Earlier in the week we started an article series called financial money traps and in the first article we talked about timeshares and different ways they can trap you. Then next week we will finish the series with the final post on Monday.
Today post is about helping you get past some of the credit card traps out there and also to give you some tips to help you save more money and avoid getting ripped off.
My First Credit Card Nightmare
I’m sure almost all of use can speak from experience about how credit cards can bring us happiness and joy but also bring us to are knees at a moments notice. My worst experience with credit cards came true several months back as I opened the statement and proceed to read down the list of transactions.
Everything looked good until I got to the bottom of the statement. Their was a payment for $90 to an internet marketing company. I looked at the name of the company and reliezed who it was. It was an internet marketing company I had bought a book and a few DVDs from and somehow they were charging me $90 for some sort of membership site fee.
What I failed to realize was that I had been paying for this membership site for several months without even knowing it. What a nightmare.
After calming down I dug through the fine print and realized they had given me a free month subscription to there membership site and after the first month they were going to bill me $90 every month after that.
The only good news out of this story was that after I had called the company and explained my story to them they at least refunded me the last months $90.
Why Credit Cards Take Money From You?
From that point on I learned my lesson and paid very close attention to every payment being made on my credit cards.
Or did I?
The second story is similar to the last one. I bought an ebook on the internet about affiliate marketing. However I clearly read the fine print this time. This particular website had an ecourse which again gave me a free months access to.
So I decide to take them up on the 1 month subscription and take there ecourse. However at the end of the month I went to cancel myself out of the program and realized it was next to impossible to get out of the program.
After nearly 2 months after being in there program I finally was able to get out of the program. However to cancel I had to dig through their forum to find their phone number and then call them to cancel the subscription. This took more time than I realized.
So why do credit cards take money from you? Because they don’t know any better. I could blame the credit card company or the subscription program I got involved with but it in the end it was nobodies fault but my own because I signed up for the program and it was my responsibility to cancel it.
Credit Cards May Even Try To Steal From You.
This last story happened to me not to long ago. Again I was skimming though my credit card statements and seen a payment for $30 for a payment protector program. I had no idea what this was for and at the least did not remember signing up for this program.
So I called the company and canceled the program but in the entire conversation with the company no one could tell me how I got into their program. Again this shows why it is so important to read you statements.
In the end though following a few simple tips can save you some big money when it comes to your credit cards and as in my case it saved me $150 a month or $1800 a year.
- Review all of your credit card statement thoroughly. I can’t say this one enough. Know who is getting your money and stop those who you don’t want to pay.
- Read the fine print. This is a big deal with credit card companies but also make sure you check the fine print other things you buy like internet subscription programs and membership websites. You may sign up for something that’s not easy to get out of.
- Be careful who you give access to. Giving access to the wrong people can cost you big and if you do give access to a company to bill you monthly make sure you monitor them and that they debit your card for the correct amount.
Have you ever been though a credit card nightmare? Do you have some tips to help those from falling victim to credit card abuse? Leave a comment below and let everyone know.
This post was featured in The Carnival Of Money Stories Edition #90: The Holiday Edition