Timeline

Last Feb. 2, Bambi killed my car.

Feb. 17th, with all the documentation finally completed, the insurance company paid off my loan to US Bank. I'd made more payments between those dates (keeping up the credit rating), so US Bank got overpaid.

Feb. 20th they sent me a letter informing me of that forgotten little item about my signing up for gap insurance when I'd bought the car. Had I not been paying ahead every month, it could have made a difference. I just wanted the loan gone ASAP. Oh well. All I could expect back from the bank was about $1300, still a significant amount, but... Oh well.

Feb. 24th US bank acknowledged receiving the payoff amount. My account disappeared from the internet where I was used to checking balances and making payments. That disappearance was the total acknowledgement I've gotten of the payoff.

Today I called US Bank asking where was my refund for the overpayment? I was informed it will be mailed out on the 12th and should arrive in 3 to 5 days. Since the 12th is a Friday, we'll plan on it closer to the five days. Once deposited, it'll take a couple more to clear.

Simple arithmetic gives US Bank nearly a full month of having my money to play with, completely interest free. Admittedly, that won't total a lot of scratch for them, but when you multiply by thousands of customers a month....

It's no wonder I love my credit union! Had I financed through them, the day the check arrived, the loan would have been paid off and the balance put in my account. They're handy for other things as well: direct deposit for paychecks, no-fee ATM usage at their locations, or only the machine fee at others, no overdrafts because "bounced" checks mean they transfer $200 increments from savings at absolutely no charge, and if it's even over that, I have a pre-established line of credit, where the only fee is a small interest charge along with the monthly deduction from my checking account so I don't ever have to remember to pay that bill and run up more late fees. They handle other bills on automatic deduct for me too, with minimal paperwork. I can call them up and within seconds have a real person to talk to, someone who can make changes in my accounts, change around CDs, change automatic IRA deductions, give me an answer on a loan request within a couple hours, and who's always happy to assist me.

When I asked Greg at US Bank whether I wasn't entitled to some of that interest for the month they had free use of my funds, he suddenly acted like I had said something very offensive about his mother. (Had he been nicer, I might have introduced him to my credit union!)