The latest with grandma
We got a call tonight. It was shortly after members of the House of Representatives delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate, so I wondered if it was related to that. Nope--grandma bought a lotto ticket. She'd gone grocery shopping to pick up a few things ahead of tonight's snowstorm, and there was no line at the lotto counter, so she bought a ticket. She had no idea what it was for. Helpful. Worse, she started asking mom questions, and mom really has no clue either, though she'd done the same thing earlier today. I was like, uh, you know that both the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots that were worth about $700M and $1B, respectively, were won last week, right? And because grandma does not have internet access, mom was trying to figure out when, or even if, the drawings were held. I remember them being in the evenings, close to 10 o'clock at night. Mom looked online and it's at 9:22 PM. Grandma was going to try to watch Channel 9 at that time tonight, and if she didn't see the numbers, she'll call us tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it's for the regular Illinois lottery. Also, she'd put the ticket on her fridge, but when she went to grab it to see what exactly it was for, she said the magnet was too strong and she'd have to set the phone down because she needed two hands to pull it off.
Oh, grandma.
I'm just glad she's in a better mood. She'd called last Wednesday, agitated because her phone had been cut off. Mom knew something was up because her brother had tried to call grandma and had gotten a weird message, like the phone number was currently unavailable. When mom tried calling, it went right to voicemail. Well, grandma had recently talked to mom about having gotten a new bank card, i.e., debit card. Somehow mom got put on this account and there was also a card with her name on it. Mom may have gotten this card when she and dad went and saw grandma a few weeks ago, as she has it in her possession; she also kept the older card. Mom thought it was weird that grandma had gotten the new card since it wasn't set to expire until April 2022. (It looked like it's set up for touchless transactions, because there were those sort of sound wave symbols on it next to the chip. That's what was different. Well, and the expiration date and security code changed as well. The card number stayed the same.) This is all in part related to grandma's account snafu, where she gave her bank information to a possibly shady company and had to open up all new bank accounts. All her recurring payments had been a direct-from-checking pull. When she had to update everything, instead of giving them her bank account and routing info, she gave them the debit card info.
Perhaps you see where this is going...
So grandma calls last week, and she's so upset, she can't think straight. She must have still been able to reach the phone company and got that taken care of, but she's spitting mad that they turned off her phone. The conversation went something like this:
Grandma: I can't believe they turned off my phone! Why would they do that?
Me: ...Because you didn't pay your bill.
Grandma: But they had my bank information!
Me: No, they had your debit card information, and that changed, and they weren't able to charge your card any longer.
I then had to explain that I've worked jobs where we've taken payments automatically. Just because the payment is coming from the same place doesn't mean it's the same type of transaction.
A direct-from-checking pull means you've given permission to have the company, via the bank, take the money right out of your account.
When you give a company your credit card number, you've given them permission to charge your card automatically, but you still have to pay your bill to your credit card company.
When you give a company your debit card number, it's like using a credit card, except instead of you having to pay your credit card company, the bank basically helps itself out of your account, and does so almost immediately.
(Personally, I hate debit cards and have never used one. Credit cards are just as easy to use, yet you have that extra protection of not having your money pulled directly out of your account once the card is used. If your card is stolen, you can at least freeze your credit card and your money isn't spent. If your debit card is stolen, it could be a while before you realize it, and by then you're out your money. Your bank may eventually reimburse you, but until that happens, you're SOL--especially if you have any bills that need to be paid or other expenses that come up.)
However I ended up explaining to her, she did eventually seem to get what I was saying. (Mom didn't quite get it and I had to try to explain it further after we got off the phone.) She wasn't in the mood to deal with anything else that night, but I did say, any place you'd given your debit card info to, you'll have to contact them and update everything with them--and expect to give them the full number again, along with the expiration date and security code--and if you don't already have a list of said places, it would be best if you made one. I seem to recall something like eight different businesses had that recurring charge the last time, and alas, the last one she remembered was her phone. That's how she lost her landline in the first place.
I suppose the good news is that, during the weekly phone call yesterday, she sounded upbeat and no worse the wear, which was great considering the last two calls were downers between her phone issue and her friend passing away.
Oh, grandma.
I'm just glad she's in a better mood. She'd called last Wednesday, agitated because her phone had been cut off. Mom knew something was up because her brother had tried to call grandma and had gotten a weird message, like the phone number was currently unavailable. When mom tried calling, it went right to voicemail. Well, grandma had recently talked to mom about having gotten a new bank card, i.e., debit card. Somehow mom got put on this account and there was also a card with her name on it. Mom may have gotten this card when she and dad went and saw grandma a few weeks ago, as she has it in her possession; she also kept the older card. Mom thought it was weird that grandma had gotten the new card since it wasn't set to expire until April 2022. (It looked like it's set up for touchless transactions, because there were those sort of sound wave symbols on it next to the chip. That's what was different. Well, and the expiration date and security code changed as well. The card number stayed the same.) This is all in part related to grandma's account snafu, where she gave her bank information to a possibly shady company and had to open up all new bank accounts. All her recurring payments had been a direct-from-checking pull. When she had to update everything, instead of giving them her bank account and routing info, she gave them the debit card info.
Perhaps you see where this is going...
So grandma calls last week, and she's so upset, she can't think straight. She must have still been able to reach the phone company and got that taken care of, but she's spitting mad that they turned off her phone. The conversation went something like this:
Grandma: I can't believe they turned off my phone! Why would they do that?
Me: ...Because you didn't pay your bill.
Grandma: But they had my bank information!
Me: No, they had your debit card information, and that changed, and they weren't able to charge your card any longer.
I then had to explain that I've worked jobs where we've taken payments automatically. Just because the payment is coming from the same place doesn't mean it's the same type of transaction.
A direct-from-checking pull means you've given permission to have the company, via the bank, take the money right out of your account.
When you give a company your credit card number, you've given them permission to charge your card automatically, but you still have to pay your bill to your credit card company.
When you give a company your debit card number, it's like using a credit card, except instead of you having to pay your credit card company, the bank basically helps itself out of your account, and does so almost immediately.
(Personally, I hate debit cards and have never used one. Credit cards are just as easy to use, yet you have that extra protection of not having your money pulled directly out of your account once the card is used. If your card is stolen, you can at least freeze your credit card and your money isn't spent. If your debit card is stolen, it could be a while before you realize it, and by then you're out your money. Your bank may eventually reimburse you, but until that happens, you're SOL--especially if you have any bills that need to be paid or other expenses that come up.)
However I ended up explaining to her, she did eventually seem to get what I was saying. (Mom didn't quite get it and I had to try to explain it further after we got off the phone.) She wasn't in the mood to deal with anything else that night, but I did say, any place you'd given your debit card info to, you'll have to contact them and update everything with them--and expect to give them the full number again, along with the expiration date and security code--and if you don't already have a list of said places, it would be best if you made one. I seem to recall something like eight different businesses had that recurring charge the last time, and alas, the last one she remembered was her phone. That's how she lost her landline in the first place.
I suppose the good news is that, during the weekly phone call yesterday, she sounded upbeat and no worse the wear, which was great considering the last two calls were downers between her phone issue and her friend passing away.