How A Card Bungle Left Me Fuming
Sun Herald
Sunday December 20, 1998
I AM normally a controlled spender - except when that must-have black dress is on sale, or I'm overseas and the odd trinket or 12 takes my fancy.
But when my credit card statement, which is linked to my savings account, came in after Christmas last year and showed my balance to be about $1,600 more than I had budgeted, my worst fears were realised.
In a moment of retail frenzy in Florence, had I racked up too many things off the rack and just forgotten about them? Is the exchange rate that bad? Does it take more than three months for items purchased overseas to appear on the statement? Did I spread the Christmas cheer far beyond my means?
On checking with my credit union to make sure my pay had gone in, I hit the panic button when a debit in Lancashire, England, registered. I've never even been there.
I requested that the sale voucher be produced so that I could check what it was that I had bought.
Several weeks later the mystery unravelled to reveal my credit card had graciously purchased computer equipment for a man in England through a mail order catalogue.
I phoned a credit union consultant who promised the forms would be sent to my home to fix up this act of charity. They never arrived.
When I rang weeks later (allowing for banking bureaucracy to take its course), I was kindly told that I had missed the deadline to recover my money and sorry 'bout that.
Being the informed financial planner that I am, I promptly burst into tears.
A call to verify this procedure with Visa revealed that this was not the case (sigh!) and I was instructed to sign a statutory declaration denying the purchase and lodge it with my local branch. I did.
The credit union consultant then instructed me to be patient, as the matter was one of "good faith" with Visa, who she said had my money. I thought the first random act of kindness - paying for some bloke's computer - was enough, but no. So I waited.
And waited. Another six months in fact, with numerous abusive calls to the credit union in between.
Approaching the 12- month anniversary of the item appearing on my statement and exasperated by the whole mess, I finally sought advice from The Sun-Herald 's business editor, who suggested I call the Credit Union Services Corporation.
Within an hour, my problem was solved. The money was returned to my account, with interest and a sincere apology from the credit union for my troubles.
What should have happened, I was told by a senior employee who took over my case, was that the money should have been returned as soon as I lodged the stat dec and the credit union should have taken on the fight (and wait) for the money with Visa.
It's easy to see how this error occurred: one digit out and I'd paid for someone else's Christmas.
But it's just as easy to oversee little slip-ups on your statement - a phone bill paid electronically here, a set of steak knives from Demtel there.
Share the spirit of Christmas - but not with the banks or credit unions. They've got enough of your money!
© 1998 Sun Herald
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