Singapore Profit

Credit card statements that arrive in our mailbox every month may be read and chucked aside. We would then proceed to write a cheque or do internet banking to pay the bills. Have you ever stopped to check through every item that appears on the monthly statement account for your credit cards?

I just received one today, and I was puzzled by two items. One showed Melbourne Australia, and I had not been there ever since I finished my studies, and I did not do any online purchases. After thinking for a while, I think I remembered that it was for my fitness run in June. The company that charged me was probably an Australian firm, though it was quite surprising.

Another one that puzzled me consisted only of a few letters and many numbers. I had just read an article or heard on BBC that states that credit card fraud takes place every 8 seconds or some other statistics. One woman noticed a charge from India on her credit card statement, so she called the bank up. The first thought she had was that the card was physically stolen. The second thing she did was to call the bank up. It turned out that she was a victim of online credit card fraud. The charge was reversed. This means the merchant who was cheated would have to absorb the loss. They will then pass the costs to the consumer. So consumers are the ones who lose out.

Coming back to my situation, I really could not think of what I had spent on. I decide to call the bank up and had to wait for 15 minutes before they answered my call. After verifying my information, they told me that it was from some government organisation. I told the call operator that I would probably recall it.

True enough, I remembered that I had used my credit card for a donation to one of my favourite charities, the SPCA. It was for tax deduction purposes. With a sigh of relief, I put the statement away. I had also used my credit card to maximise my points.

Sometimes, it does pay to check through receipts as well. I could never understand why my father would scrutinise every item on the grocery bills. Once, he was very upset that they over charged him for a $2.50 item, probably some clothes hangers. He only bought one set, but they charged him two sets. He drove all the way back, probably wasting more money in petrol and parking, just to get that sum back. Well, I had the habit of not checking, but recently, I checked my bill for books, and they charged me the price of two items instead of one. Thankfully, they confirmed that they double charged me, and refunded the money to me. This time round, the price was ten times that of the clothes hangers, so the returns were way better.

In conclusion, just remember to keep your bills and receipts and take note of your expenditure. Check through your statements and receipts carefully to avoid fraudulent charges.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Share This