YEA!!!
I managed to get a special exception from the RTA (Aussie's MVA, but much much nicer) and got a photo id card. It's not a driver's license, but it is a photo id with my address! I was thrilled. The RTA is less than a block from our apartment so it was a easy walk with the kiddos and a very quick process. I had spent 20 minutes on the phone prior to going in order to get special permission. Why the special permission? Because we are supposed to live here six months before we can get a driver's license. My picture is horrible as I didn't know the nice lady was actually taking the picture, but I don't actually care. I just need it for the money.
We walked straight back to the hotel and I uploaded it to Paypal. Then we went shopping for dishes. We didn't ship our dishes or glasses because the risk of breaking them is rather high on air shipments. We bought dishes, glasses and a new toy for each boy. We stopped at a playground near the lake to play. This lake is also near the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) Base where Jay works. While playing, we got to see lots of fighter jets flying.
By the time we got home, I had an email from Paypal. They wanted more info. They wanted a copy of our Visa, a letter from Northrup (on Northrup letterhead and signed by their HR dept.) saying how long Jay would be here, an employment contract, Jay's passport and Jay's driver's license.
What?!
So I called for my third time to Paypal. I got a very helpful lady named Lindsey who worked very hard over the next two hours to get my restriction lifted without me having to send in all this stuff. AND IT WORKED!!!
My account is now able to be used and I am now transferred the money to our Aussie account. It will take 3-5 days for it to show up, but at least it is on its way!!!
Showing posts with label money troubles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money troubles. Show all posts
Monday, July 12, 2010
I'm so over it
So I have this very annoying problem. When I get beyond frustrated and angry with some problem I have no way of fixing, I tend to cry in frustration. I hate that I do this. I have no control over it. Thankfully, I don't get to this point very often, but I reached it today. Here's why.
Okay, as you know, we were unsuccessful in wire transferring our money from our bank. Our bank recommended using something like Western Union or Paypal. Western Union wasn't really going to work so we decided to try to Paypal ourselves the money. I already have a US paypal account that is linked to our Suntrust account. So step 1 is done.
Step 2 is open an Aussie bank account. Done (took 3 days). Step 3 is open an Aussie Paypal account and link it to the bank account. Done (took 2 days). Step 4, transfer funds into US account. Done (and took 3 days). Transfer to Aussie Paypal, at a limit of $10,000 per transaction. Done (took 3 days). Then the problems started. Aussie Paypal has a problem when your account is over $1000. You have to verify your identity in order to get to your money. There are two things required to verify id. One photo id and one address verification via utility bill. Photo id was no problem. I submitted my passport and that was fine and checked off the list. Step two is a problem. See, we aren't moved into our house yet and won't have a utility bill until 30 days or so after we move in. We turned in a letter from our bank, but that wasn't good enough. We are unable to a government picture id because we have to be in the country for 6 months first. I turned in the car registration, but that didn't work either because it is Jay's name and not mine. I don't have anything in my name. So I called and talked to Aussie Paypal on Saturday and the man suggested to show Jay's passport, our marriage certificate and our visa. I scanned and uploaded all that crap and then had to wait 2 1/2 days for them to say no. They still want somthing in my name from a utility or the government. I called back today and spent yet another hour on the phone explaining that there's no way we can do that. They are going to review my case, but it will take up to 48 hours.
Meanwhile, we can't buy my car. NGC will only pay for the rental through the 17th, then we're on our own. If Aussie Paypal decides that what we've submitted is not enough, we have 45 days to come up with the right stuff, or the Australian government takes our $10,600.00 that is in my Paypal account. I asked if I could send it back to our other account. Nope. That money can't move until I can prove my id (done) and my address (not done). At this point, I started to cry on the phone with the Aussie Paypal guy. He seemed to feel really bad, but still didn't offer much help.
Thankfully, I hadn't transferred all of our car fund out of my US paypal account. We're going to try a different transfer service for the other $10,000. Though that will take a week or so to do.
Also, we haven't bought a single bit of furniture yet. We move in on Friday and Saturday, but we have only a few appliances purchased. For some reason there is a snag with the furniture allowance. It is supposed to be an advance. Jay put in for it over 10 days ago, but for some reason, it hasn't come through yet. We could just pay for the furniture on Jay's credit card, but there's not much room on it. We paid it off last week, but the payment hasn't gone through for some reason.
I just so over all these money headaches. And, I will never use Paypal again for anything. Nowhere, on any part of their website, did they say we'd have to go through this.
Okay, as you know, we were unsuccessful in wire transferring our money from our bank. Our bank recommended using something like Western Union or Paypal. Western Union wasn't really going to work so we decided to try to Paypal ourselves the money. I already have a US paypal account that is linked to our Suntrust account. So step 1 is done.
Step 2 is open an Aussie bank account. Done (took 3 days). Step 3 is open an Aussie Paypal account and link it to the bank account. Done (took 2 days). Step 4, transfer funds into US account. Done (and took 3 days). Transfer to Aussie Paypal, at a limit of $10,000 per transaction. Done (took 3 days). Then the problems started. Aussie Paypal has a problem when your account is over $1000. You have to verify your identity in order to get to your money. There are two things required to verify id. One photo id and one address verification via utility bill. Photo id was no problem. I submitted my passport and that was fine and checked off the list. Step two is a problem. See, we aren't moved into our house yet and won't have a utility bill until 30 days or so after we move in. We turned in a letter from our bank, but that wasn't good enough. We are unable to a government picture id because we have to be in the country for 6 months first. I turned in the car registration, but that didn't work either because it is Jay's name and not mine. I don't have anything in my name. So I called and talked to Aussie Paypal on Saturday and the man suggested to show Jay's passport, our marriage certificate and our visa. I scanned and uploaded all that crap and then had to wait 2 1/2 days for them to say no. They still want somthing in my name from a utility or the government. I called back today and spent yet another hour on the phone explaining that there's no way we can do that. They are going to review my case, but it will take up to 48 hours.
Meanwhile, we can't buy my car. NGC will only pay for the rental through the 17th, then we're on our own. If Aussie Paypal decides that what we've submitted is not enough, we have 45 days to come up with the right stuff, or the Australian government takes our $10,600.00 that is in my Paypal account. I asked if I could send it back to our other account. Nope. That money can't move until I can prove my id (done) and my address (not done). At this point, I started to cry on the phone with the Aussie Paypal guy. He seemed to feel really bad, but still didn't offer much help.
Thankfully, I hadn't transferred all of our car fund out of my US paypal account. We're going to try a different transfer service for the other $10,000. Though that will take a week or so to do.
Also, we haven't bought a single bit of furniture yet. We move in on Friday and Saturday, but we have only a few appliances purchased. For some reason there is a snag with the furniture allowance. It is supposed to be an advance. Jay put in for it over 10 days ago, but for some reason, it hasn't come through yet. We could just pay for the furniture on Jay's credit card, but there's not much room on it. We paid it off last week, but the payment hasn't gone through for some reason.
I just so over all these money headaches. And, I will never use Paypal again for anything. Nowhere, on any part of their website, did they say we'd have to go through this.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Banking update
Okay, I just wanted to give a quick update to our money troubles.
We've talked to just about anyone we can with the wire transfer. They all say the same thing, that we must be there in person to transfer the money. Turns out, we can't even transfer a dollar without being there in person. Their website says that they offer wire transfers for their international clients, but I guess you still have to be domestic before you can transfer anything internationally. I think we will be switching banks when we go home at Christmas. The most current idea from the bank is to use Western Union to transfer our money. Well, that doesn't really work because there is a limit of $2000 per transaction. And the person we are transferring money to would have to go to Western Union in order to pick up the money.
We asked the seller if we could Paypal the money to him. He was sorta willing, but it's his daughter's car and therefore, his daughter's money. She was not willing. So the current plan is to open a bank account here and then paypal the money from myself to Jay. Jay will link his paypal with our new Australian account. We will then withdraw the money and transfer it to the seller. I have no clue if this will work, but it's the only idea that we have right now.
We've talked to just about anyone we can with the wire transfer. They all say the same thing, that we must be there in person to transfer the money. Turns out, we can't even transfer a dollar without being there in person. Their website says that they offer wire transfers for their international clients, but I guess you still have to be domestic before you can transfer anything internationally. I think we will be switching banks when we go home at Christmas. The most current idea from the bank is to use Western Union to transfer our money. Well, that doesn't really work because there is a limit of $2000 per transaction. And the person we are transferring money to would have to go to Western Union in order to pick up the money.
We asked the seller if we could Paypal the money to him. He was sorta willing, but it's his daughter's car and therefore, his daughter's money. She was not willing. So the current plan is to open a bank account here and then paypal the money from myself to Jay. Jay will link his paypal with our new Australian account. We will then withdraw the money and transfer it to the seller. I have no clue if this will work, but it's the only idea that we have right now.
Friday, July 2, 2010
But it's our money!
So we have car we would like to buy for the family. It is a private sale so we can't swipe a credit card and pay for it. We have gotten the Auto Advance from Jay's work so the money for the car is sitting in my bank account.
And there it sits.
We have no way to get to it. We tried to do a wire transfer.
Sorry, the amount is too big to transfer without first showing ID. Well, I understand that you are out of the country. However our policy says that we need to see ID. No, I cannot split it into smaller amounts to get around that rule. We care about our customers and we understand that you are upset. No, we cannot do it over the phone, over the internet or by fax. You must show ID.
So we asked how we could close the account.
You must come to the bank and sign some paperwork. No you cannot do it by fax or over the phone. Closing the account must be done in person.
GRRRRR
The man actually recommended that we withdrawl money from the ATM in order to add up to the $20,000 for the car. Okay, can we raise the daily limit of withdrawl? Yes, he raised it to the maximum amount of $500 per day! So Jay asked if he was actually suggesting that we spend the next 40 days withdrawing $500 a day. Well, yeah, he was.
That's not going to work. We're supposed to pay this guy in the coming week.
Yes, we can just let the car go and find something else. However, we'll still have the same problem unless we purchase at a dealership. We can't afford to go through a dealer here. Though I'm sure that we'd still have a problem trying to pay for $20,000 with a debit card.
SunTrust Bank sucks. If we switched to Bank of America, we could do a wire transfer over the internet.
And there it sits.
We have no way to get to it. We tried to do a wire transfer.
Sorry, the amount is too big to transfer without first showing ID. Well, I understand that you are out of the country. However our policy says that we need to see ID. No, I cannot split it into smaller amounts to get around that rule. We care about our customers and we understand that you are upset. No, we cannot do it over the phone, over the internet or by fax. You must show ID.
So we asked how we could close the account.
You must come to the bank and sign some paperwork. No you cannot do it by fax or over the phone. Closing the account must be done in person.
GRRRRR
The man actually recommended that we withdrawl money from the ATM in order to add up to the $20,000 for the car. Okay, can we raise the daily limit of withdrawl? Yes, he raised it to the maximum amount of $500 per day! So Jay asked if he was actually suggesting that we spend the next 40 days withdrawing $500 a day. Well, yeah, he was.
That's not going to work. We're supposed to pay this guy in the coming week.
Yes, we can just let the car go and find something else. However, we'll still have the same problem unless we purchase at a dealership. We can't afford to go through a dealer here. Though I'm sure that we'd still have a problem trying to pay for $20,000 with a debit card.
SunTrust Bank sucks. If we switched to Bank of America, we could do a wire transfer over the internet.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Somewhere in Pasadena...
There is a raccoon sleeping off a major sugar high.
A raccoon got into our trash last night. Thankfully, there was only one bag of trash since our trash gets picked up on Tuesday mornings. The bag that went out yesterday evening was some basic kitchen trash and lots and lots of leftover Easter candy. I picked up lots of empty wrappers during clean up duty. All I could think was that I hope this poor raccoon isn't diabetic. It didn't really like Fun Dip, but loved the chocolate and the lollypops.
Switching gears now...Orginally, there had been some talk about NGC paying our mortgage on our Pasadena house for a few months after we moved. This was supposed to be some sort of compensation for the fact that our moved got so delayed. Well, NGC ended up saying no way, so Jay went to the program manager and tried to see if there was any money from the contract that could help us out. If Jay was going to Australia by himself, our mortgage would be paid, along with lots of other perks and money. This was offered to Jay, but he wisely turned it down. No way I am staying here with the boys for several months, trying to sell our house while he lives high on the hog in Australia. No way! So we were offered something else that neither of us is real thrilled about: extra time on per diem. What this basically means is that we can have extra time on per diem and don't have to worry about paying anything additional out of pocket than we would normally. We'd still pay our mortgage here, but would be renting cars and living in hotels so wouldn't have to worry about rent for a house. This is a way to stretch our budget in hopes of getting our house sold quickly (unlikely, I know). What this also means is that we will have an extra week in Maryland and two extra weeks in Australia. Sounds okay, right? But here's the rub. An extra week in Maryland means that we don't leave until the 14th of June, but the movers still come on the 24th of May. That's three weeks in a hotel! Granted the hotel we will be staying at has a little kitchen and all, but still, that's just a long time. Joe will still be in school, but I will have two kids I have to entertain everyday with only the supplies we have in our suitcases. Two extra weeks in Australia makes a full 4 weeks there. It's nice to have extra time there because that gives us longer to look for a nice place to live. The rub on that end is that if we find something we like, we can't rent because our extra funds don't go into effect until we are off per diem. That means we can't buy a car or rent a house. How is our stuff going to be delivered if we have no address to give them?
We aren't sure that we are going to do any of these options, but the extra money would be nice. Jay just procastinated his way out of $300. The rental car for after his wreck would have been reimbursed if he had submitted a claim within 30 days of the accident. Despite many reminders, he didn't do it.
A raccoon got into our trash last night. Thankfully, there was only one bag of trash since our trash gets picked up on Tuesday mornings. The bag that went out yesterday evening was some basic kitchen trash and lots and lots of leftover Easter candy. I picked up lots of empty wrappers during clean up duty. All I could think was that I hope this poor raccoon isn't diabetic. It didn't really like Fun Dip, but loved the chocolate and the lollypops.
Switching gears now...Orginally, there had been some talk about NGC paying our mortgage on our Pasadena house for a few months after we moved. This was supposed to be some sort of compensation for the fact that our moved got so delayed. Well, NGC ended up saying no way, so Jay went to the program manager and tried to see if there was any money from the contract that could help us out. If Jay was going to Australia by himself, our mortgage would be paid, along with lots of other perks and money. This was offered to Jay, but he wisely turned it down. No way I am staying here with the boys for several months, trying to sell our house while he lives high on the hog in Australia. No way! So we were offered something else that neither of us is real thrilled about: extra time on per diem. What this basically means is that we can have extra time on per diem and don't have to worry about paying anything additional out of pocket than we would normally. We'd still pay our mortgage here, but would be renting cars and living in hotels so wouldn't have to worry about rent for a house. This is a way to stretch our budget in hopes of getting our house sold quickly (unlikely, I know). What this also means is that we will have an extra week in Maryland and two extra weeks in Australia. Sounds okay, right? But here's the rub. An extra week in Maryland means that we don't leave until the 14th of June, but the movers still come on the 24th of May. That's three weeks in a hotel! Granted the hotel we will be staying at has a little kitchen and all, but still, that's just a long time. Joe will still be in school, but I will have two kids I have to entertain everyday with only the supplies we have in our suitcases. Two extra weeks in Australia makes a full 4 weeks there. It's nice to have extra time there because that gives us longer to look for a nice place to live. The rub on that end is that if we find something we like, we can't rent because our extra funds don't go into effect until we are off per diem. That means we can't buy a car or rent a house. How is our stuff going to be delivered if we have no address to give them?
We aren't sure that we are going to do any of these options, but the extra money would be nice. Jay just procastinated his way out of $300. The rental car for after his wreck would have been reimbursed if he had submitted a claim within 30 days of the accident. Despite many reminders, he didn't do it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)