Don't you just get exhausted --

1-13-2011

Don't you just get exhausted when things aren't working right or when your mouse is apparently wearing out after upteen years but you don't want to get a new one... and it just makes life in general so exhausting, especially when both your desks are piled high with CRAP and you didn't even make a dent in it when that's what you planned to do today but didn't. But thats all beside the point.

I've been fighting with the VA to get $1644 returned that was taken from my mom's account, which became mine by right of POD the second she died, that shouldn't have been removed from the account in the first place, which ultimately is the fault of the bank itself because it jumped the gun and tossed money to the VA who had already been repaid, but of course the BANK couldn't reverse ITS action, which meant I had to contact the VA, which has had the money since AUGUST. They did try to return it once but sent a check made out to the Estate of my mom, which meant I couldn't just redeposit it in (our) account; it had to go into an estate account, which probably meant I'd have to go through probate to get it back, which would have cost me money, but I shouldn't have had to go that route anyway because the money wasn't part of the "estate," but money that was removed from what was legally MY account and shouldn't have been taken in the first place, and was removed without authorization.

So on the advice of someone at the VA, I wrote "cancelled" on the check and returned it with a note of explanation--and of course the VA can't do anything promptly except TAKE money, which they did--as did the bank--and then had to go round and round again.

Meanwhile, at the bank, I was told in order to avoid the check hassle, because surely the VA would next time around re-deposit the money electronically because that's how it had been taken (by the bank, may I remind you), the banking lady told me I should close the joint account and open one under my own name, and there would be some kind of "redirect" link involved because the money would come to an account number, not a name, and the money would bounce from the old account and be redirected to the new account. So I did that.

And,,, oh yeah, I found out a few days ago that the money was actually electronically deposited in Mom's OLD account on 12-2-10, which SHOULD have then been directed to the new account I opened in MY name, which is what the Banking Woman said would happen, but it DIDN'T. It just bounced back to the VA.

Meanwhile someone at the VA had said I needed to call the Treasury to get the money back, so THEN I called the Treasury Dept in Austin and THEY hung up on me at least 4 times before I finally got a very nice woman named Tiffany who is the one who told me about the 12-2 fiasco, so then I called the VA again and talked to Tina--who is very nicely human--for the second time, who again talked to her supervisor who SAID she physically walked MY mailing information and the check order to the person who cuts the checks and will mail it directly to ME instead of going through the bank again.

And Tina actually took the initiative and called ME on Friday to tell me the check addressed to me, for the exact amount, had been sent that very day. And I said, "What? no interest, no penalties, no late fees added to the amount?" And she laughed and told me to get real, and I told her how much I appreciated her help...and so while I'm not holding my breath, I'm starting to watch the mailbox.