Tsar Kasim Vs. $2.50

As J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly says, nobody cares about your money like you do. Case in point: I checked my VISA account this morning and saw a $2.50 bank charge for a cash advance I processed on Tuesday.

Allow me to provide some context: I used my budget spreadsheet to reconcile my VISA account on Monday. Unfortunately, I ended up duplicating one payment I already made on the previous weekend. As a result, my VISA account had a negative balance (i.e. an overpayment) in the amount of the duplicated payment. I corrected that error on Tuesday, hence the cash advance.

Yesterday morning, I checked that same VISA account and it had a zero balance. This morning, however, was a different story; there was a nice shiny service charge for $2.50 applied for the cash advance. I decided then and there that I would not pay any service charge for correcting an honest mistake. I then called the number on the back of my VISA card and calmly explained the situation to the agent on the other end of the line. While acknowledging that this service charge is applied to all cash advances regardless of the VISA account's balance, he gracisously reversed it since he knew what I was trying to do. After expressing my gratitude, I promised to be more careful in the future.

Keeping abreast of your financial situation is of utmost importance, especially in this recessionary climate we're in right now.