Chapter 6 - A Rude Awakening
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Karla was sitting in her favorite upscale coffee shop on Tuesday morning, sipping a seven-dollar oat milk latte, when her phone buzzed.
She glanced at the screen, expecting a text from her wealthy boyfriend, Chase. Instead, the caller ID read: First National Mortgage Lending.
Frowning, Karla answered the call. “Hello?”
“Good morning, is this Karla Evans?” a polite, robotic customer service voice asked.
“Yes, this is she.”
“Ms. Evans, we are calling regarding your mortgage account ending in 4409. Your automated monthly payment of eight hundred and fifty dollars scheduled for the fifteenth has been returned due to a canceled transfer authorization.”
Karla almost choked on her latte. “What? No, that’s impossible. Check the system again. The transfer has been automated for four years.”
“I’m looking at the ledger right now, ma'am. The originating account holder revoked the recurring authorization on Sunday evening. The payment bounced. You currently have a past-due balance, which has incurred a fifty-dollar late fee. How would you like to resolve this today?”
Karla’s face burned a deep, humiliating red. She stood up, nearly knocking her chair over.
“I… I have to call you back,” she stammered, hanging up the phone.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. She immediately opened her own banking app. Her checking account had barely three hundred dollars in it. She spent her entire salary on designer clothes, luxury vacations with Chase, and expensive dinners, assuming the "magic money" from our joint family arrangement would always be there.
She dialed my number, her fingers trembling with a mix of panic and pure rage.
May you like
The phone rang twice before clicking to voicemail.
“Laura!” Karla hissed into the receiver, pacing the sidewalk. “Call me back right now. The bank just called me. Fix whatever glitch you caused with the transfer immediately, or I’m telling Mom.”
