I had an experience this weekend I thought I would share with you. I was out for dinner over the weekend and decided to settle my bill using my debit card. So the waitress kindly swipes my card, asks me to enter my pin number and I do so, only for their ‘machine’ to decline my card. I was in shock as I knew there was sufficient funds in that account. So the waitress asks me if she should try again and I say yes, thinking that maybe there was a technical problem. We tried again and same result. Luckily I had another card from a different bank which I then used and that went through with no problems.

So to me, I had just assumed that the first card had some technical problems and that’s why it got declined. I then decided to check my bank statement this morning, only to find out that those two amounts that had been ‘declined’ had actually gone through and been taken off my balance! Now if i had not bothered checking my statement I may not have picked it up. Now who is to blame: The restaurant I ate at or the bank?

Too many people today do not take the time out to go through their statements every month and see if they are actually reflecting the truth. On one occasion, I met someone who hardly checked their bank statement then one day they decided to and saw that a debit order for R30 was going through their account every last day of the month and they had no idea what the debit was for. Only to then go to the bank and enquire and spend a couple of hours trying to get an answer which no one at the branch could give. Their explanation was that, the charge is for having a security deposit box which the client clearly did not have. All the bank could say was, “Sorry, we will reverse the transactions.” Just like this morning when I went to my bank to enquire about my transactions, all they could do was smile and say, “Sorry, we will reverse the transactions.” Maybe that should be one of the banks slogans.

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