Problem Solver: $8000 mistake

If you pay your bills on-line you'll want to listen to this. An Upstate woman says her bill pay mistake left her more than $8000 in the red. She called on us when weeks passed and she couldn't get her money back. Dianne Derby works through the money mishap in this 7 On Your Side Problem Solver.

Kitty Forry is used to navigating the web to make bill payments. But earlier this month she made a mistake through her bank's on-line billing program that she won't forget for a long time.  An $81 dollar payment she tried to make to Alltel put her $8100 in the red.

"Amanda at our bank called me and said 'Do you know there's an $8105 draft on your account?'," said Forry. "I said 'That's impossible'."

So she called Alltel...

"How many single people do you know that have an $8000 cell phone bill," said Kitty as she described her conversation with Alltel. "They don't so I was hoping they would send the money back immediately or transfer it back to the bank account and they told me they couldn't do that."

The mistake actually was on her end. Mrs. Forry realized she left out a decimal point when she paid the bill on-line.

"It was my mistake but it needed to be corrected because I don't know too many people who could have covered that," said Forry.

Sharonview Federal Credit Union's Amanda Butler said she worked with Alltel to provide proof of the error. She warns customers who do bank on-line to keep a close eye on transactions.

"Be very careful," said Butler. "Go over whatever it is you are typing in before you hit the send button. Before you hit the confirm button look at your confirmation."

Even with her bank's help she couldn't get the money back fast enough. So she pleaded to 7 On Your Side. A few days later her refund arrived.

In an e-mail statement to News Channel 7 Alltel spokesperson Andrew Moreau said, "Our internal process was a bit slow and we want to apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused Ms. Forry. We're glad she now has her refund."

"That is not an excuse," said Forry. "A company that big there's no reason why they should be that slow. My view is they had the money they're making interest on it...I wasn't."

Now with her check in her hand her problem is solved.

"I cannot thank you guys enough," said Forry. "You are Godsends to all people that things happen to because you guys always get resolution."

The Federal Trade Commission says you have limited rights to stop payment on an electronic funds transfer. So ask your financial institution what their stop payments terms are. The FTC also suggests you keep all receipts of on-line transactions with your periodic statements and make sure you know and trust a merchant before sharing bank account information. To file a complaint with the FTC call 1-877-FTC-HELP or 1-877-382-4357. You can download a complaint form here.