When I got home last night, I checked my auto insurance renewal letter to confirm the new premium. As I expected, the premium specified on the letter was $0.01 lower than what was charged to my chequing account.
At first, I felt I had an iron-clad case: they had charged me more than they said they would, and I should not have to pay my NSF fee. However, it then occurred to me that if I had kept even a $5 cushion in my chequing account, I would have avoided the fee anyway.
This kind of minor variation in income/expenses should be the sort of thing that I can manage through regular cash flow. An unexpected $0.01 should not put my account into overdraft. Although I'm technically in the right here, even the slightest bit of contingency planning would have saved me this hassle.
I can't quite bring myself to take my insurer to task over a $0.01 overcharge. I suspect that this is a rounding error on their part, and I'll keep tabs on my future charges to see whether the premium reverts to the "lower" amount.
The NSF fee is simply the price I have to pay for not planning for the unexpected. From here on, I will not let the balance in my primary chequing account fall below $5.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I don't think you should let it go at all. They cost you an NSF fee, because you manage your finances down to the penny. They should be the ones to pay for their error.
Plus, if they don't get complaints how is the company ever going to know that something is wrong.
Due, though not on purpose, to a rounding error in some computer code somewhere they could (in the case of 100000 policies) be stealing 1000 bucks a month from people and not even know it.
Post a Comment