One Really Large Mortgage Mistake

OK, so I made my first online bill pay error, and I would not have suspected a thing unless my car payment came in at $0 for the month!

I set up my online bill pay through Citizens bank about a month and a half ago, and I have to admit, I do really enjoy paying my bills via the Internet as opposed to the old fashion way of writing out checks. I do not quite manage my money online, because that would mean that I allow these bills to be automatically deducted from my account, instead I handle my money online. The main difference is that I go online and submit payments manually for every bill instead of having my bank account pay them for me every month. I am still getting used to online banking and I am so anal that I do not know if I will ever be ready to simply manage my money!

My mortgage payment of $1,175.78 is due on the first of every month, and from there, like most people, I have until the fifteenth of every month before Countrywide will mark my payment as late. I am used to sending in checks and I have a list of what bills every paycheck will go towards, so I usually pay my mortgage early, around the fifteenth of the month before. I pay bills on Fridays and I paid my August mortgage payment online in the middle of July.

I closed out my month of July with no debt and no late payments, just like every month prior. When I received my Car payment for the end of the month of August, I noticed that my balance due was $0. I usually overpay my car payment a little every month to knock off some principle, but I am no where near paying it off completely! I noticed that they received two payments from me on the same day of the month previous. One was the payment designated for them, and the second payment was in the exact same amount as my mortgage, $1,175.78.

I cannot tell you how fast my heart rate went up and my jaw dropped! That was a kind of panic that I have never felt before. I have read all of these horror stories about what being late on one mortgage payment will do to your credit and refinancing options and I was terrified. The good news was that it was still only the 10th of August, which meant that I was not completely late on my mortgage payment, and now that I paid my bills online, I would not have to worry if a check would make it there in time.

I posted this on here for two main reasons. The first is obviously to show how aware you need to be when handling money online. I paid Chase Financial twice in one month when one payment should have gone to Countrywide. I am not sure if I saw the "C" at the beginning of each name and quickly chose the wrong account. Citizens Online Bill Pay also gives you confirmation numbers so that you have a record of payment. I even went so far as to write down one of the chase confirmation numbers on my countrywide payment and file it away, all because I wasn't paying close enough attention.

The second reason that I posted this story is to point out how important it is to have money saved up in an emergency fund for events such as these. I was lucky that this was all that happened. On the upside, I did knock over $1000 off the principle of what is still owed on my car. I do not have to make those monthly payments for a few months, but I am able to make them, and I have budgeted for them, so I am going to continue to make my regular monthly payments.