A secret benefactor

It's a mystery, but quite a nice one for the time being.

This evening, I quickly logged on to check my e-mail before putting two small girls in the bath. And soon wished I hadn't, since one e-mail was from Halifax, which always means I've accidentally gone overdrawn. And sure enough, when I checked, the letter said there hadn't been enough funds in my account, and so they'd elected not to pay my mortgage. Panic!

First things first though - I checked my statement because while I'm usually strapped for cash at the end of the month, I'm generally still fairly flush this early on, and able to pay important bills like the mortgage. My statement showed there had been plenty of money, quite enough to pay all of my regular debits. So I got on the phone to Halifax and they looked into it, apologised, blamed a system error, and said that they kindly wouldn't charge me for the letter. That nearly elicited a very sarcastic comment from me!

So, Halifax said they'd send the payment over to Nationwide, our mortgage provider, straight away if I could give them the right account number and sort code. So, I hung up and phoned Nationwide, and got the details. And then just asked them to check that they weren't charging me for failing to pay on time, since if they had charged me I wanted to get Halifax to pay it. The kind Nationwide lady checked the account, and said "but you have paid". "No, no", says I, "the money's still in my account". Still, the Nationwide lady remained adamant that I've paid, and yet the Halifax statement says I haven't. I was beginning to wish I'd never opened my mouth.

Now the question is, do I have a secret benefactor, or are Halifax just idiots? I think we all know the answer to that one. Perhaps a more important question is whether I decide to follow up next week with Halifax, or do I just enjoy having a very cash rich month? I think we all know the answer to that one too, but I will enjoy a cash rich weekend nonetheless!