Finances & Money

The stupid thing I did today

There’s a reason we Personal Finance sites have disclaimers. We make mistakes too.

Yesterday, I transferred a large sum of money from my recently opened HSBC Direct account to my Bank of America account in order to then take advantage of Citibank’s promotion. Citibank is offering $100 for opening an online savings (plus checking) account with a minimum of $5,000.

This morning when I logged into my laptop, Gmail Notifier popped up to say I had an email from BOA with a warning that I was overdrawn. My first thought is that someone hacked into my account. Then immediately after I realized that I must have done something really stupid. I did.

When I set up the Bank-to-Bank transfer on HSBC’s website, I accidentally set it to transfer FROM BANK OF AMERICA TO HSBC!

I immediately set up a transfer with HSBC THE CORRECT WAY, but it may take a day or two for the funds to move back into my account. I also canceled any pending online bill-pay transactions. I called HSBC and BOA, but neither could stop the transaction.

Right now, there’s only a hold for that big amount, but everything will commit overnight. I’ll get charged $35 for each overdraft, but I only have 5 transactions pending, counting the big transfer. If the transfer is the last thing to post, then I’ll only get hit for $35…or it could be the first and I get hit for $175. We’ll find out tomorrow.

I did look into cash advances from my BOA credit cards, which would be an immediate deposit and cover my butt, but that would cost me 4% of the transfer, with no cap, plus charge at 25% interest. Also, a balance transfer wouldn’t post in the time that I need. And I don’t have enough in my BOA Savings to cover the overdraft if I linked the accounts, since I moved my funds from BOA to higher yield accounts (I was getting 0.50% APR from BOA).

So, read my advice, comment on my advice, and maybe even use my advice. But, as I said in my About page and on my Questions About Clever Dude article, follow my advice “at your own peril”.

The moral of this story is to PAY ATTENTION! At least when dealing with thousands of dollars!

_{Boy, I feel stupid. And yes, I already informed Clever Dudette.}

Update: See how we fixed the problem and even got some overdrafts reversed!