What a stupid mistake. I have two separate checking accounts at my credit union, each with its own MasterCard debit card. Upon a brief glance, they look exactly the same. Which is how I managed to screw up to the tune of about $200. For the last week, I’ve been grabbing the wrong debit card everywhere I go - Target, JC Penny, restaurants - you name it. I finally noticed this morning when I took the card out to pay for something online and realized I’d grabbed the wrong one. Without turning it over and seeing my notation on the signature line, the biggest difference (aside from the account numbers, which I don’t have memorized) is the expiration date. That’s how I caught it today.
So I double-checked the account, and it’s in the red, with seven transactions having bounced. Three of the merchants have already dinged us for the $28 NSF fee, and four more are apparently waiting until I actually have some money. Well, it’s in there now, ready and waiting for them to suck it back out.
I have no one to blame but myself for this. I don’t really need to carry the second card - it’s just kind of a habit. Well, I put an end to that! The second card is residing in the home from now on. We had some extensive plans for our veggie garden and flower beds this spring, and I may have just ruined them. At the very least, something is going to be delayed by a couple of months.
Just when things were looking up around here … sigh.
Huge bummer. May I ask why you have two separate accounts at the same institution? It might be easier to just work from one. Here’s to a speedy recovery!
Avarie537, I have done the exact same thing. So I took a Sharpie and wrote all over the one that’s my “play money” account so I don’t accidentally use it thinking it’s for the account that actually has money in it.
You might consider politely asking the CU if they could reverse the charges, since you made an honest mistake. Sometimes they will do this, and I know that credit unions are more likely to be flexible than banks.
To prevent confusion between my two checking accounts, I asked the bank to give me one of the debit cards in the “platinum” version instead of the standard-issue color for free checking. They had no problem processing the request, and it didn’t cost anything.
Update: My husband kept hounding me to call and see if they would refund/reverse any of the charges. So I finally called today. Lo and behold, they DID! Even though it was 1000% my fault, they refunded half the money - $98. I love my credit union! It hasn’t been credited to my account yet, but I’ll check back in tomorrow to see if it was processed overnight.