all messages causes me to check my voicemail, where I find the message left earlier. I authorize the marker shipment, eagery await delivery.
7. The marker payment is taken out of my old bank account.
8. My check to myself reaches my old bank, and is bounced back, with insufficient funds, because my account is now less the price of a marker + shipping. (About $6.)
9. I get a call from the new bank going "er, we're not mad or anything, we just wanted to let you know that your check bounced and you're now in the red because of the $200 chash you took out of it, since there was less than that in the account when you started."
10. I curse fate, my own stupidity, and the horrible timing of the universe, and go to write myself a new check that will leave a hundered bucks or so in the old account, because heaven knowns what else I have lurking out there as yet uncleared.

The whole fiasco is costing me an annoying amount, given that I got charged a check return fee by the one bank, and an overdraft fee by the other. (Though happily the new bank is nicer about this, as the overdraft fee there was about a fifth the size of the one the old used to charge me for that. Pacific Continental and Zions respectively, if anybody cares.)

Comments

[gungho-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Augh, I feel your pain. I hate banks. They always manage to screw you over sometimes. Granted, it could somehow be avoided... but a lot of the time you just don't expect it... and suddenly... OVERDRAFT FEES, BOUNCED CHECKS, RARRRRR. And my bank are complete buttheads anyway, which makes dealing with the situation incredibly painful.

But I feel your woe. Nothing sucks more sometimes than unexpected fees to an already rich banking company.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Though some banks are better than others.... a $5 overdraft from my current bank is much easier to deal with than the $20 overdraft fees my old one charged.

[gungho-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Wow! A $20 overdraft fee? Sign me up! That's better than Wells Fargo's $33 overdraft fee. I doubt I'll ever find a bank so good to only charge $5... that's insane! You're very lucky to have found a bank like that.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I think the fee does vary depending on how /much/ I'm overdrawn and things to that effect. But really, thus far Pacific Continental totally rocks. Sadly you don't get them outside of Oregon.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Overdraft fees are funny and vary from person to person depending the type of account, and on what you have in the account. My old bank would overdraft protect and transfer money out of your savings account for free (but just once, then next check would make you pay.) But that was part of the student package.

My new bank has a running $6000 "loan" account set up for overdrafts. All my overdrafts come out of there, again no fee, and also unlimited, I just have to pay interest and a monthly fee if I maintain a negative balance in that account.

[gungho-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Wells Fargo's default is a $33 non-negotiable overdraft fee. I think people with military accounts might get overdraft protection from their savings account, and the college account offers something if you sign up for the "college credit card" thus the credit card covers the overdraft, brings you up to zero and it charges you $10 (directly to your card) for the service.

I would say they vary from bank to bank, not so much person to person. At least as far as Wells Fargo is concerned.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Citibank is brutal if you have their "basic checking account", but it then varies (I think) as you go up the different levels of accounts (all with different minimum balances and different requirements). At the very least, when you get to the Citibank Account (which is what I have) you get an overdraft loan account, with no fee. But the interest and size of the loan on that account varies with your credit rating and with the amount of money you have in the bank in other forms.

[graydown.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain on the overdraft... I did that a while back. Such a bad day.

So. What kind of price is reasonable for the green dragon?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Hrm.... really dunno. I'm seeing them anywhere from $50 to $120 on ebay, in about the same shape as mine.

You got a budget in mind? Or stuff to trade?

[graydown.livejournal.com]

I think it'd be worth $50 to me... but I have no more money this week. You might want to go hunting for other bids. ^_^ Unless you want to wait. How damaged is she? And what kind of thing would you take in trade? I don't have any Windstones aside from my lil gold dragon.

Regardless, I hope things improve for you soon. Kirin are always good omens, and you have two of them. That has to count for something, right?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

She has a paint rub on her leg, where you can just barely see the black undercoat. I have a photo: http://bladespark.topcities.com/P8250020.jpg The back there near her knee.

She actually looks a ton better than that now, because I washed off all the dust, and retouched all her gold detailing.

As for trades... hard to say. Obviously not Windstone stuff. I don't supose you're into pelts and bones and things of that nature and have any? (I've been trying forever to get a good jackal skill.)

I'm not planning on trying to sell her any time soon, really. There are a couple up on ebay right now, and it's always annoying to compete with somebody else selling the same thing.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

skull, not skill. Can I spell? No.

[graydown.livejournal.com]

I have an idea. I'll email you. :)

(I want jackal skills too)

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

*also curiouses at you, and goes to start obsessively check her email*

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Aie, banks. This is one reason why I keep a running bank balance of $500 "untouchable"... because I know otherwise I'll be stupid and write a few checks and then use my debit card for too much. This way, I just move the amount I expect to spend in at the start of the month and work off of that (or move it as soon as I write the check if I remember.)

That said, I need to reconsider this policy now that I've switched banks, Citibank gives me free overdraft protection with something like $6000 of protection, and so I think I can be a little more cavalier with my checking account balance.

I have $1000 in my old bank just sitting there. I've not written a single check since I've moved to New York and I'm pretty sure all of my old ones have cleared but I'm going to wait the 3 months and then transfer the remaining balance. Sure I'm losing about $5 total of differential interest this way (and maybe more if I were to invest it) but I'd rather not have to suck that bounced check fee or the overdraft fee.