It’s such a simple thing to do, but most people just pay whatever their credit card bill says is due without giving the charges a very thorough review. Credit card statements detail each and every charge you have made since the last statement. If you keep your credit card receipts organized, this review will not take very long and it could potentially save you money. You don’t want to pay more than you actually owe.
I’ve listed below some items to look for on your credit card statements:
Compare each charge on the bill with the corresponding receipt.
That’s why it is so important to keep all your receipts. Mistakes do happen, and you could have been charged an incorrect amount. The hard copy receipt can be the proof you need.
Scan your charges for items you did not authorize.
If your card is not with you at all times, someone could have used it without your permission. And even if you haven’t lost your card, someone could have fraudulently obtained and used your card number.
Review your bill for double charges.
Equipment malfunctions or errors can cause a charge to go through twice. Dishonest employees or companies may also make duplicate charges on purpose. Our credit union usually double checks these types of charges, but ultimately it is up to the credit card holder to flag them if they happen.
Review charges imposed by the creditor, such as interest, fees and credit insurance.
If you see anything suspicious, check the cardholder agreement to make sure the charge is legitimate.
So what do you do if you find a mistake?
It’s important to act quickly when you find an error on your credit card statement. If it is the result of fraud, notifying the creditor can prevent further misuse. Cardholders must act within a reasonable amount of time in order to be protected by law.
The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) states that cardholders must report billing errors in writing within 60 days from the date the first statement containing said error was mailed. If they do so, the creditor must either correct the mistake or prove that the charge is legitimate within two billing cycles. If the charges were not authorized by the cardholder, he may be held liable for no more than the first $50.
If you have questions about a charge, then call your creditor. In the case of unauthorized charges, a customer service representative can tell you if other charges have been made since the statement was prepared. If an error is found, you must notify the card issuer in writing. Otherwise, you may have no legal recourse if they refuse to make a correction.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I probably need to do a better job of this–I make sure there are no fees, but there could be a charge on there that shouldn’t be there every now and then.
We must always remember that it is OUR money. Someone will try to take it fom us at some point in time if were not careful
A great reminder for everyone! We should be doing reviews before paying our credit card bills. Nice post..
This is so timely, I was just about to post on my blog about using credit cards to help with your saving plans.
I am lucky to never have had any dodgy charges on my card, but I have recently started to use my credit card to charge as much as possible, rather than use debit card or cash. I don’t want to increase my debt or anything like that, I just do it because it helps you track what you spend (and then you can just pay it all off before you get any fees or interest charged). I’m lucky I have a fee free card.
Thank you for these important reminders. I’ve seen random charges on my bank statement as well, they were labeled as Online Banking Fees. I let them go for several months only to find out I was being charged for services that I was not using. Thankfully they reversed all of these monthly charges.
Over the last year there were 2 occasions where my card company levied charges of $25 for overdue payments even though they were paid well in advance. I’ve also had instances, like Melissa, where payments of around $1 were taken, and in one case it was followed by an additional $500 of unauthorized payments over the next few weeks. It’s well worth taking 10 minutes each month to review your bill, keeping accurate records of statements.
This is SO important. Last year we found an unauthorized charge on a credit card bill. It was a small amount–around $5–but we wonder if someone was just testing the waters before using the card for major purchases. Just after that we found that someone had used my identity to open another account; I can only imagine that these things were connected. We have a suspicion about how the person got the information, but no proof.