A university threatened to withhold a student's diploma over her https://www.insider.com/washington-state-university-withhold-students-degree-owed-1-cent-2023-2
I just got a refund check from my power company...in Virginia. (I left there in 2018.) Apparently, they've been ordered to issue refunds from some reason I don't know about .The check is for $1.56. From 5 years ago. Can you imagine what it cost for them to do that? If they'd sent me an email with a link to decline it, I would have saved them the trouble.
Ha! Not to try to upstage you, but I once got one for 53 cents. I don't remember if I even bothered to deposit it.
I too, know this isn't a contest, and I'm not upstaging anyone either - but it just happens that back in the 80s, I got a bill for one cent. I'd paid off a credit card - around $2,200 IIRC. They charged interest by the day and I wanted it to be exactly right, so I figured 17 days interest since the statement - and went downtown and paid the near-bank (a Trust Company, that issued a major credit card.) Guess I made a small error. Or not. A couple of weeks later I got a statement for ONE CENT. I was particularly furious, since we went to some lengths where I worked, (a co. that issued credit cards) to prevent this happening to customers - and I'd been involved in that work. The manager was apologetic, but I wasn't having any. I made him accept a penny and give me a receipt. I also gave him the credit card back. The Trust Company is now long-gone. So far --- I'm not.
Sounds like a minor rounding error. I.E., maybe you calculated $2237.050001 and (understandably) rounded down to $0.05. But the computer was programmed to round any fractions of a cent up.
I'm sure it was. And that's my point: Maybe my (employer) co. would have done the same calculation. But WE had a routine in place to cancel a remaining balance of a picayune amount, before issuing a statement. "Killing at Billing." They (the Trust Co.) lacked that foresight. That's where they went wrong. I'm sure there were other causes for their eventual downfall, though, besides their aggravating me.
On a related note, I am willing to forego any denomination that, in and of itself, cannot purchase anything. You know those trays where you leave or take pennies? They now have nickels and dimes in them. That is telling. Round it off. But, people will say, that's just an excuse for merchants to round everything up! Okay, perhaps so. But two things. First, the amounts being rounded--up, down, or both--are miniscule. Second, they're already doing that now, but at the 1-cent level. No one seems to have a problem with that, nor did they when a penny was actually worth something. (I'm old enough to remember penny candy that actually cost a penny.) Also, please let us be rid of the $1 (US) bill. I found its cousin's absence refreshing when in the UK, where the smallest bill around was a 5-pound note. A dollar bill lasts about 18 months in circulation while a dollar coin lasts 20 years or more. Coins were so much easier. A guy walks into a country store figuring on pulling a fast one. "Excuse me, but can I get change for an $18 bill?" "Sure son. No problem. Now, how do you want that? Two nines or three sixes?"
We have that one pretty well-fixed in Canada. Pennies were packed up some years ago.No longer circulated after some time in 2012. Our rules: Card transactions are billed right to the penny. Cash - to the nearest nickel, i.e. 90, 91 and 92 cents get rounded down to .90. 93 and 94 cents get rounded up to 95. Works OK. Still don't know what to do with the 22 pennies I had left when "the Day" came. And we've had $1 and $2 coins since 1987 and 1996, respectively. No bills, just "Loonies" and "Toonies." I save ALL my change and find it recycles about $1,000 a year. About 17 years ago I bought a really nice guitar with rolls of Toonies. "Esmeralda," my "Gypsy" guitar - a classical with a jazz-style cutaway. Guy in the music store looked at me funny, when I produced the coin rolls - but we're good friends, now. He still looks at me funny, sometimes, when I play, though. I'm havin' fun. Who needs critics?
Forgot to mention: I figured the interest myself, because I'd first called their Credit Card Centre for my balance that day. Daily interest didn't show on their screens. Anywhere. Nobody - at least nobody I got to speak to, knew how to figure it out. Not even with a calculator. It's easy, as I'm sure most know. They gave a "multiplier" - the daily % (a minuscule number to about 7 decimal places) in the word-salad on the back of the statement - I just multiplied it x my balance x the number of days since billing. I couldn't get that through to anyone there, so I hung up and did it myself. I wonder what all those people did for a living after the Trust Company closed?
Last week, I received a check for $5.21 from Equifax Breach Settlement Fund. I mobile deposited the check. The bank made it available the following day. Today, the bank sent me the following email: We’re sorry to inform you that your check # has been returned. We initially accepted this check for $5.21 on Mar 10, 2023, but we’ve received notice that the bank upon which the check was drawn is refusing to honor the check. The reason for their decision: NON SUFFICIENT FUNDS
A Credit Rating Agency - a watchdog that has millions of files - writes a rubber cheque for $5? ....What can you do? Report them to Trans Union I guess.... (sigh).
I will say Signature Bank based on what I found online. Another person posted a whopping $5.21 check. I had ripped up mine once the bank said it was processed. However, when I returned to my Informed Delivery for the day the check came in the mail, I verified that the address on the envelope was the same as the one in the check the person posted on Twitter. Theirs had Signature Bank, so I will assume mine was the same. One person commented that they got $20.21 https://twitter.com/kevinmitnick/status/1612155172914094080/photo/1
I suppose those who got stiffed could start a class action suit ... but isn't that where we came in? No, I guess that's out. They already have judgement for the money. The lawyers who obtained the judgement could start collection proceedings, but... oh my. Such big offices. And they can't raise $5... Beyond silly. Lamentably lame.
Update: Recently you were mailed an Equifax Data Breach Settlement payment check. Due to a Signature Bank clerical error your check may have been returned unpaid. We will mail you a replacement check within the next two weeks. If you were assessed a banking fee related to this check, please send us documentation showing proof of the fee and you will be reimbursed. Your documentation may be emailed to us at (email address).
When banks make a bunch of "clerical errors" with money, you know it's time to line up to get your money out
