Friday, April 11, 2008

So yesterday I lost my debit card

And you know how much you rely on those things. I don't carry cash, don't write checks, don't use a credit card, so it is literally my only source of money at any given time.

As we stood in line at the grocery store where I bought the girls lunchables so we could get K to softball on time, I pulled out my little card holder. And my card wasn't in it. So I checked my pocket - nope. Dug through my purse - nope. Checked my card holder again - it hadn't magically reappeared.

(this is when the panic sets in)

Finally paid with a credit card that now has a $5.02 cent balance and drove quickly to the ice cream shop where I had last used it (it was in the same shopping center). Sure enough they had a debit card. Same bank, same uncommon initials, different woman. We went back home where I dug through the trash to find the receipts I had thrown in there earlier, but they weren't hiding my card folded into them.

Now I don't lose things. Okay, I *rarely* lose things. So I was panicked that I had somehow dropped it in the juggle at the ice cream shop or the drama around the fountain. What if someone picked it up and went on a shopping spree? After all, this was my *debit* card. I logged into the online account to check the activity and found a charge for Greyhound. Dadgumit!! I called the bank, got transferred around, put on hold for over 10 minutes, and finally got a live person as I was back on the road headed for softball. The guy was super nice, got the card cancelled, and said I would receive a new one in a week, but I could go into a banking center and get a temporary card to use until then. Because, HELLO, we leave for Disney Sunday morning!

After I hung up, I got to thinking. If the card had fallen out of my pocket, surely the receipts would've fallen out, too. So I pulled out my little card holder again.

And found my debit card stuck way down in the center pocket.

Mr. at Home, as I found out later, had bought a homeless guy lunch at the Greyhound station since it was the closest option.

This morning found me and the two daughters at the bank trying to get a temporary card, which they couldn't issue because our account is still in Texas. So we had to open a new checking and a new savings account here, transfer some funds to the new accounts, deposit a couple of checks into the new account, get temporary cards for Mr. at Home and I for the new accounts, fax Mr. at Home the signature card, and activate the new cards. All while entertaining 2 bored children and interrupting Mr. at Home's meeting. We will spend the next few months trying to catch everything that bills automatically to the old account and get it switched to the new account number. We will get new checks, new permanent cards, and I'll have to memorize a new account and debit card number.

All because I put my card in the wrong place and Mr. at Home bought lunch for a homeless guy.

3 comments:

Sister Honey Bunch/Judi maloney said...

Oh my goodness. What a pain. I'm glad you found it though.

Marybeth Whalen said...

Wow Valerie. That is quite a story. I did something similar which resulted in me having a conversation with a banking customer service rep from my cell phone while standing beside my car at the gas station as I attempted to pay for gas and my card was rejected over and over again. I knew money was in there. Turns out I was using an old card that had somehow worked its way to the front of my wallet. So, I waited for her to activate it to use that card and get my gas-- which was the old card the whole time, not some unactivated new card my hubby had put in my wallet like I thought. Then I got home and realized it, and of course it was too late.

Even as I am typing it, it doesn't make sense. Suffice it to say, it was a lot of trouble over a stupid human error-- mine!

I leave for Disney tomorrow am!

I still have the shark.

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