I have a savings account, a loan, and a credit card with Oregon Community Credit Union (OCCU). My monthly loan payments are $50. My minimum monthly credit card payments are $10. The payments on my loan are due on the 15th. The payment due dates on my credit card vary.

In December of last year, I went to an OCCU branch and told them I wanted my loan payments to be automatic. The loan officer told me that they cannot take money out of an account I have that is in another credit union or bank. I told her that I wanted the $50 to be taken out of my savings account instead. She set that up. I then drove over to SELCO and told them that on the 10th of every month, I want $50 to be taken out of my checking account and sent to my savings account in OCCU. They set that up and all was good.

Everything was going fine until May. I realized that even though my loan was being paid every month, I was neglecting my credit card payments and was tired of getting late payment notifications. On the 12th of May, I went into the SELCO branch again and said that instead of sending $50 on the 10th of each month to my savings account in OCCU, I wanted to send $65. They made the change. I then went to the OCCU branch and gave the loan officer $15 to bring my credit card account current and caught up. I then told her that starting with the next month, I wanted them to automatically take $15 from my savings account and pay my credit card on the same day they pay my loan (the 15th). I would have enough since I changed the amount transferred from $50 to $65. She told me that changes to the credit card would have to be done by calling the actual company that handled the credit cards, called Juniper Bank.

I went out to my car and called the number she gave me and told the representative that I wanted to make my due date the 15th, but for it not to go into effect until the next month, since I had just paid for the current month inside the OCCU branch. The representative agreed and did it. Perfect... or so I thought.

Now that the stage is set, I'll tell you what happened recently. I checked my mail and found a letter from Juniper Bank saying that when they tried to take the $15 out of my savings account in OCCU on June 15th, there was "insufficient funds" and that I owed them the $15, plus $29 because OCCU had to pay the amount because I didn't have it, plus $29 for "service fees". WTF? How could there not have been enough money? I set it up perfectly, I made sure of it. The only thing I could think of was that SELCO didn't send the $65 to them.

Well, today, I went into the OCCU branch and told the loan officer pretty much everything I just said here. She was looking at my account during the story and was agreeing with my story because what showed on her screen coincided with everything I said. She was equally puzzled as to why I wouldn't have enough in my savings account to accommodate the payment to my credit card. After looking over the payment history, she spotted the problem. It lied with the May 15th payment. She said that it showed that I came in on the 12th and made a $15 payment. Then, it showed that on the 15th, another $15 payment was taken out. So, Juniper Bank didn't wait until June to start the automatic $15 payments like I had requested. Two payments were made for May. That caused me to have insufficient funds for my $50 loan payment. In response to that, the loan payment merely waited until the 15th of June when SELCO would send over another $65 and took out both May's and June's payments. Because of that, when Juniper Bank tried to take out the $15 for June, there was insufficient funds for it. She told me I would have to straighten it out with Juniper Bank before she could do anything because they are the ones that made the mistake.

I went outside and sat on a bench and called Juniper Bank. I got a manager on the line and told him about the payment I brought into the OCCU branch on the 12th and how, contrary to my wishes, my automatic payments for the 15th started that same month, causing 2 payments to be made in the same month and causing me to have insufficient funds for the loan and credit card payments after that. He told me that the $15 I brought into the OCCU branch went for April, the previous month, meaning I had still owed $15 for May, so it took it out of my savings account on the due date. I asked why it would go for April if I paid it in May. He said that you cannot pay in advance. If you pay them money before your due date, it will be added to the payment for the previous month. Well, ain't that grand? That sure would have been nice to know! He waived all the fees because of the misunderstanding, but didn't change that I ended up paying $30 for April, meaning I still owed them $15 for June. I was okay with that.

I went back into the OCCU branch and told her the news. She was surprised that early payments would go for previous months and said that it was retarded. I gave her $15 and she made the payment for June. Now I'm all caught up and don't owe anything until the 15th of July and $65 will be transferred on the 10th.