God, tithing, faith, and banking

This is long but kind of a cool story- so check it out if you have time



I have been so broke this month (in part of my own poor financial decisions) yet, I tithe to my church regardless- knowing that rich or poor I will be taken care of- even when I am broke.

I have this overwhelming feeling of comfort , when it came to my money, that things would really work out for me -and God would take care of me no matter what. (Its taken me years to come to where I am now with my relationship with God, so I don't expect a lot of you to really understand- but He never ceases to surprise me and protect me. Anyway, here's what happened):


I made four purchases over the last few days- for little things like fro yo, detergent, and lunch, on my B of A check card. Then, late yesterday evening, I spent ten bucks at Target and got 30 cash back- believing that I had exactly that amount in my account. Turns out- I didn't- and the way BofA puts transactions through while pending is greatest to smallest. Therefore- while I had 25 in the bank, my 40 dollar transaction went through first, then all of my little transactions equaling 20 were now overdrafts. AHEM. I wrote them a little email stating this issue and asking if they could reverse the order of items to the way I spent my money, with the target one being the only one to accrue an overdraft fee.

Now banks typically say something along the lines of "screw you- its not our fault- learn how to manage your money"- including B of A. In fact, they have never helped me out on any banking issue I had. This time, I received this letter:




Dear Jennifer L. Rydzik,

Thank you for your inquiry dated 9/13/08 regarding the overdraft fees.
We will be happy to assist you.

We understand your concerns with the way items were presented to your
account for processing and apologize for any inconvenience this has
caused.

During nightly processing, we process all credits before we present any
debits to the account. All debits are then processed from the highest
dollar amount to the lowest dollar amount, according to the transaction
type, even if they create a negative balance.

Based on our experience, we believe that many customers prefer that we
place priority on their largest transactions when the balance in their
account cannot cover all their transactions. This may enable us to pay
more important items, such as mortgage or car payments. We once again
apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused to you.

We also understand your concerns about the overdraft fees that were
charged on your account. These fees were due to non-sufficient funds.

After reviewing your account, we saw that the fees were applied
correctly. However, as a courtesy we have refunded $70.00 to your
account. The funds will be credited to your account within one business
day.

We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. If we may be of
further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail. Thank you for
choosing Bank of America.

Sincerely,

Deborah Stesky
Bank of America



What? GAVE me $70? Why this amount? And furthermore- this took care of all of my purchases, leaving me roughly $30 in the bank. NO OVERDRAFTS plus MONEY? This doesn't sound like a bank.

ALSO- I had a reserve of about 30 cash which I promised myself I wouldn't ever touch because it is saved for something in particular. This week, I was actually going to use it- and now, I don't have to. God saw my need, and even through my poor and selfish decisions, knew where my heart was. He took care of me even on something this small. This kind of stuff happens all the time in my life (I have some trippy stories I could share)- and because of my proof- I will never NOT believe.