This has always sounded rather like an contradictory expression, anyone accused of this is typically already an expert and practice really doesn't enter into the process.

Now you would think that Credit Card companies would make a nice little profit on each purchase made using their cards and this would be enough to keep them happy. Not least given the amount of money they need to spend to get "more" customers, trying to extract additional funds from existing clients could prove counter productive.

It's amazing how many still chance their arm and amazing how frequently they do it ...

I started out with a credit card that I'd had for years which carried a huge credit limit, no problems, all working fine. Then for some reason, they got greedy and decided that if the postal service took 2 weeks to deliver a cheque and it arrived the day after their deadline, they could charge me another £20.

Wrong - a lengthy conversation saw £20 credited to my account.

Next month, same again, this time it took three weeks to reach them!

Another lengthy conversation saw £20 credited to my account.

What ?!

I explained in great detail that they were about to lose my business after many years of my custom. This resulted in the recommendation that I use the on-line service as this was not subject to postal delays.

Wayhey!

Next month, guess what, another £20 on my card for late payment.

Dear Fuckwits ...

I explained in great detail that I had indeed gone onto the website and put through a transaction to clear my balance using my debit card. I also explained that the website had registered the transaction, hence I had left things at that.

However .. 2 days after I'd put the transaction through, the web-site decided to spit out the transaction for no apparent reason that I (or they) could fathom.

Another £20 back in the account and we learn the lesson; you need to check your on-line statement 3 days after making a payment to ensure it hasn't rejected your payment for "no apparent reason".

De Ja Vu

The next month it spat out my payment again, but I was ready! I pumped it though again and watched it for the next 5 days, it was accepted .. sorted!

Imagine my surprise ...

When I found another late payment fine on my statement again (!) I little perturbed I returned to my online statement to find a balance of 59 pence .. now given I thought I'd paid off everything on the previous statement, I was a little surprised to find 59p still remaining.

Furthermore, the balance (or all but 59p) had been paid 3 weeks ahead of terms and I'd been sent a late fee because I'd not paid off the entire balance. Thinking this a little odd, as I'd always thought they wanted you to pay of part of the balance per month (rather than the whole amount) I rang to query why there was a fine there .. Maybe they'd just got into the habit ..

Didn't take much, account credited again ...

I said I'd screen shot the statement next time so's I could show that I had indeed entered the correct amount to pay off the entire balance, and we left it at that.

Dear Sir ...

Then comes the letter, "please call us to discuss an urgent matter". Ok, I'm on the edge of my seat, maybe they're going to pay me compensation for all the time they're wasting and the crappy service they're providing?!

No.

"Sir, It appears that you didn't pay off 59p of your balance, hence we will be charging you interest on the entire balance that you did actually pay off." (which was over £500)

"Mmm, I don't think you I will ..."

Now apparently the interest will appear on my statement, but it will be credited back immediately.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!

Is it just that most people don't see the charges, or do they just pay up and ignore the fact that they're being screwed over?

These peope seem to spend SO much time trying to screw me over, it's a wonder they have time to do anything else. Has it not occurred to them providing good service and not trying to screw people over would save them a fortune in customer service calls? Or is it that they manage to extract so much money via this method they can afford to throw almost unlimited resources at it?

Wouldn't it be nice if someone invented an alternative to credit cards and all these scavengers were put out of business ... !