Marlene and I have booked a 25-night cruise from Tampa FL to Anchorage AK in Aprill 2025. This will be the most expensive cruise we have ever taken together – over $2,500 each. This is because it is on the Norwegian Jade rather than a Carnival ship where we both get major discounts. But we felt the expense was justified because it is still not expensive in absolute terms – just about $100 per day – and because the itinerary is amazing – 15 ports, including some in Columbia, Panama and Costa Rica as well as some good Mexican and Canadian ports and both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Had to do it.
Anyway, we need to get it all paid by December. We are going to make several payments. We agreed that we would each pay $900 in July. No problem, right? We had the money. I am responsible for the payments so Marlene gave me $900. I just had to pay via Visa then get the money into my checking account to pay the Visa bill.
So… how to get her money into my checking account in Massachusetts? There are no branches of my bank anywhere in Florida. But Zelle works everywhere, right?
Plan A: Use Zelle to transfer the money from Marlene’s bank to mine
That would have been simple but, unfortunately, Marlene’s bank doesn’t support Zelle.
Plan B: Use CashApp.
We both have CashApp and have transferred money between us before. She successfully transferred the money to my CashApp, I linked my CashApp to my checking account and tried to move the money. That was declined by my bank on Thursday. Why? No idea and I wouldn’t be able to ask the bank until Friday. I needed the money deposited by Monday. Couldn’t wait to try again.
Plan C: Buy a money order and remotely deposit it into my account
I purchased the money order at Walmart, no problem. But as I endorsed the back I saw a little notice: Not for Mobile Deposit. Huh? I tried to deposit it and, not surprisingly, the deposit was declined.
Plan D: Cash the money order, deposit the cash in Marlene’s checking account and have her write a check
You are probably thinking “why didn’t she just write a check to start?” Indeed, that would have been the best plan, except that it seemed so old school. Why deal with a check when cash transfer was instantaneous? Obviously, cash transfers are not always instantaneous.
Anyway, the flaw in Plan D was that Walmart, where I had purchased the money order just 90 minutes before, was unable to cash the money order. Why? They couldn’t say. Just that the third-party check cashing service had some problem with my ID or the money order. Calling Walmart headquarters did not help. The best they could offer was a refund in 10 days.
Plan E: Cash the money order at a Western Union office
It is a Western Union money order so they should be able to cash it, right? If anyone had my $900 at this point it was Western Union. But this, too, failed, due to the prior attempt to cash it at Walmart. I would have to wait 48 hours to try again. Oh, by the way, the fee for cashing the money order – to get back my $900 that they had held for just a couple of hours – would be $55. Unbelievable. The fee for cashing it at Walmart was just $4. Highway robbery. No thanks, Western Union.
So 5 plans, 5 failures. I gave up and sold some stock. I am hoping that money gets into my checking account by Monday. If not, I will have to pay less than my total Visa bill and will incur at least $30 in interest. But I still have hope that the money will be there by Monday.
That is Plan F. I won’t know until Monday if it succeeds.
I will wait 10 days to get the refund on the money order. Then I will deposit it in Marlene’s checking account, she will transfer it to my CashApp and then move it to my checking account. I believe I fixed the CashApp problem. It was due to CashApp having *2* ways to link to a checking account: (1) routing number and account number and (2) debit card number. It seems to default to debit card number – and doesn’t offer the option to use the routing/account number. My debit card number was an old card that had expired months ago. I was not even aware that it was linked to my CashApp. Anyway, I have corrected that.
But that begs the question: why, when processing a withdrawal request, does CashApp solicit a routing/account number and then not use it?
Frustrating.
UPDATE: The stock was sold on Thursday but the money did not appear in my checking account until early Tuesday, about 6 hours too late to avoid interest charges on my Visa. So Plan F, like all the other plans, was a failure.
The $900 (mis)adventure
Marlene and I have booked a 25-night cruise from Tampa FL to Anchorage AK in Aprill 2025. This will be the most expensive cruise we have ever taken together – over $2,500 each. This is because it is on the Norwegian Jade rather than a Carnival ship where we both get major discounts. But we felt the expense was justified because it is still not expensive in absolute terms – just about $100 per day – and because the itinerary is amazing – 15 ports, including some in Columbia, Panama and Costa Rica as well as some good Mexican and Canadian ports and both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Had to do it.
Anyway, we need to get it all paid by December. We are going to make several payments. We agreed that we would each pay $900 in July. No problem, right? We had the money. I am responsible for the payments so Marlene gave me $900. I just had to pay via Visa then get the money into my checking account to pay the Visa bill.
So… how to get her money into my checking account in Massachusetts? There are no branches of my bank anywhere in Florida. But Zelle works everywhere, right?
Plan A: Use Zelle to transfer the money from Marlene’s bank to mine
That would have been simple but, unfortunately, Marlene’s bank doesn’t support Zelle.
Plan B: Use CashApp.
We both have CashApp and have transferred money between us before. She successfully transferred the money to my CashApp, I linked my CashApp to my checking account and tried to move the money. That was declined by my bank on Thursday. Why? No idea and I wouldn’t be able to ask the bank until Friday. I needed the money deposited by Monday. Couldn’t wait to try again.
Plan C: Buy a money order and remotely deposit it into my account
I purchased the money order at Walmart, no problem. But as I endorsed the back I saw a little notice: Not for Mobile Deposit. Huh? I tried to deposit it and, not surprisingly, the deposit was declined.
Plan D: Cash the money order, deposit the cash in Marlene’s checking account and have her write a check
You are probably thinking “why didn’t she just write a check to start?” Indeed, that would have been the best plan, except that it seemed so old school. Why deal with a check when cash transfer was instantaneous? Obviously, cash transfers are not always instantaneous.
Anyway, the flaw in Plan D was that Walmart, where I had purchased the money order just 90 minutes before, was unable to cash the money order. Why? They couldn’t say. Just that the third-party check cashing service had some problem with my ID or the money order. Calling Walmart headquarters did not help. The best they could offer was a refund in 10 days.
Plan E: Cash the money order at a Western Union office
It is a Western Union money order so they should be able to cash it, right? If anyone had my $900 at this point it was Western Union. But this, too, failed, due to the prior attempt to cash it at Walmart. I would have to wait 48 hours to try again. Oh, by the way, the fee for cashing the money order – to get back my $900 that they had held for just a couple of hours – would be $55. Unbelievable. The fee for cashing it at Walmart was just $4. Highway robbery. No thanks, Western Union.
So 5 plans, 5 failures. I gave up and sold some stock. I am hoping that money gets into my checking account by Monday. If not, I will have to pay less than my total Visa bill and will incur at least $30 in interest. But I still have hope that the money will be there by Monday.
That is Plan F. I won’t know until Monday if it succeeds.
I will wait 10 days to get the refund on the money order. Then I will deposit it in Marlene’s checking account, she will transfer it to my CashApp and then move it to my checking account. I believe I fixed the CashApp problem. It was due to CashApp having *2* ways to link to a checking account: (1) routing number and account number and (2) debit card number. It seems to default to debit card number – and doesn’t offer the option to use the routing/account number. My debit card number was an old card that had expired months ago. I was not even aware that it was linked to my CashApp. Anyway, I have corrected that.
But that begs the question: why, when processing a withdrawal request, does CashApp solicit a routing/account number and then not use it?
Frustrating.
UPDATE: The stock was sold on Thursday but the money did not appear in my checking account until early Tuesday, about 6 hours too late to avoid interest charges on my Visa. So Plan F, like all the other plans, was a failure.