Five Tips to Credit Card Safety
For those customers making use of a credit card than it is essential to practice techniques to maintain your safety while taking advantage of credit. How can you keep yourself safe and ensure that your purchases are protected throughout the shopping process? Use these tips to keep yourself safe while shopping with the credit card.
Keep Only the Cards that You Use
When you have more cards than you use with zero balances it can leave you susceptible to identity theft. There are many risks that can come from credit cards that have been lost or stolen. If you have multiple credit cards than chances are you won’t realize that one of the credit card has gone missing. Having only as many credit cards as you need allows you to decrease the risk of all of these occurrences.
Keep Record of Card Numbers: Front and Back
When you lose the credit cards it can be difficult to find the credit card number. Some statements show only portions of the credit card number. For this reason, it is essential to maintain photocopies of the front and back of the credit card – but be sure to keep these records in a secure area such as a safe. These records can be used when you are purchasing an item on the internet rather than having to find the credit card information.
Check Your Statements
Checking the credit card statements can ensure that you are given the opportunity to catch any suspicious activity or fraud from the very beginning. When you check the credit card statements you can ensure that all are purchases that you have authorized. Check the dates, amounts and location of the purchase to ensure that they are legitimate. This can help you to avoid identity theft when it comes to your credit card.
Do not Make use of the Cash Advance Pin
When you do not use the pin that is associated with the card and ensure that it is destroyed you can decrease the likelihood that the credit card will be used for cash advances which can save on interest rates while reducing your chances of being taken advantage of. If you do have pins for your credit card commits this number to memory and destroy the paper that has arrived with the pin number on it. Keep this information safe, as there are often no limits on withdrawals that can made from the credit card account.
Never Give Your Credit Card Number to Strangers
This seems like an obvious statement, but there are many consumers that give their credit card numbers to people over the phone or signing up for special offers. It is important to know just who you are dealing with when it comes to giving out your personal information.
Top Reasons to Avoid Balance Transfers
Balance transfers are offered to customers with good credit ratings at unbelievable interest rates – some with the rate of 0% not only the amount being transferred, but on purchases as well! These offers are made from six to eighteen months, depending on the terms of the deal and how much the credit card company is trying to sweeten the deal with the potential card holder.
Although these balance transfer deals can be great tools to give the consumer a chance to repay the card, directly to the principal. They are often referred to traps by experts. There are many reasons that these types of offers should be discarded and here are a few reasons why:
The Interest Rate Shoots Up After the Introductory Period
After the introductory period; the interest rate can rise upwards of fifteen percent. If you are a consumer with good credit history than chances are you are going to be faced with a higher credit card interest rate than the card that was being transferred from. Is this really worth it? Even worse, if you don’t have the balance paid in full, the debt will accumulate interest faster than the original credit card was tallying up.
Most Consumers Don’t Repay the Card within the Term
Seeing as most consumers don’t create a plan to repay the balance of the card within the 0% interest term, they are going to be faced with a higher interest rate (most likely, higher than the original card). You should never transfer your balance to a lower interest card for a time limit introductory offer unless you intend to pay the complete balance within the introductory period. This is essential to maintain your financial health.
0% does not Mean 0 Fees
Many customers are unaware of the fine print that states the fee schedule which are associated with balance transfer. The majority of companies charge upwards of 3% of the balance which is being transferred. If you are transferring a hefty sum, beware of this charge that is going to appear on your first statement. Can you create a repayment plan that can save you this fee, combined with the interest that is going to be charged to the card?
Preserve Your Credit Rating
New accounts can deplete the history that exists on your credit report. It is important to limit the amount of new accounts that are opened to ensure this history is full of information. Transferring the balance is not going to improve the credit rating, taking measures to repay the balance is the only way to do that!