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missroseroseYesterday, as some of you might've gathered, I managed to rather handily screw up my banking. See, rent is due this week, so I figured I'd pay it early and went to do an online transfer into our landlady's account. However, I forgot to double-check the "transfer from" account, and told it to pull the money out of my checking account (which didn't have enough in it) instead of my savings account, like I'd meant to.
Fortunately, thanks to overdraft protection, the process only resulted in one $10 overdraft protection transfer fee rather than $70 worth of overdraft fees ($35 each for rent and then the charge for lunch that I, foolishly thinking I had money in checking, bought with my debit card). And while it annoys me some that Fells Wargo refuses to add a few simple lines of code that would bring up a warning screen if you were making an online transfer for more money than is in an account, I don't feel like I can really ask them to reverse the fee, since it was my own stupidity that caused it. (They do put right on the transfer screen that if you try to do so they will complete the transaction by overdrafting your account, so it's not like it came about without warning.) So I will take my $10 lesson, and in the future, be super careful to double-check before hitting the "transfer" button.
In slightly more happy news, I went down to Pavitt on Sunday and was impressed enough to buy myself one of their ten-visit punch cards. The endless pool is pretty neat, although I'd still say that I prefer a regular pool - the jets don't quite go fast enough to deal with an over-arm crawl stroke, and the continual stream means that you can't just sit and tread water for a while, which is one of the things I really like to do when swimming. Still, though, it's a good full-body no-impact workout, and certainly good for endurance training.
The rest of the equipment is also pretty neat - I especially like the way the treadmills have their own TV screens, so you don't have to watch Fox Gnus with everyone else - just plug your headphones in, find a channel you like, and go. (They even have Comedy Central, so I might have to figure out what time "The Daily Show" is on locally and go then.) They also have a rock-climbing treadmill machine, which sounds kind of lame but is surprisingly cool - keeping up a steady pace is trickier than it sounds, since with a real rock wall you can stop and rest at any time. It even has a wheel you can turn to change the orientation from inclined to vertical to inverted, depending on how hard you want to work. I could only use it for about five minutes on a vertical orientation before my arms decided they were done, but hopefully I'll improve. I might have to try bringing Monica along.
I think where the place really succeeds, though, is in the little touches - it's a fitness club, yes, but it doesn't have that run-down community-gym feel that so many of them do. The equipment is well-maintained, the floors, walls and furniture are all surprisingly clean, the place is well-lit, they have various plants on the walls, and it really feels like they've gone out of their way to make it feel welcoming. Plus, they even have those full-spectrum SAD lamps sitting by the snack bar tables, so you can sit in front of one of them and read for a while. (Considering that they cost hundreds of dollars to buy and yet are really quite effective at combating the winter blues, I'll admit that was a major plus in Pavitt's favor.) They're pricey, sure, but I certainly feel like I'm getting what I pay for.
Anyway, I figure I'll use up my ten visits and see if my enthusiasm has waned at all. If not, they fortunately have an alternate to the year-long contract; if I pay in one chunk rather than monthly, I can get a six-month membership for the same per-month price. I really like that idea; even though the price is the same, it feels like it costs less if I'm not shelling out for it each month. And after six months I should have a pretty good idea whether it'll be something I'll stick with. It'll set me back on saving for a computer by a month or two, but I'm going to guess that lack of winter depression will be worth it.
Fortunately, thanks to overdraft protection, the process only resulted in one $10 overdraft protection transfer fee rather than $70 worth of overdraft fees ($35 each for rent and then the charge for lunch that I, foolishly thinking I had money in checking, bought with my debit card). And while it annoys me some that Fells Wargo refuses to add a few simple lines of code that would bring up a warning screen if you were making an online transfer for more money than is in an account, I don't feel like I can really ask them to reverse the fee, since it was my own stupidity that caused it. (They do put right on the transfer screen that if you try to do so they will complete the transaction by overdrafting your account, so it's not like it came about without warning.) So I will take my $10 lesson, and in the future, be super careful to double-check before hitting the "transfer" button.
In slightly more happy news, I went down to Pavitt on Sunday and was impressed enough to buy myself one of their ten-visit punch cards. The endless pool is pretty neat, although I'd still say that I prefer a regular pool - the jets don't quite go fast enough to deal with an over-arm crawl stroke, and the continual stream means that you can't just sit and tread water for a while, which is one of the things I really like to do when swimming. Still, though, it's a good full-body no-impact workout, and certainly good for endurance training.
The rest of the equipment is also pretty neat - I especially like the way the treadmills have their own TV screens, so you don't have to watch Fox Gnus with everyone else - just plug your headphones in, find a channel you like, and go. (They even have Comedy Central, so I might have to figure out what time "The Daily Show" is on locally and go then.) They also have a rock-climbing treadmill machine, which sounds kind of lame but is surprisingly cool - keeping up a steady pace is trickier than it sounds, since with a real rock wall you can stop and rest at any time. It even has a wheel you can turn to change the orientation from inclined to vertical to inverted, depending on how hard you want to work. I could only use it for about five minutes on a vertical orientation before my arms decided they were done, but hopefully I'll improve. I might have to try bringing Monica along.
I think where the place really succeeds, though, is in the little touches - it's a fitness club, yes, but it doesn't have that run-down community-gym feel that so many of them do. The equipment is well-maintained, the floors, walls and furniture are all surprisingly clean, the place is well-lit, they have various plants on the walls, and it really feels like they've gone out of their way to make it feel welcoming. Plus, they even have those full-spectrum SAD lamps sitting by the snack bar tables, so you can sit in front of one of them and read for a while. (Considering that they cost hundreds of dollars to buy and yet are really quite effective at combating the winter blues, I'll admit that was a major plus in Pavitt's favor.) They're pricey, sure, but I certainly feel like I'm getting what I pay for.
Anyway, I figure I'll use up my ten visits and see if my enthusiasm has waned at all. If not, they fortunately have an alternate to the year-long contract; if I pay in one chunk rather than monthly, I can get a six-month membership for the same per-month price. I really like that idea; even though the price is the same, it feels like it costs less if I'm not shelling out for it each month. And after six months I should have a pretty good idea whether it'll be something I'll stick with. It'll set me back on saving for a computer by a month or two, but I'm going to guess that lack of winter depression will be worth it.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-30 06:57 pm (UTC)Sounds like the place itself is perfect for you!
L.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-30 07:09 pm (UTC)I think my biggest worry with scheduling is that once rehearsals start it'll throw me off...maybe I'll start going early in the morning, then.
It does feel pretty perfect...I still wish it wasn't so expensive, but everything else about it is so cool that I'm willing to try it. Though if I get a membership, will that make me yuppie scum? =D
A non-compliant overdraft protection plan?
Date: 2007-10-31 08:07 am (UTC)"When consumers attempt to withdraw or transfer funds made available through an overdraft protection program, provide a specific consumer notice, where feasible, that completing the withdrawal may trigger the overdraft fees (for example, it presently may be feasible at a branch teller window). This notice should be presented in a manner that permits consumers to cancel the attempted withdrawal or transfer after receiving the notice. If this is not feasible, then post notices (e.g., on proprietary ATMs) explaining that transactions may be approved that overdraw the account and fees may be incurred. Institutions should consider making access to the overdraft protection program unavailable through means other than check transactions, if feasible."
If it was the non-specific notice it might be interesting to ask them why it wasn't feasible to follow the guidance that it should be a specific warning with option to cancel.
It appears that it was not solely your own error but the combination of your error and them not following the explicit guidance on how an overdraft protection scheme should work.
Re: A non-compliant overdraft protection plan?
Date: 2007-10-31 03:14 pm (UTC)The $10 that they dinged me wasn't an overdraft fee, per se; it was an "overdraft protection plan transfer fee", which sounds like a fancy way of saying "You made us cover your ass so we're going to charge you for the favor." So I didn't incur overdraft fees, but this being a bank and in the business of charging fees, they couldn't let me off scot-free.
Re: A non-compliant overdraft protection plan?
Date: 2007-10-31 10:07 pm (UTC)Exception is if their online system didn't have access to live balance data at that time, which might be the case if there was a problem with the system and it was operating in a fallback mode. Or if it's designed not to use live data. But I expect live data from online systems.
That guidance is for overdraft protection programs and fees, so it does apply to this. You should have been specifically told that you would be charged the overdraft protection fee if you completed this transaction because the bank had all the information it needed to tell you this.
Of course banks will charge whatever they can get away with. :) Including using non-compliant systems until people complain about them. :) In the UK there's currently a lot of fuss about reclaiming billions in illegal overdraft charges, because overdraft charges are a fee for breaking a contract (drawing more than agreed overdraft limit) and in UK law a penalty fee for a breach can only be representative of the actual costs incurred as a result of the breach. The banks argue that it's a service and service fee, pretty much the US overdraft protection situation. Still an ongoing fight though until recently the banks just paid up hundreds or thousands to people instead of fighting in court and risking a precedent going against them.
Re: A non-compliant overdraft protection plan?
Date: 2007-10-31 10:11 pm (UTC)