May 1, 2007 – Read the Fine Print

I was reading through one of those pamphlets from one of my credit cards over the weekend only to run into some pretty sick fine print. Apparently, there was a paragraph mentioning how if the finance charge for any given month was less than $1.50 I would be charged a $1.50 fee in lieu of a fee for that month. $18 a year is nothing to be too terribly concerned over, but fine print like that is annoying as hell to catch.

There was a paragraph below it stating how if you do not want to accept the fee you could mail them (as in letter, paper, stamp and all that) with your account information and a mention that you do not want to pay this fee. It mentioned that a call would not suffice, you had to actually mail something out to the specific address listed, and it much get there by a certain date. I sent mine in certified mail so they no way of claiming that it didn’t get there in time. If you have a credit card, in my case a Mastercard from (formerly) MBNA now through Bank of America, I’d suggest reading the fine print ASAP. If this wasn’t my oldest credit card I’d consider canceling it, but length of time accounts are open is one of the top factors in determining credit score.