A Thirty-Cent Pay Day
I felt rather special when I received a thin envelope from the Wells Fargo bank.
Back in 2004, I had yet to own a credit card. However, I needed a rental car and the rental car places only take credit cards. I hastily applied to many credit card companies, but was denied by each one because I didn’t have an existing revolving account (don’t get me started on the catch-22 situation). As a last resort, I applied to Wells Fargo (whom I banked with at the time) and got accepted. I was ecstatic that I had finally received my very first credit card.
After roughly a year of owning the card, I decided I had built up my “revolving account” status and applied for those coveted rewards cards. I was accepted, and I decided it was now time to rid myself of my Wells Fargo credit card. I paid off the balance and canceled the card. However, I made one small mistake and overpaid my balance by thirty cents.
My credit card was indeed canceled, but I still received monthly credit card statements from Wells Fargo stating my balance with the statement reading, “This is not a bill.” The statement reminded me that I still had thirty cents left to squander. My credit card had long ago met the shredder, so I just shrugged off the balance statements and forgot about the whole thing.
That all changed when I received my special thin envelope in the mail. Inside was the coveted amount I had overpaid: a whole thirty cents. I should point out that the cost to send the check (and not counting the printing costs) was thirty-nine cents.
I can imagine the look on a bank teller’s face when I approach her and say, “Hi. I’d like to deposit this thirty-cent check. And I’d like to put the amount into savings.”
Now that I have a whole thirty cents to spend, here’s what I could possibly do with it:
- Receive a free pictorial text message on my phone.
- Buy a thing of bubble-gum (not counting tax).
- Get some of those candy samples in the supermarkets.
- Play an arcade game (if I can find one for a quarter).
I can’t really think of anything else. I might deposit the check just to see what happens, but I doubt it. The opportunity cost of driving to the bank, waiting in line to deposit, and driving back is probably significantly higher than thirty cents. Now that I think about it , the opportunity cost of writing a blog post about receiving thirty cents in the mail is probably greater than thirty cents as well (this is debatable).
Join the Discussion (3 Comments)
At least you got approved for a credit card. They consider me too poor to qualify.
Posted on December 21st, 2006 at 1:43 pm
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Posted on December 21st, 2006 at 4:34 pm
@Alex,
You can always get a secured credit card. You’ll have to pay out of pocket, but eventually you’ll built your credit up and be able to be approved for a card.
@franky,
Good suggestion. I’ll have to keep that one in mind.
Posted on December 21st, 2006 at 6:43 pm