Family and Money

I am a nice person; a good person. There are very few triggers that bring out the worst in me. If I had a Warning Label it would read: Do Not Mess With My Family or My Money. This post is being written on the heels of a very heated conversation with CapitalOne - the bank that holds my car loan. If you have read the blog post called The 'Cadillac' of Headaches, than you know some of the background already.

CapitalOne set me up with an online profile where I can manage my payments and see my payout as well as the principal and interest paid-to-date. CapitalOne asked if I would like to pay monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly. I chose weekly, they had the predetermined amount for me and off I went. In April, after two weekly payments successfully went through, I received an email that said I am behind by one installment and a ridiculous charge of $10.80 will be withdrawn. I called the 1-800 number, adamant that they would need to correct their system and refund me the money. I was told that the recurring weekly payment is not sufficient enough to pay the loan by its monthly due date BUT if I make one extra installment, the account would be current. They did not refund the fee and I made the one-time additional payment.

Guess what I received today? ANOTHER PAST DUE EMAIL!!! I have zero patience for this kind of stuff. Another stupid fee of $10.80, another call center representative telling me that I just need one more payment and the account will correct itself. So much for, 'this call is recorded for quality assurance'. I was NOT nice and I was NOT happy. I think Mike was the only witness in the office when I abruptly told the customer service agent that they needed better training and I hung up on them.

I did my own calculation; CapitalOne expected a specific monthly amount even though their system TOLD me what I needed to pay for the weekly option. I figured out how to cover the missing funds PLUS a little extra (just to be safe) and then I went to my online account to change it.

Did it go through? Was I able to change the existing recurring payment method to an amount of my choice? NO! 🤬Of course not!🤬Why would it?🤬 I had to call the 1-800 number again and speak to another person who started giving me the 'one extra payment' speech. I begged her to let me make my changes. I pleaded with her, for her own job security and my sanity, to complete my request. The sooner she did as I asked, the sooner she could forget I existed.

I do not know if I handled this situation in the best way and maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow or next week but right now, I am seeing red. This would be considered a minor problem for some people, maybe others deal with this sort of thing and it's no big deal. I can only imagine what I would say or do if someone went against my loved ones, wronged them intentionally or tried to hurt them in any way. If this is how I react when someone messes with My Money, don't test me with My Family... there is no 1-800 number to save you.