Have you been paying too much for your credit card?

June 09, 2020, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Almost everyone has a credit card of on kind or another. It is now nearly impossible to live life and shop without one. Many stores now require contactless payment systems, airfares can easily exceed daily debit limits on cash cards. Most hotels aren’t eager to take cash for rooms – they require a credit card as a deposit hold at the very least.

Credit cars come in all flavours. Some are no fee and no frills, others seemingly offer everything from concierge service to extended warranties and exclusive event deals. Some charge an annual fee while others are free. Some have high interest rates, others offer lower rates (not low because at the time of writing prime is 0.25% while lower interest cards are in the 10% rate or 40 times prime). Higher interest rates run to almost 30% annually for carried balances.

An added cost for many people is balance protection insurance that many people aren’t even aware they have or agreed to. This insurance premium is based on the balance of the card and is charged to you monthly. It pays the minimum payment on your card if you lose your job or get too sick to work.

Recently a Saskatchewan man made the news because he wanted proof from the bank that he had signed up for the insurance. They were not willing to supply him with any such proof, but refused to refund the man. He wasn’t aware that he had been paying the premium for 10 years and denied signing up for it.

Not surprisingly the bank didn’t seem very responsive to his queries and after 11 emails informed him that they didn’t have the original paperwork for his account. When the man contacted the insurer the bank used they indicated no enquiries had been made from the bank and they began one. The gentlemen was told his file data was corrupted.

The man finally contacted CBC News who began making enquiries. The bank then decided to refund the man almost $10,000 in premiums for the last 10 years.

Sadly, this does not seem to be an isolated case. Many people now are examining their bills far more carefully than ever before and have begun questioning the banks about these premiums being charged to them. Most are being told that either they should have complained years ago, or that they signed up unknowingly, and in most cases the banks don’t seem able to provide proof of enrollment.

Many people may have missed the chance to make claims on their insurance (after loosing work or becoming too ill to work) because they were unaware they have it.

If you have credit cards please check your bills closely. If you don’t recall signing up for the balance protection and are being charged for it contact your financial institution about it. You can then decide whether you want to keep it or not. If you did not sign up for it and they cannot provide proof of enrollment, then you should be requesting a refund in full.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.