How many times have you found yourself searching the web and discover something that really gets your interest? Something that you have thought about but didn't know how to proceed or what to do.
We have all done it.
We have all come across several of those discoveries that we thought we could never find or participate in.
Something that may be a turning point in our financial lives.
I'm always interested in finding and using anything that may have a positive effect on my financial situation and my interests seem to be unending.
I have so many interests in my life that I hit those findings quite often.
When I do, I find myself eagerly wanting to dive in deeper and find more information on the subject.
And I have.
I have paid the small fee often required to obtain the rest of the story.
And that is where this article really begins.
The small innocent looking fee.
On many of those fabulous offers the fees are made to look harmless and inviting.
But hidden in the pages and thousands of words lies the culprit that says you will now pay XXdollars for the rest of your life.
The last one I received was for an online book which seemed to be not only good for me but also good for the environment.
It was pitched as totally free but at the bottom of the page in small print was a line that read "Just pay a $1 processing fee for bandwidth costs.
" Well, to begin with, that is not free.
But only a dollar isn't bad.
I could actually live with that if the program does what it says it can and will do.
It also said that "Terms and conditions apply.
" And that is where they get you, in the terms and conditions.
I have found some strange dollars on my credit card before and had to go through quite a bit to end and remove charges so I chose to read the terms.
Deep in that pile of words I found what I knew would be there somewhere.
The rest of the story.
It said the $1 dollar would buy me a trial subscription.
Why didn't they just say that in the first place instead of free.
It also said that every month or two my credit card would be billed an additional $29.
95.
That is over $300 per year that someone wants from my pocket for something free that I just want more information about.
This is where I am forced to wonder and scratch my head.
I thought on the first page of the ad it said FREE BOOK.
Was I wrong? I thought free meant you would not be charged.
Yep, I was wrong.
The last time that happened I found my charges to be $72.
00 per month each and every month.
This was again a monthly charge that I had not been made aware of or intentionally agreed with.
A fee for something I didn't even know I had coming.
But even worse was the fact that the product, whatever it was never did show up.
I still don't know what it was that I supposedly purchased.
So when ever you find an offer that looks too good to be true, look at the fine print and be sure to check out the terms and conditions.
There may be some high charges lurking in there.
Any time you see something that is free be sure it is.
You usually don't find the hidden charge until it has been deducted from your credit card for a couple of months and by then it may be too late for you to do anything about it.
If caught early enough your credit card company may be able to stop the transaction from completing.
If you are lucky you may never be in this situation and I hope you are one of the lucky ones.
When I see something offered free I expect it to be free.
Don't tell me it is free and then try to quietly sneak through the back door with a bunch of unseen fees.
Don't try to hide anything with the words "free trial" either.
We have all done it.
We have all come across several of those discoveries that we thought we could never find or participate in.
Something that may be a turning point in our financial lives.
I'm always interested in finding and using anything that may have a positive effect on my financial situation and my interests seem to be unending.
I have so many interests in my life that I hit those findings quite often.
When I do, I find myself eagerly wanting to dive in deeper and find more information on the subject.
And I have.
I have paid the small fee often required to obtain the rest of the story.
And that is where this article really begins.
The small innocent looking fee.
On many of those fabulous offers the fees are made to look harmless and inviting.
But hidden in the pages and thousands of words lies the culprit that says you will now pay XXdollars for the rest of your life.
The last one I received was for an online book which seemed to be not only good for me but also good for the environment.
It was pitched as totally free but at the bottom of the page in small print was a line that read "Just pay a $1 processing fee for bandwidth costs.
" Well, to begin with, that is not free.
But only a dollar isn't bad.
I could actually live with that if the program does what it says it can and will do.
It also said that "Terms and conditions apply.
" And that is where they get you, in the terms and conditions.
I have found some strange dollars on my credit card before and had to go through quite a bit to end and remove charges so I chose to read the terms.
Deep in that pile of words I found what I knew would be there somewhere.
The rest of the story.
It said the $1 dollar would buy me a trial subscription.
Why didn't they just say that in the first place instead of free.
It also said that every month or two my credit card would be billed an additional $29.
95.
That is over $300 per year that someone wants from my pocket for something free that I just want more information about.
This is where I am forced to wonder and scratch my head.
I thought on the first page of the ad it said FREE BOOK.
Was I wrong? I thought free meant you would not be charged.
Yep, I was wrong.
The last time that happened I found my charges to be $72.
00 per month each and every month.
This was again a monthly charge that I had not been made aware of or intentionally agreed with.
A fee for something I didn't even know I had coming.
But even worse was the fact that the product, whatever it was never did show up.
I still don't know what it was that I supposedly purchased.
So when ever you find an offer that looks too good to be true, look at the fine print and be sure to check out the terms and conditions.
There may be some high charges lurking in there.
Any time you see something that is free be sure it is.
You usually don't find the hidden charge until it has been deducted from your credit card for a couple of months and by then it may be too late for you to do anything about it.
If caught early enough your credit card company may be able to stop the transaction from completing.
If you are lucky you may never be in this situation and I hope you are one of the lucky ones.
When I see something offered free I expect it to be free.
Don't tell me it is free and then try to quietly sneak through the back door with a bunch of unseen fees.
Don't try to hide anything with the words "free trial" either.