Mistakes Happen
Creditors and financial institutions are far from perfect. Once in a while errors might show up on your statements that can cost you some money you don’t actually owe. For example, you might encounter a late fee even though you know for sure that your payment was sent in on time. Or in another instance you might find a balance forward on a statement when you in fact had no balance the previous month. Whatever the instance, you should never assume that something must be true just because it shows up on a statement.
If something seems wrong, call the company. You never know if your file got mixed up with someone else’s file or if maybe a computer error caused your account to receive some fees by mistake. Even the most streamlined billing system can encounter glitches once in a while, so you should never feel silly about calling to ask about something that doesn’t seem quite right.
Keep an eye out for these types of errors:
- Fees you didn’t actually incur (late fees, over the limit fees, etc)
- Purchases you didn’t make
- Statement adjustments you didn’t request
You should be equally concerned if you find adjustments on your statement that appear to be in your favor if you don’t know where they came from. If you discover a $50 credit adjustment, don’t just celebrate your good fortune and go spend the extra $50. Call the company and find out if the money is actually yours. Besides the fact that the money may not actually belong to you, there is a good chance that if it is indeed a mistake it will be discovered sooner or later and the money will be taken right back out of your account.
Of course, this all points to the fact that you need to review your statements every month instead of just tossing them aside. Look at it this way: Every statement has the potential to have errors on it that may cost you money. Shouldn’t you take a moment to have a look?
