Nurse Gets $6,000 Refunded Instead of $60, Shock Over What Happens Next
According to a 2024 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, the U.S. housing market is in the grips of an affordability crisis. Elevated interest rates and surging home prices have "priced out" millions of potential buyers, the report found. In 97 of the top 100 housing markets, home prices rose sharply, especially in the northeast and Midwest of the country.
The report also found that nearly 20 million homeowners were considered cost-burdened as of 2022—spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing and utilities. Nine million of those households were "severely burdened," devoting more than half their income to housing-related expenses.
Several Reddit users were shocked that the couple were able to bypass any scrutiny from mortgage providers about the source of the $6,000 extra income they had.
In a follow-up comment, the Reddit user explained that the mortgage lender's financial review never questioned the deposit because it fell outside the time window the bank scrutinized. "The bank did say we would have to explain any charges I think over 1k [$1,000] & I didn't know how I was going to explain it," they said. "But the time frame they ended up looking at was less than the time when it happened (over a year later) so it was never pressed further."
Though the poster acknowledged the $6,000 was "literally the only money in my bank," the couple was able to complete the home purchase by borrowing the rest of the deposit from her husband's 401(k) earnings.
The confession prompted mixed but mostly supportive reactions on Reddit. "I'd say you lucked out!" wrote user u/Alarmed-Rope-9062.
"I don't blame you one bit. Charge it to the game. We do what we must to survive out here," commented u/Coola**mom.
Others pointed to the realities of corporate accounting and customer service errors. "Honestly, after 7 years you're probably fine," wrote u/Careless-Fox-5018. "Companies write off way worse losses than 6k daily."
U/jadedflames added: "Honestly, you probably saved someone's job. For a big company, $6,000 was likely a rounding error. But for the minimum wage worker who forgot to put the decimal point in $60.00, that was more than his job was probably worth. Everybody wins."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.
A stock image of a woman smiling while holding a payment card in one hand and looking at a mobile phone.
A stock image of a woman smiling while holding a payment card in one hand and looking at a mobile phone.
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