Keep an Eye Out for Unusual Credit Card Fees
You should review your statements carefully each month, to be sure the issuers aren't charging any unusual credit card fees
Have you noticed any unusual credit card fees on your statements lately? I'm not talking about charges for cases of caviar or plane tickets to Aruba that you don't remember buying, although you should certainly pay attention to those. But it's easy to miss a finance charge miscalculation or a payment protection fee.
Let's take a look at the little ways that the issuers can pad your card fees.
Application Fees
On your first statement, you may notice a hit for an application fee. This is common practice now that the Feds have closed some of the old loopholes that credit card companies once used to line their pockets.
The government has limited how much they can charge you, but application fees of $25 and more are common. You don't have to accept this. It's worth getting on the phone with the issuer and asking them to waive the application fee.
If they refuse, just tell them you'll drop the card. They'll probably back down, because they want your long-term business more than they want a one-time fee.
Payment Protection
Payment protection fees are a form of insurance, designed to pay off your balance if you can't afford to for some reason (illness, job loss, etc.). That sounds like a good thing, and hey, they only charge you 80-90 cents per $100 worth of balance.
That's not so terrible if you keep a low balance, as of course you should. But if you really pile on the charges, you could end up paying $70-80 extra dollars a month. That's when you need to contact the issuer and turn off the payment protection, whether or not you were the one who turned it on in the first place.
Finance Charge Foul-Ups
You should take the time to review the finance charges posted for your account on every credit card statement. Never take the issuer's word for it! They may not be trying to cheat you, but computers do sometimes make mistakes, especially if someone hits the wrong key or enters the wrong formula for your account.
Now, the difference may not be very much even if you can prove that the finance charge is wrong; but a penny saved, as they say. And if you're a small business owner deducting your finance charges from your taxes (as you can do in some cases), it's worth getting it right.
If you can't figure out how they calculate the finance charges, or if things just seem hopelessly wrong, don't hesitate to call the issuer and ask for an explanation. You may be able to clear those particular unusual credit card fees right up.
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