December 7, 2005

• Bank Benefits

  Many years ago, back when I would play the board game Monopoly there was a Chance or Community Chest card that said, "Bank Error in Your Favor: Collect ..." some small amount of money. It sort of happened that way in real life.

  We refinanced our mortgage a year ago to get a lower rate. I had them take the payments (the amount due plus $100) out of my checking account automatically. I am about to turn 65. Medicare Part B will cost me $88 per month, so I went back to the bank to ask them to drop the extra $100 from my payments so I could use that money to pay Medicare. That was no problem, but they pointed out that with the recent increases in property value, they might be able to reduce the rate on our Line of Credit too.

  We aren't using the Line of Credit, but reducing the rate sounded like a good idea. Preliminary estimates showed that I could get a quarter point reduction by raising the limit based on the current value of the house ... and it wouldn't cost anything.

  But that qualified both of us for savings accounts at a higher interest rate, especially higher when compared with the interest we get in our checking accounts which, while it exists, is so low as to be almost nothing. Delia took advantage of their offer.

  While typing our information into the computer, they hit the wrong key and accidently issued me a new VISA Platinum account ... at a substantially lower rate than my existing VISA Platinum. When I received the card in the mail, I had no idea why it had been issued without my requesting it.

  Today I went to the bank to find out why I had a new account. They explained that I had been pre-approved for such an account and an errant keypress must have started the wheels in motion to issue it. I learned that the old variable rate was over 2.5 times as high as the new fixed rate. I got them to transfer my balance to the new account, link the new account to my checking account for overdraft protection, and close out the old account.

  One misplacement of a finger on a keyboard, a very minor error, stands to save me a decent amount of money. Such is the power of computers ... for good or evil.

  • 18:20
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