Master Card Takes an Extra $5,000 of my Money

Let me state from the get-go that I am a rare American: I have never paid a dime in credit-card interest. I pay my bills in full and on time. There have even been years when I overpaid my Visa bill when times were good.

But, of course, that kind of customer isn't what the credit card companies want. They want people who are in debt, people they can charge Mafia-style interest. For me, I would rather live simply, buy what I need from yard sales and thrift stores, and not have debt stress.

I charge most of my expenses in order to reap the frequent-flyer miles, one or two miles for every dollar spent, you know the story. This past month I had more outlays than usual, what with an airline ticket to Wisconsin, a one-way ticket from Portland for my son, hundreds of dollars in medical and dental bills, and a bunch of business expenses.

Nevertheless, when I started getting statements from my bank that I was being charged for overdrafts, I knew something was amiss. Turns out, Capital One electronically processed a check I had sent for $1,871.11--payment in full--for $6,871.11, five grand more than I owed.

I called Capital One and got a man in India who had no authority to do anything except say he was sorry. Finally, I got his American supervisor who chastised me for not writing my numbers clearly, something I disputed. She pulled up the check and said there was a tiny pen mark at the top of the one that might have confused the data-entry person. I don't think that a tiny mark at the top of the one would have looked anywhere near a "6."

I also noted that the reason people write checks is so there is something to check the numerals against--the next line on which the check-writer fills in the amount in words. I had to repeat that several times before she understood. Then she told me that the data-entry people have to process checks so fast that they can't stop to make sure the amount is correct!

Credit-card companies are making more money than God, I told her. Why can't they pay to have the job done right? I'm sure they would still be making more money than God if they doubled their number of data-entry people.

She then said that Capital One doesn't process the checks in-house but farms them out--no doubt to India--so it has no control over how the checks are processed. I said, "You could exercise control if you wanted to. It's like if I wanted a swimming pool built in my backyard, and I contract with a firm to build the pool. The contractor sends out two guys to do the work, but I tell him I want four guys to do the job and I'll pay extra. Do you think he'd tell me, 'No, I can't do that'? You, too, could ask for more people to do the work--and to do the work right." This point went way over her head.

Finally, after an hour on the phone for something that was not my mistake, the supervisor said she would have the $5,000 wired back to my account. That was Friday morning. Yesterday afternoon I called my credit union. No transfer has yet been made. And the overdraft fees continue to arrive--six at last count.