Life Update: Unauthorized Charges
So anyone who follows this blog knows how carefully I budget. My budget is important to me, and I do the math to make sure I’m on track several times a week. Recently, I’ve started seeing a therapist once a week juts to work through some stuff and get some life advice. It’s expensive, but my insurance covers a fair portion of it, and I’ve budgeted carefully to manage it.
At my first appointment, I was charged $160 upfront, pending partial refund once we heard from my insurance. Turns out, I only have to pay the $75 copay, so that first payment covered 2 appointments and then some. I‘ve had another 3 appointments since then. The day of my third appointment (prior to the actual appointment), I called in to pay up my account. Since 2 were covered already with $10 left on my account, I owed for 2 appointments, so I paid the $140 and was asked if I wanted to keep the card on file for future payments. I said no, that I would either call to make payments or bring in a check to pay in advance for an entire month at a time as needed.
I reviewed my budget on Friday morning, and after putting gas in my car and paying all my bills, I had about $25 left in my checking account (I have more in savings, obviously, but that’s my savings, not my budgeted money) to last until payday on the 23rd, more than enough for a few lunches.
I checked my bank account last night at about 11PM, just to make sure everything was on track, and not only is my checking account in a negative balance, but there has been an overdraft protection transfer from my savings to my checking. My therapist’s office manager charged me for another appointment without my permission, and it overdrew my checking account.
Thankfully, my bank recently switched to overdraft protection rather than overdraw fees, but this could have ended up costing me not only $75 I wasn’t expecting to pay right now, but an additional $50 in fees. I called and left a message asking them to please not do that again, since we’ve already had this conversation, and also wrote them an email reiterating that I did not authorize them to make any further payments.
This could have been much worse than it was, but thankfully it was all ok... except that my savings is now lower than expected and my budget is now ruined for the rest of the month.
Oh well. I just hope they listen and don’t charge me anymore without my ok. I’m going to bring in a check to pay for the entire month next time.
