Credit Card...Anyone Else in Debt?

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I work front desk at a hotel. If you gave them the credit card when you checked in, you gave them permission to scan it. You do need to call the hotel and dispute the charge if you paid in cash when you checked out. Here's how things usually work: When you get to the hotel and put your CC down to check in, the CC is authorized (and the amount is put on hold) for room, tax, and (typically) $30 for incidentals...if you do not use any incidentals, the hold releases in about 4 business days (depending on the bank) and the card gets charged for the actual amount.. If you pay cash when you check out, it takes the hold just as long to release, but nothing gets charged. If they charged your card and you paid in cash, they definitely need to reimburse you and if you fight hard enough, they may also reimburse the finance charges that accrued over the past year.

They should have been able to reverse the charge a year ago when you paid cash for the room. A year later there is not really anything that you can do about it. Hotels give you an invoice when you check out, did you check out at the desk and pay for it? Did you leave without paying and in turn they charged the card? If you had the cash to pay for the room why didn't you just pay the credit card with that money right away? Having any amount over your credit limit is not good, so being $2000 over a credit limit could do some damage to your credit. Or do you mean that you just have $2000 in debt?

The problem is, it is a year later and that you are over the limit. Did you pay in cash after all or did they charge the room to your card? Of course if you paid the room in cash, then you need to contact the hotel and if no resolution, the credit card company and dispute the charges, however right away. I believe the time allowed to dispute is 18 months.

The credit card companies can really stick it to you with fees when you go over your limit or are late. Those are those little "Opt Out" notices they send you. So if you opt out, I believe in most cases you have to close the account. Call your CC company and see if that is an option...if you do so, will all the crazy fees stop. You may get a helpful rep on the phone who will give you some suggestions as to how to pay this down.

Best of luck.

We have some debt, and our thing is that we were under the limit on all cards, but then they charged the fees so that put us over (just this month). Then we got $100 less than promised from family for Christmas (they paid for our expenses to see them, but didn't cover it all, even though they told us repeatedly that they would). That means that we're not able to pay several minimum payments, which we really needed to pay. Right now I'm knowing our credit score is going to drop like crazy in the next month or two. Then we'll get our tax return and be fine, and then be able to make credit payments, but we're a bit stuck until then. Oh, and my hubby's job promised him a position back in May or June, that was supposed to come with a raise of $9,000 to $12,000 annually, and we were told it would probably be in July b/c that was the new fiscal year. We thought we were set, and bought a washer when ours broke on credit, and didn't worry about a few other things (going out to dinner once a week, etc). Then he didn't get the job until November and the raise was only $3000 annually. Even the small raise would have helped a lot earlier, but with the interest adding up, we're stuck for a month or two. We're looking forward to paying off the bills we currently have, and then we'll get to slowly work our debt down, but yeah, we've got debt too. You're not alone.

oh my. my hubby and i are in debt by 45,000. in fairness 40,000 was his before i met him. 5,000 of that was mine and that was mostly my care(which i always made mnthly payments on so i had good credit) but i did have a company call me up and start screaming and treatening to sue over money that i owed an ambulence company, they claimed i had no other bills to pay which was ridicoulous

Your post is unclear. Are these fraudulent charges or actual expenses charged to your credit card?
There is a difference between having credit card debt and what you seem to be describing. Did you pay cash upon checkout? If so the hotel needs to credit your credit card account immediately!
Or did they automatically charge it to your CC and that's what put you over your limit? If that's the case it's odd b/c your card would have been "declined" at the hotel.

****This poster has clarified that she paid the cash AND was charged by the hotel on her card. That is credit card fraud.****

If you have been making payments regularly, you should NOT be getting phone calls. My suspicion is that your CC was used fraudulently. Have you contacted the card company? What are the charges on your CC bills for? Did you get an itemized bill from the hotel? Do the charges match? I'm sorry to say it, but not all employees of hotels are trustworthy. My advice would be to contact an attorney and possibly the consumer protection agency. And I would also recommend that you alert the big three credit agencies and set up alerts so you will know if anyone tries to open credit cards in your name.

At the time of your stay-why didn't you pay in cash and have them credit your account? That was a little unclear. Keep making on-time payments-try to pay more than the minimum due-it sounds like you are-and be glad you are not under the constant scrutiny of a husband-lucky you!

Go to the Free and I do mean Free Credit Counseling Services, in your city. You may have to call a few to find the( Non profit free office) in your area.
The people at the Free Counseling Services know who to call, and how to resolve unfair charges and how to intervene with the bill collectors from hell.

When you call for your appt. tell them you have credit card charges you can't seem to pay off. Take all of your paper work with you to the appt.
I wish you the best.
A.

What I am getting from your post is that you stayed at a hotel in which you had to give them a cc to check in, you planned on paying cash but instead of paying cash they charged your cc. Also you are over your credit limit by $2,000 and you don't think that's very much to be over by.

So what did you do with the cash for the hotel? You should have done one of 2 things; tell them to take the charge off when you paid cash at checkout OR if you didn't say anything to the hotel & let it go then you should have paid the cc balance right a way. It's really unclear who is calling and harassing you, is it your cc company calling because you are over the limit? and although you don't believe being over your limit by $2,000 is a big deal, but it is & I assume that's why you are getting harassing calls.

Please don't believe for a second what other people tell you about their finances. You will not truly know the details that they may be experiencing so it's best not to compare your situation/finances to theirs.

There are plenty of people out their with debt but you should concentrate on making good on your debt. I am sure if you talk to the agency that is 'harassing' you, that you will come up with a plan that will suit you to get this paid off & keep your credit good. The Dave Ramsey book has some great details about how to do this & has some pre-written forms to use in this exact situation. Good luck

I highly suggest you consider taking Dave Ramsey's finanical peace university course, they offer it just about in all states and I've learned sooo much over the past 13 weeks, it's really worth the investment.They also offer finanical coaches who will go further into your personal situation to help get out of situations like this. I've booked hotels serveral time with a CC & then paid cashed at check out so there's something wrong with the procedures the hotel took. Do know you are not alone in debt, and that it is absolutely possible to get out of it. So don't give up!

I don't know of many people that aren't in debt! I got into a lot of debt when I was 18 because I got a credit card too young and didn't have the skills or self-control to handle it. My parents helped me out and I decided to never be in that kind of situation again - it is such a heavy burden! I was doing great once I graduated from college and got a better job, etc, but then I got married and my husband had some debt as well as two kids, so it is a lot harder to pay off stuff. We got in a good place, but then I had a baby and didn't work for a while and we bought a new car....so we were upside down on the payments and once I took over the finances, I made the decision to sell the new vehicle and trade it in with our other car that was paid off and get a used mini van for the kids and cut our payments down drastically. It was much needed. Then I got another job after the baby was born and we are slowly working our way back up again....we cut out our cable, reduced our cell phone plans, conserve water/heat, etc, and I try to budget our groceries better.
As long as you are making payments every month, then they should leave you alone. If Wachovia is giving you the problem, then try to switch to a debt payment company so you are not dealing with them.
As for the hotel, not sure what happened because it sounds like $2000 is way more than a hotel bill...I know the way hotels work is that they will put a hold on your money till the bill is paid - but once you pay cash, then the credit card is not charged and the hold is taken off. They just want to make sure the money is available if you skip out on the bill. If you paid cash and they still charged your card, then you can file a complaint with your bank and get the money back; you shouldn't have to pay it in that case. If you never paid the cash, then of course they would charge the card so they get paid.

Another poster talked about Free Credit Counseling and I highly recomment it. My husband and I wanted to be debt free before we bought a house and we went this route. We started with 12,000.00 in credit card debt, and now, after only 2 years, we will have it paid off! There was NO WAY we could have paid it off before this program. It truly is a miracle! The best part about using non for profit credit counseling programs is that you CANNOT use your credit card while in the program, so not only do you pay off your cards, you learn how to not use them! It will be so wonderful to have our cards paid off in only a few months.

I think this depends on who your debt is too. I have had harassing calls over $5.00 that is overdue. My SIL was in heavy debt and they called her constantly, then they called us and then they called my mother who is of no relation to her. My neighbor was in debt and we used to get calls on him screaming at us to turn him in (they will call anyone that they think might know you). Maybe you can try credit consolidation to get your debt consolodated and have terms you can pay on?

Call the hotel for a copy of the bill, the actual bill that you signed. They need to show a signed bill that says you agree to these charges.
You can also open a new credit card and transfer your balances, usually for no interest on the transferred amount. Check around what bank people like locally that has great customer service. If nothing else, call the local TV station with your story, that you are getting harassed over a bill you never authorized. Maybe let the hotel know that after they send you the bill (or don't have one if you never signed one) that you will go to the media with this harassment unless they remove the charge from your card. Your final option is to talk to a lawyer. Good luck.