Opinion : Reading my mind: Cashless

Have you ever spent time to figure out how you'll get your debit card replaced without it affecting you? Believe it or not, it can be an ordeal, and I hate ordeals.

My card has gone through the wringer. As I say that I realize that there might be readers out there that have no idea what a wringer is. Anyway, that's what my card has gone through. I remember dropping it once and it fell under a table. If that happens with most other things, you apply your foot to the object and slide it out. Not a good thing to do to a bank card, on a cement floor.

The magnetic strip was then all scratched up, but it kept working. I figured it might be time to replace it when the bank's machine said, "reinsert card" about five times in a row.

When I finally got the thing to work, I took out some cash knowing that it was time. I called the bank and said, "Hey, can you send me a new one?" They of course said, "Sure!" The first glitch was that I had forgotten the automatic payment to send out the email was attached to that card. So that shut off the email for about 3 days until it registered that it really wasn't a tech issue. It was a "me" issue.

I fixed that by moving the charge to my credit card. Then the cell phone was due. And I moved that to the credit card.

Then I started getting calls from the credit card company. "Your payment hasn't been received." Of course, they didn't say, "Now you're going to pay a late fee and all the interest on what you purchased last month." I looked at my bank account online. Yes, the payment was sent. Yes, it came out of my account. But noooo the credit card didn't get the check. For a week, I answered calls every day from them.

"Honest, the check is in the mail. It's cleared my account," "Well," they said, "Send us a copy of the check, we have no record of it." It's hard to get a copy of a check that a credit card company says they never got. "Could you make a payment using your debit card?" "No, I explained, my debit card is being replaced so that won't work." I'm sure the poor people on the other end of the line were rolling their eyes, like they haven't heard that one before.

"Would you like to set up automatic payments?" they asked. That's a hard no for me, I have enough trouble remembering what I sent out to who and when. I really don't need other people helping to confuse me.

Another caller from the company said, "Another option would be to send a payment from your account then." I didn't say a word, so that what they just suggested might sink in. "Umm," I said, "I just did that and you can't find THAT payment. I am not sending another one to you until the last check is located." I was glad to hear a chuckle on the other end of the line, "That makes sense," they said.

Normally, the payments I send aren't that big, but this one was. A car repair and other unexpected expenses were applied to this month. So it was a large payment.

I received yet another call yesterday. At the same time that I was online checking on my account. I saw that they had finally l received the check, on the day it was supposed to be received, but they still hadn't applied it to my account.

"Hello?" I answered, knowing who it was and what they were going to say. "Hi, this is Cassandra at .... I'm calling about your overdue payment." I replied, "Hi Cassandra, I was just looking at my account online. It looks like the check arrived there but it still hasn't been applied to my account." Cassandra checks and sees that it is indeed there and apologizes. "Hey, while I have you on the line," I say, "Can you please remove the late fee, since it was there on time as well as the incurred interest?" She kindly agreed. Then informed me that I'd now be able to use my card again.

Shew, that was a close one. I wasn't too stressed, it was just a hassle that tied up too many hours. I spent a week dealing with the issue, without actually dealing with the issue.

I was aware that because I didn't have either card working that I probably wouldn't leave town until I could access more cash in case of an emergency. Then I chuckled to myself.

A few years ago, it wouldn't have mattered if I had both cards working, there still wouldn't have been money in the account. I still wouldn't be leaving town. It's amazing how money management matters. How sometimes you have to look at the upside in a downside moment. Money used to be a stressful topic. Now it's entertaining.

Of course, the credit reporting people also dinged me. My score dropped 8 points because of my late payment. I laughed. I didn't use to have a decent credit score to worry about either. If I would have had a note like that a few years ago, I would've thrown my hands in the air. Now I laugh.

I've hit the highest score possible a few times in the last few years so I chuckle when it goes down, I know it will go back up. Credit scores make no sense to me anyway. You can do the same thing all year long, hit the top number and next week you get docked 25 points for doing the same thing. It creeps back up slowly, then hits the top again. And you've got the idea, if you can't keep going up, you have to go down. So you will. It used to bug me until I decided that it must be a game. So check it and on a good day go to the bank to take out a loan.

Now to get my taxes filed. That's a job I absolutely hate. It's like playing the lottery if you're self-employed. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you have it done right, sometimes you don't. So every year at tax time, I feel like it's risky. Will I have money left in the bank or will I get screwed again? Here's hoping that it's a good year, there isn't much in the bank to play catch up with.

So my advice to you. Just make sure that the credit card company cashed and applied your check before getting that debit card replaced.