Random Act of Kindness

[ZatarRufus]

Howdy Lurkers,

This transpired tonight and I'm curious as to your thoughts on the following letter I wrote and the corresponding actions I took.

My hand-written letter:

March 3, 2004

Person's Name
Address
City, ST Zip

Dear Person's Name,

Your Xxxxxxxxx Services credit card bill was mis-delivered to me. I inadvertantly open it along with my other mail.

I've taken the liberty of paying your minimum due amount, including the past due $29.00.

You have my word that I will do nothing with my knowledge of your account number other than its record in my financial transaction.

Please accept this as a friendly soul giving to another.

My printed name
My Signature

My Address, City, ST, Zip

I also enclosed the 'keep' portion of the statement and a photocopy (on one page) of the check I wrote (obscuring my account number, but showing the memo of 'Pay to the account of Person's Name, ####-####-####-####'), the 'return' portion with 59.00 written in, and the return envelope with my return and proper postage affixed.

On my way to work tomorrow, I will deposit the letter to the person and the payment in the mail.

Does this create positive energy in the multi-verse?

ZR

[DeeBye]

Can I send you my credit card bill?

[WarLocke]

^^^ ROFL ;)

Few people in this world would have shown such generosity. You've put most of us to shame, man.

[Occhidiangela]

Now that was well played. I stand in awe. :D

[Archon_Wing]

...but it's real! B)


Edit: Whoops, hollywood.

[Phyloxerra]

Howdy,

Good job man. I wish I had the heart/good soul to do things like that. Whenever I try I seem to turn it into a fiasco.


Scotty

[eppie]

I find this first of all a very comic thing to do. The letter was hilarious, good job.

I would like to know who this person was?. Maybe it is some rich guy, and very probably the person will not understand it. (and be carefull you might pay your money to the" George Bush campaign fund" :D )


If I got a letter like that I would directly call my bank to block my credit card.

But anyway thanks for sharing it with us.

(if you did not send it yet, why don't you tear it up and give your money to some charity?)

[Artega]

A noble gesture. $59 is no small amount of money; however, there's no guarantee that the person will like your using their account number for any kind of transaction, whether it benefits them or not. I advise against doing such in the future, good intent or not.

[ZatarRufus]

I find this first of all a very comic thing to do. The letter was hilarious, good job.

I missed that part. Would you care to explain so I might share in the humor?

I would like to know who this person was?. Maybe it is some rich guy, and very probably the person will not understand it.

Obviously I won't disclose a name, but I see no harm in presenting the numbers from which I drew my own conclusion. The person has a limit of $2150, a balance of $992, and an interest rate of 21.4%. I surmised this was not a rich person, but one who (dang. who or whom?) was struggling to make ends meet. The past due $29.00 contributed as well. The unused available credit of $1158, however, indicated some restraint.

If I got a letter like that I would directly call my bank to block my credit card.

I read that and realized that would be my initial reaction as well. Then I thought I would check the phone book and see if the sender' was listed and if the published addressed matched the return and that on the copy of the check. See my reply to Artega a further realization of mine.

(if you did not send it yet, why don't you tear it up and give your money to some charity?)

Already sent. For better or worse, the deed is done. Although, can I not give to a fellow person as well as to my charity?

[ZatarRufus]

...there's no guarantee that the person will like your using their account number for any kind of transaction, whether it benefits them or not.  I advise against doing such in the future, good intent or not.

Very good point. I now think it would have been better to send an apology for inadvertantly opening the person's mail along with the entire document, and a money order made out to the person. And do it anonymously.

Edit: Shortened quote.

[kandrathe]

You did a nice thing, and I think you will find that is reward enough. Please keep us informed though if anything more comes of it. I am curious to know how your gesture was received, and if it caused any positive ripples in the tides of fate. This is what makes lives interesting, is it not?

[eppie]

I missed that part. Would you care to explain so I might share in the humor?

--I find this "action"very original. And with humor I don't mean  "laughing haha", but something more clever. (well that does explain a lot ;) , anyway it was meant as a compliment.


Obviously I won't disclose a name, but I see no harm in presenting the numbers from which I drew my own conclusion. The person has a limit of $2150, a balance of $992, and an interest rate of 21.4%. I surmised this was not a rich person, but one who (dang. who or whom?) was struggling to make ends meet. The past due $29.00 contributed as well.  The unused available credit of $1158, however, indicated some restraint.

--aa okay. I understand, makes the action even better.


I read that and realized that would be my initial reaction as well. Then I thought I would check the phone book and see if the sender' was listed and if the published addressed matched the return and that on the copy of the check. See my reply to Artega a further realization of mine.


Already sent. For better or worse, the deed is done. Although, can I not give to a fellow person as well as to my charity?

--well you're absolutely right. Thanks for the explanation. I think you did well.
eppie

[ZatarRufus]

...that does explain a lot ;)

Got it. :)

While I'm here, allow me to provide a few more details which should put this into better perspective:

I'm not a rich person by any means. I live payday to payday with a bit of a 'rainy day' cushion. It so happened my prior paycheck included a bonus of almost $120. I had done my banking before opening that day's mail. Also, I've recently read the book "The Greatest Salesman in the World" by Og Mandino.

I found the synchroneity of these events most compelling. I just wish I'd executed this better.

Edit: I had sacrificed clairity for brevity.
ZR

[Tal]

Proof that no good deed goes unpunished.:(

[eppie]

Proof that no good deed goes unpunished.:(

I thought it was quite nice. This way I can remenisce about some of my old posts.

[the Langolier]

This reminds me of this past Christmas. At deviantART.com I thought it would be fun to buy a piece for someone, so I browsed random deviants until I found one with a wish list. The system is set up so you can purchase items for other members w/o exchanging any personal information. I added the photograph from their wish list that I liked the most to my shopping cart and checked out; the total was about $80. I then went to their profile and left a "Merry Christmas" comment.

A few days after new years, I realized that I had not yet received an email saying my order had been delivered. I looked up the status of my order and found that they had rejected the delivery outright! I contacted dA and they said the procedure was that the item would be shipped to me instead. It was nothing I really cared for, but it never showed up anyways - I had no idea where it finally ended up. I thought it would be fun for someone to get an unexpected surprise from a stranger, but I was a little disappointed that it didn't work out.

[ZatarRufus]

Please keep us informed though if anything more comes of it. I am curious to know how your gesture was received, and if it caused any positive ripples in the tides of fate.

The check cleared my bank and the amount was not posted to my credit card account. I assume that person did benifit but I did not receive any reply. In that regard, nothing further came of it.

However, I have been self employed for the past twenty years with an erratic income that averages slightly more than my expenses. Invariably when my finances are the most bleak, a contract comes along just in the nick of time. Perhaps this is karma.

ZR

[Taem]

Invariably when my finances are the most bleak, a contract comes along just in the nick of time. Perhaps this is karma.

I very much like that thinking, and myself have a similar concept on life, however you'd be a fool to throw all your eggs in one basket. Plan for the future, do good to others, and let karma do the rest - don't ride the windsails of karma hoping for the best because then you will be setting yourself up for the worst!

[Maitre]

snip
and a photocopy (on one page) of the check I wrote (obscuring my account number, but showing the memo of 'Pay to the account of Person's Name, ####-####-####-####'),
snip

First thought: when you decided to do this, you might have considered getting a money order, instead of a personal check.

Good intentions of helping someone out, but be on the look-out if you get another bill next month. You may have been the victim of fraud.

I myself recently got a call from a bank asking me if I had applied for a credit card. It seems that someone in Brooklyn had decided I needed more available credit, and that they were just the person to make that happen. In order to act on this decision, they applied to a well known financial institution for a credit card in my name, using my social security number, and their address (though I'm fairly certain that the address they used was not exactly theirs). Bear in mind, I do not know anyone who currently lives, or ever lived in Brooklyn, nor have I ever been to Brooklyn, though I did drive past it at one point.

Seems like this scheme could be used slightly differently and end up similar to the situation to the one you describe. If someone applied for a card with fake info except they used your real address, you might be stuck holding the bills.

Sorry to be thinking the worst, but that's the way I've been feeling since trying to deal with the credit bureaus and figure out how somebody in Brooklyn starting making decisions with my info.

edit: grammar and typos

[LennyLen]

Good intentions of helping someone out, but be on the look-out if you get another bill next month.

You might want to check the date on the original post.;)