Hawaii 5-0 saved this day. Otherwise...

I got an overdraft notice in the mail this morning. I've never had one before and I've had my checking account since I was 13 (Mom had me get it to help teach me to be responsible for my money and to properly manage my finances; she's never bounced a check, either). So, needless to say, I was rather perturbed.

But I kept my cool. I went in, got a printout of my transactions for the last month and put the fifteen bucks I had set aside for gas money in the bank just to be safe.

It might not stay there long.

Back in December, a new company took over my bank because it failed and they proceeded to change everything. Kinda like the Borg. Your monies are now our monies, you will follow our policies, we will change the routing number, resistance is futile.

Now, I am accustomed to being charged a maintenance fee. I don't understand the practice of charging someone who has no money, but I know it. So it wasn't a surprise to see that on my transaction paper. What was a surprise was the service fee. Now, I don't remember ever seeing that on my monthly statements. It's possible that I missed it, but I don't remember seeing it. And since it's been about six months since my bank was taken over about six months ago, that would explain why my account is short.

My statement should be due to show up in the mail next week. If there's no service charge on it, I'm going to have a talk with the bank and close my account.

If there is a service charge on it, I'm going to chalk it up to me failing at reading comprehension and I'm still going to close my account.

A maintenance fee AND a service charge? No. That's just ridiculous and it's too much to ask from someone who's broke.

Just no.