nickel and diming

I usually don't talk about finances on my blog, but this is one I have to write about.

Fiscally speaking, the one thing that ticks me off more than anything else is when I get nickel-and-dimed when I'm trying to close an account.

Here's a situation I've been dealing with.

I have a loan that I'm trying to close out. Each day this loan acquires interest on it, which is no big deal because I was aware of it. I sent a big payment to pay it off completely. This payment included extra to cover the accrued interest for the time it would take for the payment to arrive.

That didn't work.

The end amount due after my payment was $1.10.

Yes, you read correctly. One dollar and ten cents. What an insult that is.

So.. I send another payment for $1.75, figuring that would pay it off and close it out.

It didn't.

Now the amount due is $2.85, more than double the last final amount.

I'm not kidding.

Later on this morning when their office is open I plan on calling and complaining. This is classic nickel-and-diming because their computer system doesn't know how to handle a payment so low.

Unfortunately I have encountered this before (several times) and it is such a pain in the ass to get fixed - especially when you're dealing with their computer system that can't figure out how to process payments properly.

I plan on getting this issue resolved today. And I know it's going to require yelling at the rep who takes my call. Usually I don't have to do that, but with this company you pretty much have to in order to make them do anything right.

[edit]

Okay, so I made a phone call and here's what I found out. This is so dumb it's just.. well, I'll tell you what happened.

Usually before I unleash the fury on a call rep when I'm ticked off, I make it a point to be pleasant for at least a few minutes to see if somebody knows what's going on. Turns out this was the correct course of action.

The $2.85 owed is actually not owed. It's a credit. Or not. The rep told me the amount would be waived...? Waived for what? Charging me fees out of thin air from a computer screw-up on their end? Gee, thanks.

SUPPOSEDLY, all this crap will be resolved by this Friday, so I'm not out of the woods yet.

Going to call back and confirm on Friday they un-screwed their screw-up. Then I'll be happy never to do business with these idiots ever again.