Like the title says, this is more or less entirely my fault, but it's still a bite in the ass regardless.
On January 10th, I placed an order at www.dangerden.com for $168.50 using Paypal. My Paypal is set up with my savings account as the primary funding source and my debit card (checking acct) as the backup source. Before placing the order, I checked the balance of my savings account, it was about $1200; I had plenty. Well, I thought everything was all peachy.
I recieved the order on the 15th and everythign was grand. This is when shit started to go down hill. On the 17th, I received an email from Paypal saying that "Your bank has declined the funds transfer because your account did not have sufficient funds available." I checked my bank account again and there was still the same amount in it as before, no 168.50 transaction. Yet I was standing there with the stuff I had ordered a week ago in hand. Further on in the email, it said that they would retry the withdrawl in 3 days. I said whatever and forgot about it for a while.
On the 22nd this week (Tuesday), I needed to get a few things from Lowes and I knew my debit account didn't have much in it (I checked, there was $2), so I deposited a $120 check into it. I ended up buying the stuff from Lowes with cash so it wasn't an issue.
Yesterday (the 24th), I checked my Paypal and noticed that the $168.50 finally went through. Using my debit account. My debit account did not have $168.50 in it. Upon futher investigation, I saw that my debit account only had $6 in it when Paypal took the money out of it. I was mystified. Where did my $120 go? (I knew I spent about $60-70) and why the hell had it taken it from my checking?
So after an hour or two of talking to Paypal, my savings account bank and my checking account bank I finally discovered what happened.
1.) I deposited a check into my savings on the 10th, 1 day before I placed the order. Not counting the check, I did not have $168.50 in the account.
2.) The dollar amount that I read (here's my mistake) as my available balance was not correct. What I was looking at was the "current balance" and not the "available balance."
Fine, my bad.
3.) So Paypal retried the money transfer on the 23rd and it failed again because the damn check I deposited was still being held. Fine. But then it used my checking account, which had $6 in it. Hello $36 overdraft fee.
4.) On top of all of this, I apparently had pendings items listed in my checking acount's transacation summarary. So (before I deposited the $120 in it) when I thought I had $2 in the account, I really had negative 50 or so. but since it was listed as pending, I had made the deposit in time to not get hit with an overdraft fee, right? Wrong, I made the deposit after 3pm so it didn't take effect until the next day. So on the 22nd, I said hello $36 overdraft fee #2.
so now, I'm sitting here with a checking account balance of $-160 and $1200 still in my savings account and have been charged two $36 overdraft fees within 3 days. It all stems from the fact that I misread my "available balance" for my savings account.
sigh.
Cliffs:
1. placed an order using paypal, using the funds in my bank account
2. get the stuff 5 days later. 2 days after that, paypal says the transfer was declined and would be reattempted in 3 days.
3. 6 days later, Paypal decided to use my checking account to pay for the order. The order was for $168 and my checking account had $2 in it. Overdraft fee!
4. yesterday, through a complicated string of circumstances, I get hit with a 2nd overdraft fee. Woohoo.
5. QQ.
On January 10th, I placed an order at www.dangerden.com for $168.50 using Paypal. My Paypal is set up with my savings account as the primary funding source and my debit card (checking acct) as the backup source. Before placing the order, I checked the balance of my savings account, it was about $1200; I had plenty. Well, I thought everything was all peachy.
I recieved the order on the 15th and everythign was grand. This is when shit started to go down hill. On the 17th, I received an email from Paypal saying that "Your bank has declined the funds transfer because your account did not have sufficient funds available." I checked my bank account again and there was still the same amount in it as before, no 168.50 transaction. Yet I was standing there with the stuff I had ordered a week ago in hand. Further on in the email, it said that they would retry the withdrawl in 3 days. I said whatever and forgot about it for a while.
On the 22nd this week (Tuesday), I needed to get a few things from Lowes and I knew my debit account didn't have much in it (I checked, there was $2), so I deposited a $120 check into it. I ended up buying the stuff from Lowes with cash so it wasn't an issue.
Yesterday (the 24th), I checked my Paypal and noticed that the $168.50 finally went through. Using my debit account. My debit account did not have $168.50 in it. Upon futher investigation, I saw that my debit account only had $6 in it when Paypal took the money out of it. I was mystified. Where did my $120 go? (I knew I spent about $60-70) and why the hell had it taken it from my checking?
So after an hour or two of talking to Paypal, my savings account bank and my checking account bank I finally discovered what happened.
1.) I deposited a check into my savings on the 10th, 1 day before I placed the order. Not counting the check, I did not have $168.50 in the account.
2.) The dollar amount that I read (here's my mistake) as my available balance was not correct. What I was looking at was the "current balance" and not the "available balance."
Fine, my bad.
3.) So Paypal retried the money transfer on the 23rd and it failed again because the damn check I deposited was still being held. Fine. But then it used my checking account, which had $6 in it. Hello $36 overdraft fee.
4.) On top of all of this, I apparently had pendings items listed in my checking acount's transacation summarary. So (before I deposited the $120 in it) when I thought I had $2 in the account, I really had negative 50 or so. but since it was listed as pending, I had made the deposit in time to not get hit with an overdraft fee, right? Wrong, I made the deposit after 3pm so it didn't take effect until the next day. So on the 22nd, I said hello $36 overdraft fee #2.
so now, I'm sitting here with a checking account balance of $-160 and $1200 still in my savings account and have been charged two $36 overdraft fees within 3 days. It all stems from the fact that I misread my "available balance" for my savings account.
sigh.
Cliffs:
1. placed an order using paypal, using the funds in my bank account
2. get the stuff 5 days later. 2 days after that, paypal says the transfer was declined and would be reattempted in 3 days.
3. 6 days later, Paypal decided to use my checking account to pay for the order. The order was for $168 and my checking account had $2 in it. Overdraft fee!
4. yesterday, through a complicated string of circumstances, I get hit with a 2nd overdraft fee. Woohoo.
5. QQ.
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