Check Your Credit Card Statements Carefully

I know you’re a busy person, but you could be throwing money down the drain by not checking your credit card statements every month. I’ve been guilty of this in the past, but learned my lesson.

A few years ago I happened to notice a $7.00 charge on one of my statements. When I investigated, I discovered I’d been charged this fee every month for six months for an online membership I wasn’t even using! I was lucky. The organization refunded all of the money for every single month of fees. And now I check my statements every single month to make sure something else doesn’t slip by.

I heard a similar story from a reader. She discovered that she was enrolled in a program she wasn’t using. What made this extra irritating is that she was supposed to be getting credits to her account and instead was getting debits — they were taking money out, not putting it in. The moral of her story? Check your statements carefully. Small transactions aren’t that noticeable and you could be paying for something you don’t need.

What about you? Do you have a similar story? Please share in the comments.