why you should never say yes to automatic renewal

one of my credit card companies called to warn me about a $29.95 charge being posted to my account. I disputed making it and the company denied the charge. I went to my statement and noticed that the charge was there again last month but I had not noticed. I called the 1888 number on the statement to discover I had been billed since last July 2007 that amount and for 10 months = $295.00!!! The sad part is I do recall signing up for the service and told myself I would cancel it after a month or two. It was for a company that fields freelance gigs to freelancers. I should have been using the service all these months of being at home, but alas, another $300 bucks down the DRAIN! ARGH!

Also, I discovered another automatic deduction for some electronic service I did ask for but forgot to cancel until too late. The company credited half the auto charges, but I was still out a good $70.00 for the half year. It was partially my fault for not noticing the auto debit and canceling it. Grrrrr!

The biggest ripoff was a "protection plan" that was charged to my Bank of America line of credit. They offer you these free preliminary no charge "period" and then the darn auto debit kicks in. This time it was for $150.00!! For 3 months!!! That's $450 BUCKS! aaaaugh! When I called, even after disputing it and going back and forth with the rep on the phone, she refused to refund it saying I was "protected" for those months! RIP OFF!!! I think I might have said yes to the trial period and had been too busy to carefully examine my statement all of those 3 months! argh!

Last week, while staying with my sister, I was nosying around her stack of mail and notice her phone bill was so high. I took a look at it and discovered the company had charged her for gaming services that I was sure my sister didn't order. I called it to her attention and she was able to call and have it removed. I guess she was grateful enough to not fuss at me for being in her bills. I did save her nearly $70.00 in an unauthorized charge. She had just paid the bill without even looking at the statement.

My husband found out some internet hacker had scraped his card info somehow and was using his credit/debit card to pay for Match.com and LavaLife dating services. Because it was his debit card, he noticed it quicker that it was happening b/c his accessible cash was so low!

NO WONDER MY LEFT HAND HAD BEEN ITCHING (old wives tale), I HAD BEEN HEMMORRHAGING MONEY EVERY MONTH AND NOT EVEN KNOWING IT!

GRRR!

THE LESSONS IN ALL OF THIS:

1. ALWAYS CAREFULLY REVIEW EACH MONTHLY STATEMENT without fail each and every month.

2. NEVER SAY YES TO PRELIMINARY PAYMENTS THAT RESULT IN AUTO DEBIT FROM YOUR ACCOUNTS AFTER THE PRELIM PERIOD LAPSES. your existing cc companies are notorious for doing this b/c they already have your account info and do not need to alert you to it by asking for it.