Stop! Thief!

A little over a month ago, my mom's annuity matured. It's not an enormous sum but it is enough to help pay her dental bills and give her a minor cushion in case any kind of emergency arises.

My mom is 83, so resubmitting to another annuity or monthly payments didn't make sense (especially since, if she dies before they sum gets paid out, the company keeps the rest of the money). Her age and health issues are against her doing anything other than take the money in a lump sum.

We had a few concentrated discussion on the disbursement of this new little (and I do mean little) nest egg she has and one of her choices was not to have the money electronically transferred into either her checking or savings accounts. She preferred to have a check cut and then she would decide exactly what amounts she wanted placed where.

We called the annuity company to see exactly what we needed to do ensure she would get the amount in one check, mailed directly to her home address. I helped her fill out the exact form she needed, checking with the company advisor to verify that we did everything correctly. I then made two copies (one for mom and one I kept at my house in case mom misplaced hers), folded the original, placed it in the envelope provided and personally mailed it.

That was over 2 weeks ago. I didn't want to get paranoid and wanted allow for the company to get and process the form, cut the check and mail it to her. I told her yesterday that if she did not get the check by Friday, we needed to call and see what was going on with it.

Today, after an appointment with the VA, I stopped by the market and picked mom up a loaf of bread. While dropping it off, I stopped to pick up her mail and saw that she had something from the mutual group that handled her annuity. I mistakenly thought it was her check but it was, in reality, a statement from the company of the final payment. Since I was at my mom's, I decided I'd call today to ask about the status of the check because my mom has been concerned about the check possibly getting stolen out of her mailbox.

IT MUST HAVE BEEN FATE!!!

When I called the company and gave them all the information they needed to make sure I was authorized to be speaking with them, I was told that the check had been electronically transferred to mom's bank account yesterday. I asked the young man I spoke with WHY would they do something we specifically requested they not do? He sounded confused and said mom's routing information was included with the paperwork. I insisted that it was not so he requested that I call mom's bank. I hung up with him and called mom's bank: no activity on either her checking or savings account. I called the company back and explained my conversation with the gentleman regarding the money being transferred into mom's bank. I told the woman I spoke with that no money had been transferred into the accounts and she said that an electronic transfer takes two days. I told her that was all well and good but my mother never requested - either on paper or by voice - the money to be electronically transferred. The one and only form she filled out (that I sat with her and went over step by step and helped her fill out) emphatically stated that she wanted to be paid by check, that my mother's bank's routing number had NOT been included with her paperwork. The woman argued with me for nearly a half-hour that I was mistaken, that my mother had attached a photocopied index card with her bank routing number on it. After enough times of the indication that I was a liar accusing her company of possibly doing something criminal (which I wasn't, I was telling her over and over that I personally put one sheet of paper - the form - in the envelope, sealed it and mailed it that way - she told me I must have forgotten I added the other information because, gee {sarcasm}, how else could they have gotten that information?) and the blame of whatever was going on clearly lay with me, I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager. Another 10 minutes went by of her telling me that no one else would be able to tell me anything different, I finally raised my voice and demanded to speak to someone else. She yelled, "fine!" and put me on hold. For another five minutes (I began to think I was on infinite hold). Another woman picked up the line (much nicer), I AGAIN explained the situation. This woman reiterated what the other woman said: We would never process an electronic transfer without the request and information from the client.

I took a deep breath and silently counted to five. I then asked her to tell me the routing number she had on file for my mother. She gave it to me and - big surprise - it didn't match. She then called my mom's bank (with me on the line) and the bank told her the routing number she had was for a bank in Colorado. She then, quite humbly, I might add, asked if my mom or I ever lived (or banked) in Colorado. Nope, never. She put me on hold for another fifteen minutes and when she got back on the line, she apologized profusely and said they had cancelled the money transfer and would reissue my mom's check.

Gee (sarcasm), I knew I was right about what I put in the envelope.

Anyway, Stephanie, the last woman representing that company, was helpful and persistent and pleasant to deal with, unlike the first woman. I thanked her for going that extra step and asked her to do me a favor - that next time a client calls and says something is wrong? Don't call them a liar and threaten to hang up because they disagree with you. Had I not been adamant with speaking to someone else, my mom would have been ripped off at the company level. The only one that would have hurt was them, as since it was their fault with a breach of security and electronic theft, they would have been out the amount of money they owed my mother. My mom still would have gotten her money, just at a later time.

So, as of right now, everything is straightened out. If everything isn't as it should be by the beginning of next week, Hurricane Cheyne will blow into their office to make their lives a living hell.

Nobody messes with my mom.

Nobody.

Just sayin'.