May 25, 2005

When you have taken out a credit card, the one thing you will have done this for is to give you a bit more financial freedom and spending power, but do you know of your rights if anything was to happen while you are a customer of the issuer of your credit card? If not, then to save you rummaging around in cupboards and drawers, here are some of the rights you have as a consumer, which will protect you against fraud, against liability and other services at your disposal, that will help you.

Our one biggest worry today when dealing with our, is the thought of our personal details falling into the hands of some unscrupulous crook, who will take us for everything that we have. So with they’re being an estimated 12,500- 13,000 credit and store cards leaving the presence of their owners everyday and into the hands of thieves, thus accounting for in the region of £412 million a year being lost to evil pests. This is why your credit card company will offer any retailer up to £50 for any card that has been reported lost or stolen, to be held on to and refused to be handed back.

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Did you also know that if you have made a purchase of say a T.V from a retailer and upon receipt of said T.V, you found it to be damaged in some way or in some cases may never reach you, instead of heading straight to the retailer, a simple phone call to your credit card issuer, to claim for any damaged or missing goods, so that it will be et by them, as they have to claim liability as well as the store for any goods, until they reach you in a satisfactory condition.

Another such service that even I did not know was covered by your credit card, was the Comparison service, this runs along the same lines as say your local supermarket who will match the price on any product, that a rival supermarket is selling cheaper. Not all credit card companies have this service, but there are plenty who do. If you purchase goods with your credit card and then see them in another store with a cheaper price label on it, then you can apply to your credit card issuer to be refunded the difference back on to your plastic, with an advantage being you have 7 months to bring this to the credit card issuer attention, were as in the supermarket it’s an instant offer.

The final one that I will bring to your attention and I hope all the above consumer rights have enlightened you, to help you deal with these problems, though I hope you never need to use them. This one is really what I see is a bonus when using your credit card to make purchases. It’s Warranties; some cards will offer you the chance to extend the warranty on the goods purchased. If said T.V tat you ordered above was to arrive at your satisfaction and came the 1 year warranty that you receive by law, if it was paid with your plastic, then the credit card company you are with has this facility on it’s card, then you will be able to turn that 1 year warranty into a 2 year one. Very handy indeed and will mean more peace of mind with the product that you have in your possession and will mean you will not have to fork out for the expensive extra cover, that they try as hard as they can to sell you in-store.