It's been 25 years since I graduated from high school. They're having a big reunion in the Philippines, so they've been collecting money for a batch donation to charity. I had used Xoom last week to remit the money. Every time I checked the transaction, it said pending, that it could take up to 4 days. After a week, my classmate emailed me and said she went to the bank in the Philippines and they hadn't received the money yet. And that I should call my bank to see what the hold up was.

I decided to log on to Xoom first, but couldn't. My account was locked for security reasons. I called customer service, and they were obviously Filipinas on the line. I was re-directed to the verification department. They asked who I was sending money to, what my relationship to her was. She asked for my name, address, last 4 digits of the bank account number, which I readily gave. She didn't say anything, just "OK ma'am." Clickety click on the computer. She said the transaction was cancelled for security reasons. (I never got notification nor did it say on the website until today that it was cancelled. All it said all week: being processed.) Then she started asking me for previous addresses. I can barely remember my last address. I told her I've moved so much that I don't remember. I had no idea what answer she was waiting for. She said even street names will do. I was getting so annoyed and asked her what this was for. She said to verify my identity. Each street name I gave, she gave me that annoying "Noooo Ma'am", in that Pinay colegiala tone. "That's not the address we're looking for."

I was beside myself at this point. Then out of the blue, she finally said, I gave them the wrong bank account number. Then why didn't she say so after I told her the numbers earlier in the conversation?! We would have avoided this whole interrogation about addresses! I could have acknowledged that I mistyped the account number, she would have unlocked the account, and I put in the right information. I was like all, "forget it! Just cancel the transaction! Because it's going to take 4 days again for the whole thing to go through."  The deadline for donations is coming up. She's all "she should receive it in one business day. It took longer because you put in the wrong account number." Blah, blah, blah. She could have told me that right off the bat. It's a wonder anything gets done in the Philippines. There's so many things they could do better.

I tracked the transaction. It still hasn't gone through. The website says with some banks, they get the money in minutes. With certain banks, within hours.  One business day my foot.

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