I can feel the red coming already on this one, but looking for some feedback anyway. I've never bounced a check in my life, so I'm not sure what's reasonable to pay as far as fees go.
Situation: I sent in a check for my health insurance last month, which bounced. The account is an HSA through a credit union. I take responsibility for the initial bookkeeping error.
I received two notices in the mail from the credit union, which I received around the same time because I was out of town. The first was a $25 fee, and the second was another charge from the health insurance company trying to run the check again (I didn't know they did this). When I found out, I funded the account with more money so that the check could clear.
Today I received another $25 notice from my health insurance for the bounced check fee on their end.
I called my credit union to explain the situation, and asked if they could remove just one of the $25 fees as a courtesy. The man I spoke to said he could, but the call got dropped before he could transfer me to the right person. I called back and received a different person, who wouldn't transfer me and basically said that it was my fault for not keeping track of my funds properly. Again, I was only trying to have ONE of the fees waived, as a courtesy, and because I had no history of account issues.
So, do I suck it up and pay all of the fees ($75 total)?
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Yep, call everyone and ask for courtesies. I have gotten so many different charges removed from banks, credit cards, cable companies, etc by just asking nicely ... it has probably added up to $300+ in the last few years. Even things like foreign finance fees for purchases made in person in the US, but charged in a foreign currency. It can't hurt to ask and keep trying until you get someone nice.
Also call your insurer and explain how THEY have double-fee'd you
Yeah, the bit of resubmitting checks makes no sense. If it bounced once then it's probably going to bounce again when you send it through in a few days! Give the person a chance to be notified and rectify the mistake.
The IRS is actually reasonable about bounce charges--if you give an adequate reason they'll waive the charge.
The bank website mislead me because the correct account was for some reason not listed and an old account was listed that shouldn't have been, causing me to write a check against an account with $0 in it instead of the account with the money. The woman at the bank understood the confusion and wiped the charges, I sent a new check to the IRS. A few weeks later I get a notice from the IRS explaining their charges and saying that the fee would be waived if I had an adequate reason.
I explained the bank had already voided their bounce charges and that I wasn't sending them a new check because I had already sent it when I figured out what happened. Response: Fee waived.
Tried health insurance (Anthem / Blue Cross, btw) today with no luck. The woman was very sympathetic, but said that they can't do it if it's not a result of their error. The "been a customer for awhile, never had this issue, etc" didn't matter.
Called the credit union today, and think I reached the same guy that I originally spoke with. He said the person who handles those things is only reachable by email (?), but he put me on hold and sent her one explaining my situation. He said that he didn't think she would, but he'd try anyway. Lo and behold, she removed one of the fees!
I was hoping to only pay $25, but I guess it's my lesson to be learned. It was mostly the principal of the "double" fees I was fighting anyway. Thanks for the input, everyone.
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