By Ally Stoeger, OD
This year I managed to leave my personal credit card in a restaurant and lose my business credit card. Admittedly embarrassing, but fortunately I was able to cancel the cards before unauthorized purchases showed up and have new cards issued.
The unintended positive consequence–when you change a credit card number, all of the businesses charging you recurrent fees or “automatic payments” set up monthly or yearly come out of the woodwork. It can be shocking.
My personal credit card had an annual recurring charge from an auto rental “club” I thought I had canceled years ago. I was not receiving ongoing information from this program (other than the annual charge posted to my card) because the information was being sent to an e-mail address I had also canceled years ago.
After some research, I realized this “club” was raising each year’s fee by a substantial amount. I truly believe they were counting on the fact that people don’t notice an annual recurring charge.It appears they add a substantial amount to the fee each year until the customer notices or complains.The charge didn’t look like a “club fee” when it appeared on my credit card. My husband and I each thought it was something the other one had purchased.
After I canceled the lost credit cards, I loved that instead of having to call companies to cancel a recurring charge –they were calling me to beg for a new number. Great way to figure out which are legitimate charges, and which aren’t.
I had been planning to cancel a monthly Weight Watchers program… just hadn’t gotten to it yet (haven’t gotten around to taking the weight off yet either but having their card in my wallet wasn’t an effective weight loss strategy). Once my credit card number changed, I didn’t have to call or go online to cancel … it ends when they can’t bill your credit card any longer.
Now I’m not saying you should lose your credit card on purpose.But maybe from time to time you can change the card number or at least closely inspect all monthly charges.What you may find is that monthly or annual recurring charges often masquerade under names that do not sound like what they are. Inspect closely and you may find some surprises you have been paying for, especially if you share a card with a family member or office personnel.
Do you have any billing surprises you have discovered on your office or personal credit cards? When is the last time you closely examined the practice-related annual recurring charges on your credit cards?
Ally Stoeger, OD, is founder of www.RealPracticeToday.com and president of Consulting With Vision LLC, an optometry practice consulting firm. She was a founding and managing partner of a multi-doctor practice and is now in the process of opening a new practice in Virginia. Contact: ally@realpracticetoday.com.
