Concerned about Credit Card Safety?
Practical Credit Card Safety Tips that help protect your identity online
The FTC estimates that over 9 million Americans had their identities stolen in 2008. And more than 3 million of us reported misuse of one or more of existing credit card accounts.
When it comes to identity theft and credit card safety—there's no such thing as being too careful. One of the best benefits of using a credit card is that your credit card is backed by fraud liability protection. Major credit cards are backed by a $0 fraud liability guarantee and by law you are never responsible for more than $50 of the fraudulent amount made to any type of credit card if it's made in your home state or within 100 miles of your mailing address.
Chances are, your credit card is secured with a multitude of identity safety prevention, detection and resolution measures—things such as secure encryption, and multi-factor online authentication.
In addition to the aggressive identity safety steps taken by credit card companies, there are many steps you can take to protect yourself from identity theft and credit card fraud. According to a 2008 report by Javelin Strategy & Research* consumers want to play a proactive role in monitoring and protecting their credit card accounts—and this proactive approach can help reduce overall fraud loss.
Use these credit card resources to get even greater identity safety:
Get your credit card statements online. Keep your private information private. Reduce the paper trail of confidential information coming in to your mailbox and sign up to receive your credit card statements online. Instead of your statement arriving by mail, making it vulnerable to theft, you receive an e-mail alert letting you know your monthly statement is ready. To see your statement, you log in to your secure credit card Web site by entering your password and User ID.
You also have online access to your past statements which gives you greater privacy and security than storing print statements at home. How long your statements are archived online depends on your credit card company—some credit card sites store six month's worth of statements and some sites may offer several years of account activity.
Not only are your credit card statements available online, so are your most recent transactions, which can help you spot unauthorized purchases early on. You may want to check on your credit card transactions several times throughout the month. Be sure to regularly review your credit card statements and most recent transactions to check for fraud or misuse.
Shop online using virtual account numbers. Pay online without giving out your real credit card account number. Virtual credit card numbers, also known as secure online account numbers, let you use a temporary, random credit card number to make purchases online. The merchants never have access to your real account number, and your purchases are automatically linked to your credit card account.
With virtual or secure online account numbers you log in to your credit card's secure Web site, enter your account number and receive a temporary account number. You use this virtual credit card number when you shop online—so your real account information never travels the Internet or is stored in an online retailer's files.
Set up customized transaction alerts. Some credit card companies let you choose what types of notifications you want. You may be able to set up a notification, for instance, that alerts you whenever a purchase over a certain amount is made. Account alerts may also come in the form of text messages, e-mail, PDA, mobile phone and pager.
Javelin Strategy & Research suggests you set up alerts that can be sent both online and to a mobile device. By monitoring your accounts frequently you are more likely to quickly uncover suspicious or unauthorized activity.
Pay your bills online. You can use your credit card to set up electronic payment for utilities, car insurance, wireless service, gym membership and other bills. In addition to providing an added measure of safety—you also have your payment history stored in one place for easy access.
Moving financial transactions online, according to Javelin studies, eliminates many of the ways in which your personal information can be compromised, and gives you more control than traditional channels.
There are many things you take into consideration when you're looking for credit card safety - including a low APR, no annual fee and a great cash back or points rewards program. When researching credit cards, be sure to check out what identity safety features are included with your credit card.
Discover believes that consumers should be armed with the information they need to help them make informed financial decisions.
Concerned about identity theft? Click here to see how Identity Theft Protection works.