Buy Or Don’t Buy

I thought I lost my debit card recently. Of course, in the panic of discovering it was missing, and the prospect of losing all the money in my account, I called the bank to cancel my card. I was relieved there had been no charges on it since the last time I remember using it.

I found the card not 15 minutes later, and am now suffering the embarrassment associated with pulling the trigger way too early. I called the bank back to see what they had to say about it, but of course it was ‘too late.’ I was really expecting that. I shouldn’t be surprised. But it seems like there should be some sort of grace period associated with large account changes such as CANCELING A DEBIT CARD.

I know what you’re saying. If the bank allowed something like that, they’d have to deal with every idiot like me who didn’t think to check the car/that one pocket/behind the sofa/the last store you used it in before calling the bank to report a lost card. I know that “losing” your debit card is kind of a big deal. But now I’m stuck without access to the cash in that account until the next banking day. And for the next week or so, I have to bank manually (gasp).

How hard would it be to initiate a 24 hour grace period, by which the account holder could call back and have the debit card re-activated? I don’t know, I think that’s all I’m asking for.

Oh, by the way. The account in question is with WaMu and/or Chase. Since they merged. If anyone from either of these two companies happens to read this blog entry, help a brother out. You could even use this to your advantage, marketing-wise! I could see a great TV spot come from this very problem. It’s a common occurance, I’m sure, and would be a fantastic selling point to differentiate you from the competition.