BASSETERRE St. Kitts – ARE you feeling poorer these days? Your salary, if you are fortunate to still have one, probably has not changed at all lately, but the amount of goods and services it can cover has surely shrunk. Just check your grocery, electricity and cable bills. What better time, then, to shine a light on some of the swindles draining your already depleted cash flow.
In some cases we know we are being ‘taken for a ride’, and we put up with it anyway. If there is truly no substitute for a particular good or service, and you absolutely got to have it, then, by all means put up with price shock.
But here are some of the ways you may be getting ripped off.
The main reason for having a Debit Card is for easy access to your money, but why do you have to pay to use another bank’s ATM? Easy access is self explanatory, so if another bank’s ATM is easily accessible to you, should you have to pay an extra fee to use it?
Ever go to a store and while at the counter you see a container with a charity’s name on it, and with a giving heart, dropped money into it? With so many aid organisations around, how do you know which ones will make the most effective use of your dollars? How much of a charity's total expenses go directly to the charitable purpose as opposed to management, operating cost and fundraising? A good thing to do is check out the different aid organisations and see just how much of your money is used towards the actual cause.
All you want is a few channels that apply to you and your family, but your cable company wants you to have so much more, and pay for it too. Have you ever wondered why all of your favourite channels are bundled with a whole mess of other channels, including many that even the most ineffectual of ‘couch potatoes’ would not watch? Renting or even buying DVD’s sounds a lot better...doesn’t it?
With the recent implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) came a ridiculous rise in the prices of groceries. Naturally, the increase is something that was expected and some businesses saw this as an opportunity to raise the prices of many items even before adding the tax percentage; therefore, giving consumers the impression that the overall rise in price is a result of the tax percentage. The downfall to this is that groceries are a survival must.
Once again, with the implementation of the VAT came a rise in the prices of restaurant bought foods. It is said that restaurants were supposed to reduce their prices by a certain percentage before adding the tax percentage. But they first increased their prices then reduced it by the given percentage and then added the implemented tax. That is good work for restaurants that can get it as they rely on your collective naiveté and short-sightedness when pushing their prices.
Financial institutions are giving away less and less for free these days. For some, if you do not carry a minimum balance on your saving account, you will get hit with a fee; and for some, you have to pay a fine just to use the ATM.
Why the boundary on how much money you can keep in your account, and why the charge to withdraw or even deposit using the ATM? A quick search to find a bank that does not ‘sling’ those types of fees may be more convenient.
Credit Cards are a little different to Debit Cards, but does the difference mean there is a need to pay a fee to maintain it? Paying an annual fee to maintain your credit card may just be another way of fiddling money out of your hands.
It pays to be an informed consumer in this day and age, especially when everyone is constantly looking for more ways to farther stretch their dollar.
What are some of the ways that you believe you have been ripped off?
Paying annual fees for Credit Cards
Banking Fees
Purchasing restaurant foods
Groceries prices
Cable Television
Inefficient Charities
Charges to use competitors’ ATM
