Safety and Security

Have you heard of Identity theft monitoring?
A stolen account number can often be just as effective for a criminal as a stolen credit card, especially if information such as the expiration date or your billing address is also available to him or her. You may not know someone is using your account until you notice charges or cash advances you did not make on your monthly statement. Illegal use of Credit Cards and Identity Theft can occur if someone steals your pre-approved credit card offers from your trash and sends them in with a change of address. To prevent identify theft you should consider identity theft monitoring.

A thief who has your credit card information can do more than simply go on a shopping spree: The information can be used to steal your identity and commit Identity Theft.

Reviewing your credit card statement carefully can reveal charges you did not make, reviewing your credit report can also reveal activity on accounts you don't use or new accounts you did not open, alerting you to the possibility of identity theft.

Take Steps to protect yourself and Minimize the frauds of Credit Cards and Identity Theft:

1. Always make sure to protect your credit cards just as you would cash.
   
   
2. Keep your credit cards in a safe place.
   
   
3. Carry a minimum number of credit cards with you; just one or two are sufficient for everyday use.
   
   
4. Try to minimize the amount of personal information a criminal can steal. Don't carry your Social Security card, birth certificate or passport with you on a routine basis.
   
   
5. Maintain a list of all the credit cards owned by you, including the credit cards account numbers, expiration dates, and issuer phone numbers, so that you can notify creditors quickly in case of theft or loss.
   
   
6. Always memorize the ATM PIN, do not write it any where, and especially do not carry a written ATM PIN along with you.
   
   
7. Remember to sign on the back of any new credit cards as soon as you receive them.
   
   
8. If any one of your credit card bills is late, then make sure to call up card issuer's customer service number immediately. Make sure that your bill has not been diverted to a different address.
   
   
9. Review your credit card statements regularly and carefully each month to make sure all charges are accurate.
   
   
10. Report billing errors and lost or stolen cards to your credit card issuer immediately, remember that you are insured against misuse of lost credit cards if you report the loss immediately.
    
    
11. Avoid Identity theft by never giving anyone your credit card number or other personal information over the telephone unless you had yourself initiated the call.
    
    
12. Shred pre-approved credit card offers, credit card receipts, copies of airline tickets, travel itineraries, and anything else that displays your credit card information before putting them in the trash. Do not dump these items casually in your trash bin.
    
    
13. Cancel unused credit card accounts.
    
    
14. Subscribe to a credit report monitoring service that will notify you whenever someone applies for credit card in your name.
    
    
15. Check your credit report for accuracy at least once a year.