I Called My Bank To Reverse A 2 Cent Charge!

You read that correctly! I actually picked up the phone and called my bank for them to reverse a 2 cent charge that I saw on my statement. You may think I am absolutely crazy for taking the time to do this but in my opinion, 2 cents is still my money and if I think the charge was mistakenly charged or if it was a legitimate charge, I have the right to know what I was charged for. I check my accounts daily, so it's not hard for me to notice a charge on my account.

So I called my bank and the conversation went something like this:

Customer Service Rep (CSR) - Hi this is John, how can I help you?

Me - Hi John, how are you?

CSR - I am fine, how are you?

Me - I am fine, I noticed there was a 2 cent charge on my account a few days ago. Can you please explain to me what the charge was for?

CSR - Um, um (silence for 30 seconds) can I put you on hold to look into this?

Me - Sure

CSR - I do see where you were charged 2 cents. I do apologize for the charge, your account was debited instead of credited 2 cents. I will correct that right away for you.

Me - Thank you so much John

CSR - Was there anything else I could help you with?

Me - That will be all, thanks

On the last day of every month, most banks will pay you any interest that you earned through out the month and also withdraw any fees or interest that you owe them. In my case, I should have earned 2 cents instead of the bank withdrawing 2 cents from my account. It was my checking account that this charge came out of. I never expect to make any money from this account, so I wouldn't have called them if they forgot to pay me 2 cents in interest, but the fact that they actually charged me 2 cents was worth the call.

Did you notice the 30 seconds of silence when I told John the reason for my call. He must have thought to himself, I cannot believe someone would actually call for a 2 cent charge. If John was silent for any longer, I would have just repeated myself thinking he didn't hear me. John ended up putting me on hold for approximately 5 minutes. It could have took him that long to find the charge, or maybe he was telling his buddies in the office about me, or maybe he thought I would hang up. In any case my 2 cents was refunded.

I am ALWAYS polite any time I am speaking to a CSR. Even if I know they're wrong, I am still polite. I use to do telemarketing jobs and I know from experience what it's like to work in a call center. No one wants to help someone who is rude with a temper. 95% of the time, I get what I want from CSR's just for being polite.

Let's say my bank made this error with 5 000 000 customers. 5 000 000 x 0.02 (2 cents) = $100,000 for one month. If this happens once a month, that's $1,200,000 in one year. That's a lot of money for one error with 5 000 000 customers. Now I am not saying this error occurred with all those people and I know mistakes happen, but that's a huge mistake.

Would you call your bank to reverse 2 cents?