Finances - WARNING!!

I just wanted to pass along a message regarding my own personal experience just to give everyone out there a heads up and reminder to check your credit card statements carefully. Two years ago, I completely paid off a certain credit card. Since then, I have kept the card as strictly an emergency card which was never used in the two years since it was paid off. Well, about one month ago (2 years to the date of it having been paid off), I received a letter saying my payment was now past due on this card. It was only $24.50 (2 charges @ $12 each, plus .50 finance charge), but what happened is infuriating. A company called Sentinal had taken it upon themselves to start billing me for a service I never agreed to. It was one of those that covers your credit card 'in case something happens where you can`t make a payment.' I was completely blown away by this. A card I had not used in two years! And some company just starts charging for a service I never agreed to! The credit card company was helpful, however when I called Sentinal, they were rude, they couldn`t tell me anything about what the charges could possibly be for, and they couldn`t even pull up an account on me! They couldn`t find an account with my name on it! That was really baffling to me. Luckily I called the credit card company back and they are in the process of clearing everything out. Make sure to check your statements carefully each month. The other strange thing regarding this, was I hadn`t even received any statement, I just received a letter saying I was late with a payment. I did get a statement this month and it showed as though nothing had been taken care of, however one of the two charges from Sentinal had been removed and the other is in the process. Needless to say, I closed this card.

The same thing happened to me!!! *NM*

Similar situation (long)

Once, I had signed up for a free trial vacation program, which they were to charge me after 1 month. Well, they charged me and I canceled it, no problem. However, I started getting these random charges on my account for 'supplemental health insurance' and 'Discounts USA.' With 'DiscountsUSA', it took me a week to get through to them to cancel it because no-one answered the phone. I was so mad, I canceled my credit card. So be careful who you give your credit card number to.

Finances - WARNING!!

but I will billed $70 two times!! my credit card company was helpful and finally took it off, but what kills me is how these companies are able to do this without our knowledge or consent.

Sorry - I forgot to include 'The same thing happened to me'! *NM*

Finances - WARNING!!

Actually, they really are not suppose to. You could probably do something more about it....credit cards are usually associated with the actual companies that try to add the extras. I am not up on all the legal stuff, but consent must be given in either a monitored phone call or else signing some slip with your returned bill. Nancy

Finances - WARNING!!

Nancy, That`s exactly what bothered me about this. There was no activity on this card for 2 years, and the only activities going on in the final months were me making the payments to get the balance down to zero. So where could they have gotten my authorization from?? After all that time had passed, the only notice I received was when there was a late payment for the charges that mysteriously ended up on this dorment card. Sentinal is a vendor associated with this credit card company, and that was another reason for me canceling the card. Who knows what they would have let slip by next?? I mean really, a card with a zero balance for 2 years, why would I need insurance protection to cover the card`s balance 'just in case'?? There was nothing to cover!! I don`t want to stress about this anymore (thanks for letting me vent) and I`m sure if I did try to pursue it, they would come up with some lame excuse, saying something like they didn`t know how it happened. I mean, these people at Sentinal couldn`t even find the account to cancel it when I called them!