29/04/2026
We are really learning… and learning the hard way.
Last week, I sent out some bills early — I actually love paying ahead.
Then yesterday, I got an mail from one of the companies (energy):
“Your payment did not go through — insufficient funds.”
🙄 How is that even possible?
It didn’t stop there. I was charged a penalty — basically like a “bounced check.”
This morning, another email came in from the leasing office… same issue, but this time an even bigger charge (they called it an NCF charge — and yes, it looks percentage-based 😩).
Now the big question:
How can there be insufficient funds when I had money in my account?
Here’s the backstory…
Since we moved here, we’ve been paying bills with our card — always with extra charges. We didn’t mind because we didn’t know there was another way.
Note here: the banking system here is not pretty straightforward,personally speaking
Later, we discovered we could pay directly using our bank account — no extra fees.
As a “money saver,” I quickly switched.
Well… that “saving” has now cost me almost 50x the card charges I was trying to avoid 🤦♀️
And the painful truth?
Ignorance is not an excuse.
Here’s what likely happened:
In your bank, you have checking and savings accounts.
If you enter the wrong one — even if all the money is yours — the system will not “figure it out” for you.
If the selected account doesn’t have enough money → payment fails → penalty applies.
Simple. Brutal.
Now my concern is this:
It’s almost the 1st of the month.
Those you owe don’t care about your story.
Miss the deadline → late fees start piling up daily.
The hard truth?
Nobody cares. “I don’t know” does not exist.
So please, learn from this: those it may concern in the future;
Always confirm which account your money is in
Double-check payment details before submitting
Don’t assume the system will help you
Save yourself the stress, the embarrassment, and the unnecessary charges.
Lesson learned — the hard way.
