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10 Dirty Tricks Credit Card Companies Play
The credit card companies make billions each year in
legitimate interest charges and fees, but are under constant
pressure from the shareholders to increase their earnings. To
make this extra money the credit card companies sometime adopt
some dirty tricks to make this money. As the credit card industry
becomes more competative, less money is being earned from each
client from interest charges and the number of these dirty tricks
increase. To protect yourself against these unscrupulous
procedures that steal your money we will list 10 dirty tricks
credit card companies play to their clients so you'll know what
to expect and look out for. Of course that there are not only 10
dirty tricks credit card companies play to their clients but
knowing at least these 10 tricks will help you to not be a
victim.
The first one out of the 10 dirty tricks credit card companies
play is also the worst of them: not posting your payment the day
it was received. This is the oldest known trick: the company
receives your payment in time but it doesn't process it
immediately; this delay will bring to the company a late payment
fee. This is often due to legitimate reasons, but the policies of
many credit card companies support a processing time that is not
beneficial to you. A second trick is to make you pay late by
changing the due date for your credit card payment. For being
late the company will charge again a late payment fee and if the
situation repeats for few months in a row they can legally
increase your interest rate. The third trick played by the credit
card companies is a ridiculous one: you can be charged a penalty
fee for not using your credit card a certain period of time. As
unbelievable as it might seem, this is a new tactic of the credit
card companies to take your money. Another two tricks used are in
connection with the client's peace of mind. Both of them are
connected with credit card protection and the fees that must be
paid. One of them is protecting you in case your credit card is
stolen, lost or used fraudulently. Almost all credit card
companies do not charge a fee for this service, but there are
others that do. The best thing you can do would be to avoid the
latter ones. The second credit card protection fee is for
protecting you in case you loose your job or die. For this
protection, usually, the fees are too high for the benefit
received, but many customers purchase it out of fear.
We are getting now to the last 5 of the dirty tricks credit
card companies play to their clients. The sixth trick is designed
to work on the psychological plan: the company is increasing your
credit limit. You didn't ask for a limit increase of your credit
but the company gave you the possibility to spend more money.
This is a psychological trick to make you spend more money on
your credit card trick. Another bad surprise is to come back from
your vacation and find out that you have been charged more for
the amounts spent during your foreign trip. The commission
charged for the amount spent outside the country is much higher
than usual.
One of the new scams that have appeared in the last years is
the card cancellation fee. This fee was adopted because a large
number of the clients of a certain bank discovered the extra
charges and they rushed all to cancel their accounts. The bank
responded immediately by adopting a policy of charging a fee for
closing an account. This practice was also adopted by other
companies. There are also other scams like penalization for
having a big balance or charging credit insurance fees. It is
important to know these procedures so you don't get taken
advantage of and you can help put an end to these tricks by
giving your business to companies who do not employ them.
This article has been provided courtesy of Creditor Web.
Creditor Web offers great credit card
articles available for reprint and other tools to help you
search and compare credit card offers.
MORE RESOURCES:
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