Check your Charges



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Today is a PSA and friendly reminder to check your credit card transactions before blindly paying the bill.

With the help of online banking and Mint, I can easily review our transactions on a regular basis. A few weeks ago, during a scan through our recent activity, I saw something a little suspicious. I've been working late and have been taking cabs home instead of public transportation. That's when I saw two charges for the same amount, on the same date, and from the same taxi company. I use different taxi companies, the fare tends to be slightly different each time, and based on my receipts, it seemed wrong.

Since I didn't have time to deal directly with the taxi company, I let our bank do all the dirty work. I submitted the online claim and faxed a copy of my receipt. A few days later I received a confirmation from the bank saying they were working on my request. In less than a week, one of the charges was removed from my credit card as well as a few extra cents for interest.

Moral of the story, don't think that companies and credit card machines are perfect. Sometimes accidents happen and you can be charged a different amount than authorized. More importantly, you have important rights to dispute errors in your bill under the Fair Credit Billing Act.
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