The post office and/or loan holders lose a check. You get hounded over Thanksgiving to pay, although you have already mailed the check (on time) and resent having to deal with a 2-month old issue because of someone's incompetence.

You pay, over the phone, because they MUST HAVE IT NOW, this is an URGENT matter (so sayeth Company Rep #2 you hear from ON THANKSGIVING DAY). You pay the $12.95 fee they charge for an over-the-phone transaction. You get your family off your back, because you took care of your bills - not once, but twice - now.

A week later, your bank account goes under. You get hit with overdraft fees, for not one, but two transactions. You are left with a nasty negative red number, a lot of anger and the phone number of the rep at said loan company, who doesn't answer your call.

When you finally speak with said representative, he tells you it's not his fault his company never looked to see if the clearly stated "October payment" on the now-recently-cleared October check had been paid over the phone a week prior. No, he tells me, they just cash 2 checks (one physical, one over the phone) for duplicate payments and call it a normal transaction with people who like paying their bills 3 months in advance.

So, what are you left with? Over $1,000 withdrawn from your account in the span of a week, $82.95 in unnecessary fees (also conveniently taken out of your account) and a lot of anger at the system.

Now, hypothetically, if this is me, this is what that equation looks like:

Broke - $1,000 - $82.95 + anger at the system + phone confrontations = a whole lot of tears.

This sucks.