O_a, WRT sanding: the goal is just to rough up the surface enough for the paint to have something to grab onto, not take down the texture to create an entirely smooth level surface (unless you are about to a blackboard surface, but that's an entirely different situation.) A quick once over should be entirely adequate, just make sure you don't leave any huge holidays.

and le nubian, that's what internet financial dealies do when they are "verifying" an account: send several transactions that level back to zero but contain random amounts that you later have to verify to prove it's your account....really really really wierd to have that happen without you trying to hook that account up so some kind of direct withdrawal for a utility or credit card payment or something. Definitely best to talk to the Credit Union, it could be the precursor to something rather bad.

le nubian I just had that happen on my account and BofA caught it and flagged it as suspicious within an hour of the occurrence. A $300 charge from a local Macy's followed by a credit in the same amount. We killed the cards on the account and issued new ones. While BofA has many issues one thing I have had very good luck with is their fraud detection division.

o_a, at least for the textured walls, put down the sandpaper and go buy a product called a liquid sander or deglosser. You wipe it on and then off. Any big box or hardware store will have it. It still may not get all the gloss, but if you use a primer, you'll be fine.

erin and ND,

so, yes. I have had that happen before. My bank does that when I set up a new account for transfer, but the amounts are like $1, $2.19 stuff like that. Not hundreds of dollars!

The origin of these deposits and withdrawals (and might I say that the system marked a deposit as a withdrawal!), is from a "credit union family service center." I have never fucking heard of this entity.

You can use a CUFSC in another area to perform transactions like it is your home CU. Who knew? I didn't. That is the stated origin of these transactions.

so, yes. I have had that happen before. My bank does that when I set up a new account for transfer, but the amounts are like $1, $2.19 stuff like that. Not hundreds of dollars!

Right, and they don't take it back out. Oof.

One time my dad basically told me that women will corrupt me and turn me into a drug addict.

WUT. No one was supposed to tell you our secret!!!

credit union escapades.

So I went to the CU and sat down at a desk and everything!

I printed out the strange transactions and told her the tale. She said that the account number was probably "miskeyed" and that she was going to check to see if there was someone by that name at the CU. After typing and looking at the screen, she decided to speak to the manager.

She came back and told me that they thought it was a series of errors and if anything malicious were going on, they probably would have drained my account. (I have very little $$ in the credit union right now, so even if they had drained it, it wouldn't hurt me much to wait for the funds to be returned).

I said to her: "so, if these were errors, why didn't the CU Service Center contact UMCU to notify them of these transactions?" If there had been notations on my account, I still might be curious, but I wouldn't think something nefarious was going on."

The rep agreed that enough time had passed (this all occurred on 6/25) for there to be notations or communication between service center and CU. She said that she thought the person doing the transactions hadn't realized the error, but she retracted that after recalling that the deposits were made and then withdrawals were made right after.

So, the manager recommended an account number change. I have had this account number for several years and had memorized it. oh well. I'm moving anyway. So I am getting a new acct number, they are waiving the printing of a small box of checks (yeah, they better waive that fee).

At the end, I asked her: will there be an investigation of this? She went to the manager again and they called security who will be looking into it. I have been a customer for years and never had a problem, so I am not giving them the side eye at this moment, but I don't exactly feel comfortable. Luckily this is not my main bank account or I would be losing my shit.

Luckily this is not my main bank account or I would be losing my shit.

Word on that. I'm glad they figured out it was nothing nefarious.

Well, they're assuming that anyway. I think the number change is a good idea, and they need to be taking a hard look at internal controls.