ETA: JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH MY BANK AND...THEY CAN ONLY REFUND MY MONEY AS FAR BACK AS 60 DAYS. SO....THE OTHER 8 MONTHS I PAID THIS MYSTERY COMPANY? WELL, THAT'S MY MONEY IN THAT LOVELY CRAPPER IN THE PICTURE....DAMN.
So, last week I was reconciling my bank account online. I came across a strange charge for $14.99 for a company I did not recognize. I looked back through my receipts, my check register and couldn't find anything totaling this amount. It was for a "car warranty" company. Ummm...I have a new car that is still covered under a full warranty, so I don't need an "extra warranty". Well, I called my bank, and they discovered that this charge had been coming out of my account for 4 months!!! Yes, I realize, I probably should have caught this previously, but I didn't. They sent me dispute paperwork in the mail, are in the process of refunding all of the money, blah blah.
Well, it gets worse. Since that happened, I have been paying much closer attention to my bank statements. This morning at about 3 am, I started looking through this months statements and I found ANOTHER company charging me $13.99 a month!?! WTH? So....I started investigating. They have deducted 13.99 a month out of my account since JULY of last year! TEN MONTHS have gone on without my noticing this. This company was a "home owner's club"--I called the phone number associated with this charge and it was an automated line that directed me to a website. Hello...I live in an apartment. No home ownership here thankyouverymuch.
So, I have to call my lovely bank again, to figure this out. In my defense, I guess I missed this charge as I have a bi-weekly amount automatically sent to my savings accounts and, I always round up with any charge so I usually come out with a surplus at the end of the month anyway.
Regardless, two companies have managed to sap over TWO HUNDRED dollars of my hard earned money from my bank account over the past 10 months. This is very concerning to me. I'm concerned as to HOW this happened and HOW these companies had access to my checking account? So, moral of the story? Check your bank statements carefully. I know I'll be doing a much better job of this from now on. Crap.
14 comments:
Holy crap! I never check my statement but I am certainly going to start!!
This stinks! Something similar happened to me with one of my credit cards! Not fun!
OH no! So sorry to hear this. I check my bank statement like a psycho, but I will be checking even closer!! Could you get in touch with these companies and find out how they were authorized to do this??
Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I hope you get all of this figured out very soon. I have never had this happen to me (that I know of) but when I worked in a bank I felt like it happened pretty often.
i had a very similar thing happen! I had $12.50 coming out for two months for some "Reservation Rewards" program that I never signed up for! They refunded though after I threatened!
How frustrating!! I am so sorry you had to deal with this. I'm going to check my accounts right now ...
I'm so sorry to hear that :( I look at my online account nearly every day...
Come on, you HAVE to have a way of retaliation in the line of work you do! THAT BLOWS!!!
the husband seriously checks DAILY on that stuff- WHERE are they getting access is the question!! Just think.. 14 bucks a month from 100 peeps.. that adds up! AND.. are they the SAME person doing it under a different company name?!
Im so sorry!
The bank must provide you with documentation they have for allowing the monthly draft... they can't just do it out of thin air. make them do a little of the footwork and provide you with the info that caused that monthly draft. Banks these days are so slack...they always shift the blame. Make them sweat it out a little.
Oh my goodness!! I am going to start checking my like a hawk. I did run across some pizza charge the other day that I thought was questionable... I should probably make sure that doesn't keep appearing
oh no, i'm so sorry that happened! we've had a random charge here or there that we had to get taken care of but nothing consistent! i hope you can somehow get all your moola back!
Sweepstakes entries, catalogs, filling out warranty cards, giving your info to some large electronic retailers when you buy things like TV's & cellphones/plans, your auto & renters insurance co's, writing actual checks instead of using the credit feature on your debit card (which protects you for fradulant charges unlike the debit pin feature), accidently not unchecking a tiny little block on a application that automatically gives these companies access to your bank account, the list goes on....
That is crazy! I don't know how companies can get away with their little tricks to get your money! Glad you found it out so you could stop it!
I recently had this happen with my cell phone bill! Hundreds of dollars wasted just because I never double check bills!!
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