Happy Holidays from Creditnet.com!
December 24th, 2008Wishing each of you a peaceful and joyous holiday season. We’ll try not to think about credit for at least one day, and we suggest you try too. So, eat lots of good food, enjoy your family and friends, take a nap, and be thankful for all that you have. Happy Holidays!
Posted By: Joshua Heckathorn | Comments (0)How to Dispute a Credit Card Charge
December 18th, 2008
You probably know you need to review your credit card statements, but you find yourself month after month reading just the balance owing, making some kind of payment on the credit card and discarding the statement. When you do this you could be waiving some important legal rights you have to correct billing errors or even identity theft.
Congress provided a streamlined dispute procedure that consumers can pursue to remedy errors on their credit card statement. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, consumers may submit a billing dispute to the credit card company itemizing any disputed items. The submission of a billing dispute triggers an obligation for the credit card company to investigate the error.
Requirements for Disputing a Charge
In order for a dispute to qualify as a billing dispute under the act, some simple but important rules must be followed.
- Form: Any dispute must be in writing and be mailed to the address identified on the credit card statement as the address where the servicer accepts billing statements.
- Content: The letter must identify the nature of the item disputed and contain the following identifying information: Your name, your account number and your address.
- Time: Any dispute must be mailed to the servicer within 60 days of the date the servicer mails the billing statement containing the disputed item.
If your complaint falls within these guidelines, the credit card company is required to acknowledge your complaint in 30 days and resolve the complaint within 90 days. During this time the credit card company is not permitted to take collection actions against you for failing to pay the disputed portion of your bill. In addition, the credit card company may not report the credit card as late based on your failure to pay the disputed portion during this investigation period. If you dispute the charge correctly, there can be no negative effects to your credit score for late payments.
If the credit card company refuses to acknowledge your complaint or fails to investigate the dispute, you are entitled to statutory damages and attorney fees. If you are genuinely involved in a dispute with your credit card company, you will have an easier time finding an attorney to look at your case if you can show you complied with the requirements of this act. In subsequent articles I will talk about some of the specific pitfalls you might face when drafting a “Billing Dispute.”
Sample Billing Dispute Letter
Here is a form prepared by the Federal Trade Commission that can be used in drafting a letter that qualifies as a “Billing Dispute” under the Fair Credit Billing Act. This form letter was taken from the Federal Trade Commission’s website.
Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip Code
Your Account Number
Name of Creditor
Billing Inquiries
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to dispute a billing error in the amount of $______on my account. The amount is inaccurate because (describe the problem). I am requesting that the error be corrected, that any finance and other charges related to the disputed amount be credited as well, and that I receive an accurate statement.
Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence to describe any enclosed information, such as sales slips, payment records) supporting my position. Please investigate this matter and correct the billing error as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Your name
Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)
Posted By: Jason Anderson | Comments (8)
Use ‘Em or Lose ‘Em
December 11th, 2008
Most people don’t think of credit cards as a terribly exciting topic of conversation. When was the last time you were hanging out with a bunch of friends and felt an overwhelming urge to brag about how many “ThankYou” points you banked with your CitiCard this year? Probably not going to be the life of the party if that’s the best you can come up with. That is, unless you’re hanging out at my house.
Rewards Credit Cards
We love talking with friends about the best credit cards out there and all the fabulous rewards you can enjoy once you figure out how to navigate the fine print. Yes, credit issuers are slapping consumers with increased fees and higher interest rates left and right these days, but there are still some great benefits to using plastic while living within your means: free companionship tickets, gift cards, cash back, just to name a few. You won’t get any of them when paying with cash. So, why miss out?
I’ve always had a kind of obsession with maximizing the benefits I receive from using plastic, and I love to talk about it, too. I paid for my whole honeymoon with nothing but points, and I’m sure my wife is sick of hearing about it four years later. Of course, she converted to my obsessed ways rather quickly. I think she’s worse than me now. And I’ve recently found that once the topic is brought up, a lot of other people get just as excited about it as I do. The problem seems to be that many people have thousands of points sitting around in separate accounts, some of which have been partially forgotten, and they just never find the time to redeem them.
Holiday Rewards Shopping
The holiday season is a perfect time of year to remedy this situation. Let’s be honest: cash flow is tight for most of us right now, so why not make the most of what we already have? If you carry a rewards credit card in your wallet, chances are you have a nice stockpile of unused points just waiting to expire. Don’t let it happen! Login to your accounts today, check the balances, and see how fast you can cross things off your Christmas shopping list.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done with credit card points? Leave a comment below or send an email to Credit¢ents. We’d love to hear your story.
Posted By: Joshua Heckathorn | Comments (2)Living Within Our Means
December 4th, 2008
I’ve received several emails lately from ‘Creditnetters’ expressing concern about their HELOCs getting frozen without much notice from lenders. Yes my friends, they can do it, and there’s not a whole lot you can do to fight it. HELOCs, just like credit cards, can be frozen or shut down at any time.
In some cases, reductions in home values have triggered the HELOC freeze (you may be able to fight this by using comparables to prove them wrong). In others, a minor drop in credit score or a late payment gave the lender enough of a reason to reduce their risk by completely removing the exposure from their books. As credit issuers are rushing to stanch the bleeding in every way possible these days, I wouldn’t expect things to get much better in the near future. It’s just the reality of the world we live in at the moment.
The real thing that bothers me is that in most cases the individuals have been using their HELOCs to cover monthly bills and other daily expenses. So, when the creditor pulled the plug, they found themselves in an extremely difficult financial position. While I am sympathetic, a part of me wants to repeatedly rap on top of their heads and do one of those, “Hello McFly, anybody home?” lines from Back to the Future. Haven’t we learned anything by now? Yes, our homes are probably one of the largest investments we will ever make. Hopefully, in the long run, they will be one of the most profitable investments as well. But really, we should never be using them to finance our daily lifestyles. It’s just not a financially smart thing to do.
As the economy continues to weaken, it’s become apparent that the big auto companies and financial institutions are not the only ones who need a revamping. Millions of Americans also need to take a step back and revisit what it means to actually live within one’s means. In other words, make a promise to yourself today that you will spend less than you make each month. It’s all about changing your lifestyle so it coincides with reality. It may seem obvious, but the truth is most people struggle with this principle every day. So, if you can master the art of living within your means, I promise you will emerge from this credit crisis financially better off than those who don’t.
Posted By: Joshua Heckathorn | Comments (1)
