Credit Card Safety Tips
Life today is not easy without a credit card in your wallet. However, with a rise in the number of credit card scams, it is necessary that you use and keep your credit card with utmost care. Internet users know that it is safe to enter their credit card number on a secure online form rather than giving it in a restaurant to pay off. Research shows that there is increasing number of fraudulent cases where purchases are made by mobile phones on account of credit cards of other persons that are higher than credit card fraud on the internet.
Ultimately keeping you credit card safe is your responsibility. Indeed, in a worst case scenario, if it can be proven you may have been negligent in keeping your credit card safe, you may find yourself liable for the cost of all transactions made fraudulent on your account should you lose the card.
Basically, you need to use some common sense and the followings are some credit card safety tips that shall help you in avoiding credit card scams:
- Always keep an eye whenever you use your credit card and get it back quickly if you have given it to some other person and try not to let your card out of your sight.
- You need to be careful while you give your credit card to someone else and never give your account number over the phone unless you are sure that the company is a reputed one.
- Never give your account number to someone you don’t know. If you are ever asked to give your credit card details to someone you don’t know, or who as initiated a discussion with you (rather than the other way round) over the phone or via email, you should always refuse. Worst come to the worst, phone the card issuer and ask them if it is okay for you to divulge the information or phone the enquirer back. If the enquirer seems reluctant to accept this, you have to ask yourself why!
- Don’t give any response to emails asking you to provide your credit card information and emails that ask you to go to a website and verify your personal and credit card information as these are known as “phishing” scams. Click here to read more about how the phising scam works.
- Don’t provide your credit card information over insecure websites. You have to check the credibility of the website and its payment processor before providing credit card information in the Internet.
- Sign your credit card at the back card as soon as you receive them and shred all the credit card applications when you receive.
- Never keep a record of your PIN with your card. You should not write your Pin number on the credit card or anywhere near your credit card.
- Don’t leave your credit cards and receipts lying all around.
- You should shield your credit card number so that others who are around you could not copy or capture it on a mobile phone or camera.
- Always keep the list of your account numbers and expiry dates and phone numbers along with addresses of each bank issuing you a credit card at safe places. You need to update this list each time you get one new credit card. You may keep photocopies of you credit cards to so that always know where to find the number should anything unfortunate happen to your card.
- Never have more cards than you need. Try to carry only those credit cards that you require and don’t carry extra credit cards that you need rarely. While it is always advisable that you have more than 1 credit card, in case it gets lost, you should never have more credit cards than you actually need to use.
- You should promptly open your credit card bills and make sure that there is no bogus charge involved. You should also treat your credit card bill in the same way as you check your accounts and reconcile it monthly. Save your receipts so that you can compare them with monthly bills.
- In case, you find any charges for which you don’t recognize you need to report these charges to the credit card issuer.
- Don’t sign a blank credit card receipt and you can carefully draw a line through the blank portions of the receipts where there is chance to add any fraudulent charges.
- Never leave your account details open to public viewing. Don’t write your credit card account number in a public place for example a postcard or from a place that it is evident to others.
- It is advisable that you carry your credit cards separately from your wallet.
- Always keep your credit cards and credit card purchase receipts separate – because likely as not if you have lost your card, or if it is stolen, then you’ll have lost or stolen the receipts as well. Now there is no way for you to vouch which transactions were yours and which where not – or, there is no way to tell which was the last genuine transaction you made.
- Never lend your credit card to others and if you move from your existing residence, do notify your card issuer about the change in address.
Although the above may sound like basic credit card safety tips you already know, you would be surprised to see how many people fail to follow few or all of them!
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