2009-05-21

Desperate Credit Card Companies Pulling New Tricks

It's amazing how sneaky credit card companies are and have been. It doesn't even surprise me much anymore. But they do manage to catch us off-guard every now and then and create new headaches all the time.

People who don't check their statements carefully might be paying extra fees for everything without knowing.

The newest trick on their book is the following: if a company has headquarters in another country, but conducts business in the US as usual, they now apply their special foreign transaction fee even on transactions generated in the US and in US dollars.

That's just insane.

I just got a bill today with a three percent surcharge because the company that billed me, called "British Airways, USA", located in Florida, US, is an arm of UK-based British Airways. The charge was originally in USD and still the three percent fee applied.

(BTW: I called British Air and a representative told me there are lots of complaints like mine, and that the card was charged in the US, in US dollars, by their american subsidiary, and that we should not pay these abusive fees)

Of course, I'm disputing the charge with the credit card company. But it goes to show how sneaky these people are.

This, of course, wasn't the first time I had to dispute charges with credit card companies. In all cases though, I take them to the Better Business Bureau if needed and close the account. I've only lost once, but the company lost a good customer of 8 years. And I'll never return to it.

The supply is large for someone with good credit, so being faithful to any single company is pointless.

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