Does the headline sound familiar. Have you been in such a
situation where there have been financial charges and late fees reflecting on
your new credit card statement when there has been no transaction done by you
on your card? A very common scenario faced by most credit cardholders. It is
due to this reason that most people prefer to stay away from applying for a
credit card and instead use cash or their debit card for making payments.
Have you ever wondered the reason behind these charges? It
has been just 2 months since you received
your new credit card. You have not even used it for making any purchase through
it. Despite non usage, you are being asked to pay interest and late fees on
your credit card. In such cases what happens is that most credit cardholders
get furious and upset and throw away their credit cards and decide not to use them.
They call the bank and convey on the phone that they would like to close their
credit card account without going through any formal procedure. What follows is
that the credit card does not get closed. With each passing month the charges
multiply and the account gets delinquent. The collection department contacts
the credit cardholder for making payment of the total amount due. In some cases
settlement is made. But this experience creates a negative opinion in the minds
of the credit card holders that it is very risky to use this financial
instrument called credit card.
However the main reason for the charges on a non usage
credit card is misinformation. It usually happens when credit card holders
apply for credit cards through external sources and not directly from the concerned
financial institution. These external sources give false information to the
credit card holder that the credit card is lifetime free. No membership fee
would be charged on it to lure the customer to apply for a credit card through them.
But what happens is that the credit card is issued and there is no fee waiver
on it. So in the first month statement the credit card holder would find the
membership fee charge reflecting in the credit card statement. When the credit
card holder chooses to ignore to make payment of the fees as the fee reflects
as the amount due in his statement. This results in a financial charges and
late fees being levied to the credit card holder in his credit card statement
on the fee amount.
What should be done in such situations-The first is that
always apply for a credit card directly from the bank or financial institution.
This will help you to know under which scheme your credit card has been issued i.e.-free
card, first year fee waiver,card,life time free card etc. In case your
application has been approved for a free card with no membership fees and a fee
is charged in your credit card statement, you must call the bank immediately
and inform them that the charges are not applicable as you were issued a
membership free card. The concerned bank will put forward your request to the
concerned department for a fee waiver, or guide you as to what needs to be done
in such a situation. But never ignore any charges that show in your credit card
statement.Whenever in doubt about any transaction on your credit card call the
bank immediately for a clarification and take the necessary steps as directed
by the bank for rectifying the
transaction in your credit card account to avoid facing any difficulty in the
future.
Credit card is the most flexible form of payment that can be
used .All it requires is a certain level of responsibility on your part to use
it wisely.
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