Paying Bills

I wonderhow many of us pay bills electronically?  I do.  Before we left yesterday for our trip to NC, I decided to pay my credit card bill "Real Quick, Honey."  This at 0730 in the morning. 

When I opened it up , I was astonished to find  it past due AND I had fees plus interest.  I knew I had paid it.  I quickly logged into the bank account.  Well, not so quickly since I had recently changed the password AND all the security questions and had written them all down but couldn't tell upper case from lower case.  I wa failing miserably to make this a "quick" thing.  But I had the print out of the confirmation numbes. SoI knew I had paid it. 

I called the credit card company.  Nope.  No payment was posted.

"But I sent it electronically on Feb 4. "

"Can you see if the payment was debited from you account?"

"Well, no.  The computer is mad at me now and won't let me in."

"....(pregnant pause loaded with This lady is a scam artisit.)  Well, we can take care of the late fees and the interest right now.  Would you like to authorize a payment by phone, now, no charge? "

"Oh yes, please,  That will be lovely  For the full amount of the balance please."

"(Happy smiling face shining through the phone lines "Thank you.  We will take care of that  for you."

After I hung up  the phone I was finally able to log in.  Yes, there it was.  The payment debited from my account Feb 4.

"I have to take care of this now, honey.  I am sorry."

I called the credit card company again. 

"Oh I can't help you but our payment department can.  They open at eight."

Twenty minutes later, after the dogs were walked I talked to S. in the payment department.

"No, there is no evidence of a payment.  You must call your bank.  Sometimes they issue a check and you have to make sure that the address and everything is right." 

"OK, thank you." (I was maintaining a pretty positive attitude despite the ticking clock and hewidered dogs. 

So I called the bank.  I talked to my friend C. there.  He is the nicest man. After I relayed the story he looked it up.

"A payment to Bank  Blah Blah Blah.?

"No it was to Bank Thus and Such."  as I looked at my computer again. There it was an electronic payment to Bank Blah Blah Blah.  I had screwed up.

"Oh Thank you C.  Just be glad you are not turning 60 in a few days!"

"Really, you?  You don't look any where near that..."  (I love that young man.)

"Oh. C. you say the nicest thing."

"OK honey, now we know where the money went, which Bank Blah Blah Blah account did it go to?"

We found it.  The account that we share. 

"But I just paid that bill and we didn't have a credit balance."  said the male accountant of the family.

He is much more organized than I am.  Instantly he put his hands on the bill and there it was.  A credit balance on the bill.

"Oh I sent them that amount.  I thought it was what we owed."

So are we going out on the town for my upcoming 60th?  Yes.  But we are going to pay cash.