Credit card statements to show correct names of merchants

Chomeur

It annoys me when I pay for something with a credit (or debit) card and the payment appears on my statement as something completely different to the company I understood I was paying. It makes it hard for me to reconcile my statements with my spending, and it doesn't seem reasonable. I would think it actually quite feasible for a company with my card details to post a fraudulent transaction under a bland, made up name, "GlobalPayServe", say, for £10, in the hope that I would never query it, because it was too much trouble.

Could MSE start a campaign for appropriate merchant information to appear on credit/debit card statements? Maybe the legal name of the company together with any trading name it uses. It would certainly help me.

YorkshireBoy

Is it really such a problem?

I only reconcile by 'amounts' personally (not by merchant), by filing my receipts/slips in date order throughout the month. I then simply skip through them against the statement, putting aside receipts I want to save (for warranties etc) and shredding the ones for groceries and fuel etc.

meer53

I find it easier to reconcile statements by amount rather than merchant name. You can them check that you've not been over charged, if you just check using the merchant name, the amount could be incorrect.

Chomeur

Well if you check quite thoroughly by amount, as it sounds like you two do, then I suppose it doesn't matter. But I don't have time for that. I prefer to just scan the statement quickly and just get confident that I recognise all transactions there.

Here's an example of someone who had some difficulties with it https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/208462

meer53

A quick Google of a merchant name usually solves the problem.

YorkshireBoy

Chomeur wrote: »

But I don't have time for that.

We're checking one thing...the transaction value. You're checking two things (transaction value AND merchant name).

You have more time than you realise.

Well if you check quite thoroughly by amount

Isn't that the most important detail to check?