Simple miscommunication...

[RowdyRebel]

So last year around this time, I called the finance company to discuss the possibility of making slight overpayments to principal in an effort to get the truck paid off this year instead of next May. We decided $250/month would get me close enough that it wouldn't be too large of a payment at the end.

Well, that was going well until March....and then things started tightening up financially to the point where January & February were the only months I was able to overpay. I had given up on a 2011 payoff date, and figured I was close enough it would be April instead of May....at least I'd have it paid off a month early. I've never taken a loan to full term...ALWAYS paid 'em off early.

Anyway, fast forward to yesterday (Wednesday) evening. I was on my way home and hit my usual fuel stop to top off, and after pumping $193 worth of fuel, my card was DECLINED! This struck me as odd, considering I had JUST been paid the day before.

Now I'm glad I carry a little cash on me all of the time...ever since I was on vacation and my credit card was shut off for "unusual activity" and I spent 3 hours at the gas station trying to get it sorted out so that I could pay the tab and get back on the road, I decided to always have enough to fill my tank a time or two so that if that ever happened again, I could just pay the fuel bill and make my calls from the road to get it straightened out again without losing any time.

So I check my PO box on the way home, and find a letter from the bank stating that last week, the finance company tried taking a bunch of money that I didn't have, so the bank rejected the EFT and hit me with an overdraft charge. Keep in mind, this was only 3 days after they hit the account for the usual truck payment, which had the funds available to pay. So now I'm starting to put 2 + 2 together and figure the finance company is where all my money went.

So today after I got loaded, I stopped off at my bank to sort things out. I had printouts of what my records show my account activity to be, and I requested a printout of their records over the past month. That's when I saw how bad the situation was. I had been hit with a $27 overdraft charge 6 different times, either because they tried taking money that wasn't in the account, or I had used the card to buy fuel after they took the money, running my account into a negative balance. My bank pays up to $500 overdrawn before they cut you off....they just hit you with an additional $27 each time another charge comes through, so it adds up pretty quick.

Anyway, once I had a grasp of what was going on, I called the finance company to see what they had to say for themselves, and in the meantime my bank was trying to figure out how they could best help me since with a negative balance, I didn't have the money to run past today until I get paid again.

First of all, the finance company quickly agreed to reimburse ALL of the overdraft charges....no matter what option I chose going forward.

Then, I had a decision to make.

I could either: 1) place a stop payment order on the EFT, which would cost $15 to be paid by the finance company, at which point the bank would IMMEDIATELY credit my account the amount which had been taken from it while they await the return of the money from the finance company. I would then have the money in my account as though this incident never had occurred, so that I could run tomorrow and Monday. I continue making my regular monthly payments for the next 4-5 months.

OR; 2) I could take Friday and Monday off work because I don't have enough money to buy fuel to run the truck until my next paycheck is available (usually Monday, but it's a holiday weekend...so it'll be Tuesday before I have money again) and the loan will be paid off in full. The lien will be released, and the title will be in the mail either today or tomorrow so that I should have it in my hands sometime next week. A couple bills might end up a couple days late getting sent in, and some of the payments that I usually send extra won't get the extra this month.....but there will be NO MORE TRUCK PAYMENTS!

I'd be lying if I told you the fact that they are calling for sunny & near 60 degrees all weekend didn't play a role in the decision.

I can once again, for the first time in 3 1/2 years, say that I OWN all of my vehicles. If it's got wheels, it's paid for.

[joes mack]

congrats on finally owning your truck. and a nice couple of extra days off to boot

[Olivetroad]

The real miracle in this is that the finance company agreed to pay the overdraft charges - that usually requires an act of congress (or a screamin' woman)

I am with you on the warm day - don't tell my cows, but I am sliding out for a little free time today as well in the sunshine

I always give a vehicle I just paid off a complete detail - rid it of the dirty film of bank ownership

[shortstack]

Congrats Rowdy! Mine is close to being paid off and I'm getting excited about it. Trey

[randyp]

Congrats Rowdy, way to go!! I should menton though, i always carry a .38 special in my boot for those times they cut my card off. Knock off 2 or 3 likker stores and Im back on road again. randyp

[other dog]

Good for you Rowdy!..and welcome back randyp.

[Mike]

To me that is a scary thought to have something payed off. By the time it is payed off, then it is time to fix and repair all the time until you purchase something else. A visious circle. I now feel that I don't own anything. I just know that someone, someday is going to either throw it all away or sell it to buy them some junk. Same as olivetroad said about the washing off the item after the bank owned it. Just like my house, I own it but am really paying rent until the ambulance comes and gets me and takes me to the funeral home and then the bank owns the house again. We don't own anything, just using it.

mike

[Olivetroad]

To me that is a scary thought to have something payed off. By the time it is payed off, then it is time to fix and repair all the time until you purchase something else. A visious circle. I now feel that I don't own anything. I just know that someone, someday is going to either throw it all away or sell it to buy them some junk. Same as olivetroad said about the washing off the item after the bank owned it. Just like my house, I own it but am really paying rent until the ambulance comes and gets me and takes me to the funeral home and then the bank owns the house again. We don't own anything, just using it.

mike

Once a year, I get my loan "officer" (I never understood that term) out here to the ponderosa and give him a grand tour. At the end, I remind him that he would really not like having to sell everything and expect to come out.

Even when your family paid off the land 120 years ago, you don't really own it, you just get to pay taxes to use it. The state took over an abandoned rail line that went through some of our land and made it a walking trail. They are just going to do what they want. All you can hope to do is stay under the radar (or that some radar tech fell asleep looking at antique truck mags and pics of womens shoes and its off line).

[RowdyRebel]

Well, I decided to sleep in today...getting ready to drop the trailer and bobtail into town to wash about 8 months of dirt/road grime off. Also gotta stop by the post office before they get TOO upset at me....seems grandma decided to use fresh fruit to fill out a box she sent me for Christmas that I haven't been able to get by the post office in over 2 weeks now when they were open in order to pick up. It's probably pretty ripe by now, and they're likely tearing the place apart looking for whatever died.

Anyway, then it's back to the house to swap vehicles and head the other direction to the other town to pick up oil and filters from the Mack dealer...gotta buy my oil from them this time so I can put it on my account & pay it when I have money again...then back to the house to get to work. Going to change the oil, grease 'er up, and then get to work welding & fabricating.

First up are some fender brackets. I've got one that cracked, so all week the fender has been flopping around. I was going to just weld it up, but it's SUCH thin metal that I'd probably just blow holes through it if I tried. So, I picked up about $20 worth of stuff at Rural King the other day (before my card was shut off) to just fab up a couple new fender brackets using 1/4" galvanized pipe and flat steel, and a 5/8" grade 8 bolt. I figure I'll drill a hole through the flat steel to stick the bolt through, and then weld the bolt in place. Then weld a pipe flange to the weld steel, and thread in a 6" piece, a 45 degree angle, an 8" piece, another 45 degree angle, and then a 12" piece with a pipe cap on the end. Once I get it all in place and my angles are all correct, I'll weld it all together. Then, put the bolt through the hole in the frame, put a nut on the backside of the bolt to hold it in place and clamp the fender back on. Gonna be a hell of a lot stronger than what's on there now, for 1/4 the price of a new fender bracket......Redneck Engineering at it's finest.

Then, I have these four 1/2" u-bolts that I pulled off my brother's trailer when I swapped the axle out....don't worry, I used new u-bolts on the trailer to hold the new axle. Anyway, I cut a 4' piece of angle iron into 4 pieces, and need to weld these u-bolts onto the pieces of angle iron. Then drill a few holes in 'em and use some bolts that have a hook on the end instead of a hex head to mount the angle iron onto the outside of the frame rail.....then I can hang snow chains from the u-bolts. Last year I just carried 4 chains on the nasty days in a milk crate on the back of the trailer...figure I can hang 'em on the truck this year. Couple years ago, they would have come in REAL handy after I thought I had to detour around a road closure and ended up sliding down an icy hill before I realized I shouldn't have detoured, then spent over 3 hours chopping ice with my shovel trying to get backed back up the hill to go back around the other way (chains would have cost me 15 minutes to put a couple of 'em on, back up the hill, and take 'em off again)...so when I got a heck of a deal on 'em (4 new in the bag, 4 used...$100 took 'em all), I couldn't pass 'em up. Now that I've got 'em, they ain't gonna do me any good sitting in the garage if I need 'em.

Oh well....nothing's getting done with me here on the computer.....finished with breakfast now, so it's off to get some stuff done on MY truck.

I love the way that sounds.

[fxfymn]

WooHoo! As my Mom always said when a loan was paid off; That's a satisfaction a rich man will never know.

[Rob]

Once a year, I get my loan "officer" (I never understood that term) out here to the ponderosa and give him a grand tour. At the end, I remind him that he would really not like having to sell everything and expect to come out.

Even when your family paid off the land 120 years ago, you don't really own it, you just get to pay taxes to use it. The state took over an abandoned rail line that went through some of our land and made it a walking trail. They are just going to do what they want. All you can hope to do is stay under the radar (or that some radar tech fell asleep looking at antique truck mags and pics of womens shoes and its off line).

Been years since I've looked at antique truck mags since internet became commonplace. I'm only concerned for women's health and posture because of improper shoes.

My radar is still busted but we installed almost 2000# of replacement equipment in the cabinets today. Hopefully I'll get it radiating on Monday when I work next. You'd need to fly pretty low to be under my radar. I can see the ground clutter 200 feet from the base of the antenna.

I wouldn't know what a house, car, truck, or real estate payment is. Been so many years since I've had one, I done forgot that stress and worry of how am I going to make the month's obligations.

I've not replaced old "Crusty" yet, but there are enough good used late model vehicles available, I don't need to purchase new.

It's a real good feeling to not have much debt, and be able to control it, rather than the other way around.

Glad it's paid off for you.

Rob

[Olivetroad]

Redneck Engineering at it's finest.

I love the way that sounds.

Your brackets remind me of when about a year ago, I moved some large hydraulic presses into a factory after they had them rebuilt. They converted them to run on stationary hydraulic power units located on the other side of a wall for noise reduction. I recommended they buy a big spool of hydraulic hose and run lines with no fittings for each one overhead. Instead, they went to the hardware store and bought some black iron pipe and screwed it all together. They had the biggest leaky mess when they fired it all up! Then they made matters worse by hiring a jackleg to come in and weld the joints together. Well, he burned through several places and then just made extra passes so it did not leak. They did not bother to clean the lines. They fired it up and a week later they had to have the presses removed and sent back to have the seals replaced - all the welding slag on the inside of the pipes tore holes in the hydraulic filters and went on and trashed the cylinders and seals in the presses!

In your case - that threaded pipe looks like a good redneck improvement - in their case, they should have listened to the redneck - me!