About two months ago, I registered for the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) annual meeting. Yesterday, as I was reviewing my credit card statement, I saw a $10 “cash equivalent transaction fee” and a $1.50 “minimum interest charge”. I always pay my bill in full and on time, so this was really surprising.

My first thought was that the credit card company changed their policies in a devious way without me realizing it. Incensed, I called the credit card company, only to find out that the reason for the charge was an ASSA $18 hotel processing charge. It was submitted by the ASSA as a cash equivalent instead of the normal credit charge, resulting in the transaction fee and subsequent interest. Seriously, ASSA? I thought only consumers were allowed to make mistakes (I assume they didn’t mean for people to get charged with these fees). Most credit card companies have similar policies, so I wonder how many other economists and social scientists will be surprised with these charges.

To give my credit card company credit, they promised to remove the charges after I talked to them. But the 30 minutes I spent figuring this out was definitely a waste to society.