All of this for 14 cents?
Just paid my last 14 cents on a student loan. Two loans paid off, one to go. Yay! But let me tell you the story of this one...
Payments have always come out of my checking account automatically. I knew I'd be paying this loan off this summer. Then about two weeks ago my automatic payment was only 1/3 of the usual payment -- so I knew my loan must be paid off.
Dancing, jubilation, champagne...
All premature.
Log in just to see for myself that the loan balance is zero. Ummm, nope. Their automated system apparently couldn't quite figure out how to take that last payment. So it left me with a balance of 14 cents.
Meanwhile, within the next week I received two letters from the student loan company:
1. One letter telling me my account is no longer enrolled in the automated payment system.
2. The second letter is a statement with my 14 cents balance. Must also be a sign that I'm no longer enrolled in the "paperless" system.
Postage costs to send me these two letters: 71 cents
Total amount I owe: 14 cents
OK, so time to pay off that 14 cents so I can resume doing my happy dance...
Go online to pay off remaining balance. Sorry, no, you can't make an online payment for less than $1.
No problem -- I'm happy to pay the dollar just to get this taken care of. Sorry, no, you can't make a payment for more than your loan pay off amount.
At this point, the only way to handle it is to print off a payment coupon and mail a check.
I create the payment coupon using their online system. Except the computer I'm on isn't hooked to the printer, so I email myself the coupon. (I figure this is easier than going to the other computer, logging on and going through these steps again.)
Get to the other computer, download my email, print the coupon.
Spend a couple minutes digging around for an envelope.
Address envelope -- pen is being all smudgy and weird, leaving globs of ink.
Get new pen. Marginally better.
Finish addressing envelope.
Write check. Pause briefly to determine the best way to write out a "zero dollars and 14 cents" check.
Spend another couple minutes digging around for a stamp. (I really don't mail very many letters these days.)
Walk to mailbox. Battle mosquitoes. Brush away the deer flies that are trying to bite me. Ignore that my feet are soaked because I wore sandals and the grass is heavy with dew.
Plop letter into box and raise red flag.
All of this for 14 (fourteen!) cents...
Happy dance? Champagne? Nah, I think I need a nap...
Becky
Payments have always come out of my checking account automatically. I knew I'd be paying this loan off this summer. Then about two weeks ago my automatic payment was only 1/3 of the usual payment -- so I knew my loan must be paid off.
Dancing, jubilation, champagne...
All premature.
Log in just to see for myself that the loan balance is zero. Ummm, nope. Their automated system apparently couldn't quite figure out how to take that last payment. So it left me with a balance of 14 cents.
Meanwhile, within the next week I received two letters from the student loan company:
1. One letter telling me my account is no longer enrolled in the automated payment system.
2. The second letter is a statement with my 14 cents balance. Must also be a sign that I'm no longer enrolled in the "paperless" system.
Postage costs to send me these two letters: 71 cents
Total amount I owe: 14 cents
OK, so time to pay off that 14 cents so I can resume doing my happy dance...
Go online to pay off remaining balance. Sorry, no, you can't make an online payment for less than $1.
No problem -- I'm happy to pay the dollar just to get this taken care of. Sorry, no, you can't make a payment for more than your loan pay off amount.
At this point, the only way to handle it is to print off a payment coupon and mail a check.
I create the payment coupon using their online system. Except the computer I'm on isn't hooked to the printer, so I email myself the coupon. (I figure this is easier than going to the other computer, logging on and going through these steps again.)
Get to the other computer, download my email, print the coupon.
Spend a couple minutes digging around for an envelope.
Address envelope -- pen is being all smudgy and weird, leaving globs of ink.
Get new pen. Marginally better.
Finish addressing envelope.
Write check. Pause briefly to determine the best way to write out a "zero dollars and 14 cents" check.
Spend another couple minutes digging around for a stamp. (I really don't mail very many letters these days.)
Walk to mailbox. Battle mosquitoes. Brush away the deer flies that are trying to bite me. Ignore that my feet are soaked because I wore sandals and the grass is heavy with dew.
Plop letter into box and raise red flag.
All of this for 14 (fourteen!) cents...
Happy dance? Champagne? Nah, I think I need a nap...
Becky
Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.
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