This was not an impulse situation. It was situation of need. Yesterday, I did not realize that I have a "professional society" (career related) meeting. I only "remembered" when I flipped my calender at work from November to December. There it was, meeting at 6:30 pm, Dec.1.
It was at the hospital, which was not that far from work so I was going to hang out at work and get some studying done until it was time to go. In the afternoon, I reread the meeting brochure to double check the location in the hospital. I know about where it was, but I forgot that the meeting has a 10.00 fee associated with it. Also, parking was going to be 4.00.
Typically , I don't carry cash. I debit everything. That was not going to work this time. Both parking and the meeting fees were cash only. So, I was going to go to the 7-11 next door and use my ATM/debit card with a purchase and get the extra money at the register.
Went to get my debit card out of my purse, and no debit card. Crap. My hubs had used it for a previous purchase two days ago and did not return it. Fine. So, now I had to go home and get the card, ( one hour before meeting) and go to the bank and get the cash. (Hubs did not have any cash either).
So.. after driving home and before arriving at the hospital, I stopped at a Sun Bank near the hospital. I would just use the ATM and get the cash I needed. ( FYI... I am not a Sun bank customer, but a BOA customer).
I put in my ATM and get out the 20 bucks I needed, and checked my receipt. The bank charged me 2.95 dollars in ATM fees to withdraw this money. Holy Cow!! What a Rip Off!!! I had no idea that the fees have gone up so much! ( I usually go to my own bank to get cash) Granted, the transaction process may have told me on the screen that the fees were going to be that much, ( I don't recall) but it did not matter. I had to have the cash for the meeting and parking.
Now... and in the future, I will have a small stash of cash in my wallet. Right now, it is about 10 dollars. But after payday, I will keep at least 40 to 50 dollars on hand. I have learned a valuable and expensive lesson.
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4 comments:
my mom always kept a 'spare' fifty in her wallet. I never seem to have a spare anything. I understand about the fees. We try never to use the atm other then our bank. The fees are just wrong.
Sorry you had to incur bank charges. :-( You know ... if I get money out of an atm, that atm charges me AND my bank - so it's a double whammy ($4+) for us. I will say we haven't done that in almost a year, but still it hurts the times we have!
I am like you, I always debit everything because I can directly see what is being deducted online. I still carry some cash around. I am curious, when you debit from a diff bank ATM machine, do you take out a lot? I try to take out more just because if I'm being penalized, I try to take more out just so I feel like it's at least worth the trip.
Paula,
The fees suck! The situation was out of the norm for me, but I have learned my lesson. Stash a little Cash!
Craig,
I do not usually if every debit from a different bank. On the few occasions that I have, I will take out more. Yesterday, I knew my funds were a little low, so I only took out the 20.00 dollars.
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