Never in my life would I have imagined that my bank would steal from me. To add insult to injury, who would have thought this would occur because Lesia and I came in $87 under budget on September 30th in the eating out category for our monthly spending plan? Yes, our monthly financial game plan is that detailed. LOL! Since we were headed to Turks & Caicos Islands the following week to celebrate Lesia’s 45th birthday, we agreed to use this extra money for meals. Restaurant and grocery prices are extremely expensive when you travel to a location where everything is imported (note the price for one watermelon below).

At the end of every month, I zero out our joint checking account in preparation for the next month’s spending. Usually this involves transferring the remaining balance to our emergency fund or travel account (money that’s left over at the end of the month still needs an assignment). Because I needed to go to the bank, while there, I filled out a withdrawal slip for $87 to take on our trip. Later, after looking at our account online, I noticed that $87.07 had been deducted from our account. I went to the bank the following day since I had to make a deposit and discovered that the scanner read $87.07 from my withdrawal slip. As you can imagine, I requested a seven cents refund. I said to the teller, “If this situation was the other way around, I’m sure the bank would want its money back.” She responded, “You got that right.”

Remember the following tips so you can keep more of what’s yours:

Inspect what you expect – Anytime a financial transaction occurs, it should be for the exact amount you agreed to (electronic or paper receipts serve a purpose).
Never assume – If you have blind faith that a specific credit or debit will post to your account as planned and fail to check the math, you could be an involuntary accessory to theft (from yourself)
Technology makes mistakes – Although technology can increase speed and efficiency, I’d think that almost nothing in the world operates with 100% accuracy.