Check statements for hidden payments you should cancel
IF you’ve overspent in the sales or are worried about finances in the run up to Christmas – don’t panic. And if you have buyer’s remorse, you can return (most) goods bought online up to 14 days after purchase
But if you need to free up some cash before Christmas, here’s my guide to making savings and claiming refunds.
MONEY MISTAKES
GO back through bank and credit card statements. There are often a surprising number of mistakes lurking there.
Sometimes transactions go through in error – particularly when paying by contactless. Other payments can be incorrectly applied to your account instead of someone else’s. All of these can be cancelled then claimed back.
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND TRAPS
IF money is tight, cancelling subscriptions for services you don’t or can’t use is a good place to start. You can always sign back up to the gym in the new year!
However, you may be surprised/horrified to find other subscriptions where you signed up to free trials and forgot to cancel. Go back a year and one month, to allow for every annual payment to be tracked down. If you didn’t authorise them, weren’t told you were going to be debited or you think you’ve been scammed, your bank can cancel them right away – and you might even get a refund.
DUPLICATED SERVICES
ONE area where people have duplicate services is online security and anti-virus software. The same goes for cloud storage services. Stick with just one provider for each service. With TV and music streaming sites charging around £5 to £15+ a month, you could pay upwards of £100 before even factoring in broadband and TV packages. Reduce them and you could save up to £500 a year.
OBSOLETE INSURANCE
MILLIONS of us pay insurance policies we don’t use or need. Often, these are smaller sums each month, for things like mobile phone or gadget insurance. It’s not always obvious what the payment is on your bank statements, but chances are you could be paying for insurance on things you don’t even own anymore. You may be able to claim back hundreds if you’ve been overcharged – especially if you asked for an insurance policy to be cancelled or used the same firm to upgrade.
Many of us pay for a monthly ‘premium account’ These ‘packaged’ bank accounts often have add-on insurance that might not be useful. If you’re over 70, for example, your packaged travel insurance is unlikely to cover you – and you might get some cash back.
UTILITIES AND OVERCHARGING
MOST of us have abandoned paper statements from utility companies. But, without the monthly spending reminder, it’s easy to miss unauthorised charges or errors. Re-acquaint yourself with your online accounts and apply for passwords if you’ve forgotten them. You may be shocked at charges lurking in statements. Phone bills also hide a range of charges you might not have been aware of. These can include data roaming charges that you might not have realised you were paying when on holiday, premium rate text services (up to £5 each) after you agreed to let a firm send you notifications and other disputed charges.
Have a scoot through the bill and flag up anything you haven’t authorised. The Phone Paid Services Authority can help if you aren’t happy with the response from the firm.
If you encounter a problem with a firm that won’t refund, Resolver can help for free. Get in touch at resolver.co.uk