I am stupid but it's not yet clear just how stupid

[susandennis]

My Social Security check did not land in my bank account as expected yesterday. It's due on the 3rd but I figured since the 3rd was a holiday, it might be on the 2nd. It wasn't so I waited until today.

That was stupid number 1.

It was not there today and I started digging. The social security website says it went into the account yesterday. No ach issues I can find. This was the first month it was to go into this account. So maybe that's why it was late?

I recheck everything. Wait the fuck a minute... the social security web page gives me the last four digits of the account it went into. The are not the last four digits of my account.

My social security check may well have been gifted to some lucky member of BECU.

And, of course the social security office is closed until Monday.

I did go in and switch it to go to my Citi account but that won't kick in until September. Probably I can get them to escalate to August.

I can only hope that the account number they have is not a valid BECU account number. The last 4 digits I can see do not match any account I have anywhere. And I don't know how many digits there are total. BECU account numbers have 10 digits. If no account, the $$ will bounce back to Social Security. And my punishment for being stupid will be a delay.

I cannot believe I did this. My personal stupid bar has been totally reset.

Comments

[carriea31.livejournal.com]

Ugh. That type of problem makes me crazy. I'm sorry you have to deal with it.

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Been a little while since I've done something like that. Now you've taken your turn the wheel will come back to me. Sigh.

[susandennis]

Thanks for having my back... again.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

You don't have direct deposit?

[susandennis]

Yes. I have my social security funds directly deposited into my account. I changed the account to a different bank and, apparently, in doing that fucked up the account number. So the money either bounced back to social security or was directly deposited into someone else's account at my credit union.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

oh shit

[meowmensteen]

*Goes and checks my BECU account balance*

[susandennis]

didja get it??!!! you know, if it fell into a friend's account, I think I'd be delighted for them to keep it.

[meowmensteen]

Na, it's all money I've earned. I haven't even gotten my tax return yet. They're taking their sweet time with that this year.

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

Something I learned from working on user interface design is that people feel stupid in these situations but it's not their fault, it's the fault of the interface. Like when you try and pull a door open and it's a push, that's the fault of the design for not clearly indicating which way the door goes. Bank accounts may be optimised for using long strings of numbers but humans definitey aren't.

[susandennis]

You are so kind.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Do you have a record of the request you sent to SS to change the account? It would presumably show what account number you specified.

[susandennis]

Good thought but no. Neither the electric nor the paper confirmation gives the account number. They just say 'the account you selected'. Dumb! I actually have no way of confirming. When I call I need to confirm that the one I changed to is correct!