I was shocked and appalled at some of the statistics that Bob Sullivan laid on me today. Bob is the author of "Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day and What You Can Do About It". He says that the average family is losing about $200 a month on hidden fees: Overcharges, Surcharges, and other sneaky charges that corporate America knows we're probably not going to catch. The average American family is losing about $2,000 a year on stupid little fees. Here's the thing, though. If you know what to look for, you can catch 'em.
The best strategy to avoid these nasty little fees is to go to your cable company, your phone company, your credit card company, and go through the fees line by line, and just ask them, "Do you really need to charge me this fee?" If it's a government charge, they probably do. If it's one of their countless surcharges, you may be able to hammer out a compromise with them. The best strategy is a "Just Ask" policy. If you don't ask, you don't get.
Then, once you feel like you have your bill in order, you need to follow a budget. About 10% of Americans have an actual working budget. Very few of us are watching every bill and every penny we spend. But if you can identify the 10 or 11 bills that you pay every month, and really watch how much those bills are, you will notice when there is an increase, and can then immediately call them on it. They are banking that you won't.
Next week, I have a great story for you on how to argue with these corporations, and WIN.
Please drop a line and let me know what you think of my stories, and if I'm missing anything. I always love to hear from you.
I'm Bill Wixey, keeping your money safe.
Comments (1)
bill,i thought i was crazy, when i first looked at my qwest bill. One of my features is unlmtd. long distance. i pay $20.00 a mo to have free long distance.plus i "bundled" my savings!! When i signed up,I made sure to ask, what my monthly bill would run..I was told $150.00 approx. a month. o.k. Imagine my surprise when last month my amt due was over $300.00, we paid in full, again this month over $300.00!!! when i signed up for direct t.v. through qwest, I was asked if i wanted to purchase or rent then cable equipment, obviously I chose to purchase, why would I want to have an extra rental each month right? How surprised was I to find out that I'm still being charged to rent the equipment every month?!!? When I inquired as to this monthly @@**##%%@!I was told that it doesn't matter if I purchased or not they would still have to bill for the usage of blah blah blah! I'm fed up with this, inapropriate words come to mind, i'm so glad that you have opened this up to everyones attention. When i would say anything about the insane charges, people looked at me like I was insane. I don't have that kind of money to throw around. The worst thing about it though is that when the phone company owes you money it has to go through a process. When you owe them money they disconnect your services, what's that all about? Simple fact QWEST SUCKS! But that's my twisted opinion! Thanks Bill
Posted by jodie | July 11, 2008 10:40 AM
Posted on July 11, 2008 10:40