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Tips For Avoiding Credit Card Fraud

Then the bartender uses that information to buy things on the Web or by phone, where there is no need for the physical card.

Watch out for waiters or bartenders who change the amount of the tip on your bill and then submit it for processing. The only way to catch this trick is to keep the customer copy of your receipt and compare it to your monthly credit card statement for any discrepency. If you leave a cash tip on the table, cross out the space in the card receipt for this concept, and write in “tip left on the table.” This will prevent waiters from just adding a tip to the blank spot.

Here’s another scheme: you receive a letter announcing that you’ve won a free trip and you have to become a member of a travel club to take advantage of the offer. The letter may provide a website address and on that page, which might look very official, they ask you to enter your credit card information. Don’t fall for it. Never give your credit card number to any organization you aren’t 100% familiar with.

Other Credit Card Tips

When you get a new card, sign the back of it right away.

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Save all receipts and supporting documents for payments and cash withdrawals on the card in an envelope. Check with your monthly statement to compare it with these receipts but don’t throw the statement (or the receipts) in the trash without shedding.

If you change your address, immediately notify your new address and make sure the letters are still in your old address is collected by someone you trust.

Never write your card number or PIN number on a piece of paper that you keep in your wallet with the cards. Even worse, don’t pencil in your PIN number on your card.

When paying in public with a credit card, cross out all the spaces above the signature to which you can include other items and new totals.

When shopping online, make sure the website where you buy is secured. The website should have a SLL certificate and display it on the web, or at least have and address that begins with “https.” The “s” stands for secure. You should also see a little closed lock symbol or similar symbol in your browser when you are on an https site.

If you have to give your card number over the phone, make sure you can verify the authenticity of the company you are dealing with.

Check your statement regularly. If you see a purchase that you do not recognize, call your card’s fraud protection hotline. Or research the supposed name of the retailer from which you made the purchase. The longer you wait to look at your statement the harder it will be to recall and verify purchase amounts. Nowadays you can go online and check your statement as often as you look. It’s a good habit to get into.

RESOURCE BOX

David Pratt works for MiCash debit MasterCard in Washington DC. He blogs about personal finance, prepaid cards, credit cards, and prepaid credit cards on the MiCash blog.

New Credit For You – Change Your Future For The Better,Restore Credit

Do you know someone with bad credit? This economy has been so oppressive that many hard working, responsible individuals and families have found themselves dealing with unthinkable credit and financial issues.

Nearly 1 Out of Every 2 People Have Bad Credit
Nearly 1 Out of Every 2 People Need Help Repairing Their Credit
Nearly 1 Out of Every 2 People Don’t Know Where to Go or How to Restore Their Credit

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New Credit For You has the tools to handle any credit challenge; but people still need to hear where to turn. As an added Bonus, We are giving everyone who downloads the New Credit For You – Instant Credit Repair Program right now this tremendous income opportunity.

When you download the New Credit For You Instant Credit Repair Program you get:
An explanation of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and how to apply them to clean up your credit report.
Directions to obtain your free credit report from all three major credit bureaus.
Step-by-step instructions to dispute and remove bad marks on your credit report.
Tips to quickly add positive information to your report.
Education on good and bad credit scores, and if you should be concerned.
Tools to monitor the top credit bureaus and your report in the future.
Guidelines on the many ways a credit bureau looks at your history – and the importance of each.
Tips to stop bill collectors from harassing you instantly. This technique is 100% legal and stops debt collectors dead in their tracks!
Sample credit repair letters to correctly and permanently repair your score.
Explanations surrounding the huge impact small credit score improvements make on the interest you pay.
Education to avoid court.
Directions to wipe out debts swiftly – without bankruptcy.
Information on the five most common credit mistakes you can easily avoid.
Steps to get a Visa or MasterCard to start rebuilding your credit regardless of your credit history!
Instructions to start building trust after a major credit disaster.
Clarification why having no debt may actually hurt your credit score.
Tips to legally outsmart the credit bureaus and collection agencies and beat them at their own game.
Details on how to make your bank an ally in your fight against bad credit.
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Related Credit Tips Articles

Tips to Select Best Credit Card Offers

Are you shopping for a new credit card? If yes, credit history plays a major role. Having a good credit score signifies that you are a responsible person who tries to make payments on time. Moreover, it is a testimonial that you are a responsible spender also and people may trust you when it comes to repay debts. However, there is no set criterion for good or bad credit rating but going by experts, a credit score of more than 700 is considered to be sufficient enough and makes you eligible for some very good credit card deals.

Here are some tips to get good credit card offers:

Low Interest Rates: Interest rates are people’s first consideration when choosing for a credit card deal. But only those having good credit score can be easily eligible for that. It is because risk associated in offering credit card is lesser for people having good credit score. Interest rate is the rate charged by Credit Card Company to give you money. Those cards having low interest rates are also called prime credit cards. Prime rate is mentioned by large banks. Usually, credit card companies charge prime rate plus 12 percent approximately as the interest rate though it may vary from company to company.

Low Annual Fee: Annual fee is charged from credit card holder by the company. It’s just like a membership or maintenance fee. Best credit card offers are those that don’t charge annual fee from card holders. Some credit cards offers include lucrative rewards also. These cards are premium cards or secured cards and usually charge annual fee. Thus before selecting a credit card offer, it is important to see that the cost of it is overcome by the benefits it is providing. Annual fee varies from company to company. Some companies take flat charges while some charge a specific percentage of credit limit.

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Rebate Program: Those credit card offers which include cash back rewards are one of the best credit card programs. Some rebate programs are offered by companies that may be equal to some percentage of the purchases you make from credit card in one year. Some companies offer rebate on the purchase of specific items including groceries, airplane tickets, restaurants etc.

Benefits of cardholders: Apart from rebates, credit card companies also offer some additional benefits. Best credit card offers are those that give protection in case you card is lost or stolen. If a card is stolen, it may lead to serious consequences as there are many scams and frauds related to credit cards are going on nowadays. Thief can make illegal purchases from your card. So, offer which provides protection against these scams should be considered first. Some credit card providers even don’t charge any fee on foreign purchases and transactions and give rewards on many purchases.

There are many credit cards for specific people. For example, if you are a student, there are many lucrative offers for you. But students need to remember that they should use credit card wisely, to build a good credit history. It is suggested that students initially should not opt for high limit credit cards. If you are 18 years or above, don’t have elaborated credit history and have enough money to pay off the bills, you are eligible for students’ credit card.

Tips to Negotiate a Better Deal

(a) Search for the card having lower rate than your existing card. You can call your credit card company to let them know that you are going to cancel the existing one and switching to a card with lower rate.

(b) Negotiate to get your fee reduced. This annual fee can raise the charges considerably. With hard negotiation, even you can get rid of this fee provided your credit history is good.

(c) There are many sites where you can compare rates of different credit cards. Make sure to read all terms and conditions carefully before finalizing the deal. Check about the introductory rates, about late fee, whether the low rates (if any) are applied to new purchases, balance transfers and whether introductory rate increases with delay in payment.

(d) Genuinely get your credit score. You can get the score from FICO. If you have a good credit history, there are good chances that you will secure a low interest rate.

So, there are many credit card offers. Some providers provide very lucrative and beneficial offers but you need to maintain a good credit score to avail these benefits. Though it is not impossible to get good credit card offers with comparatively not-good credit score but it is definitely difficult.

Affordable Bad Credit Mortgage Loans – 3 Tips to Reasonable Bad Credit Mortgage Loans

Finding a mortgage loan with a bad credit rating can be an absolute nightmare: Driving from broker to broker, bank to bank, getting turned down every time, all the while your credit keeps dropping with every credit check. Fortunately, this painful process can be avoided with just a few simple tips.

Tip #1 – Find a Specialist

There are banks and brokers, and then there are bad credit specialists. These specialists usually don’t take on the loans themselves, and instead forward your loan to dozens of companies that might be interested in financing your home.

In other words, instead of applying to just one bank, bad credit specialists will search out and find a mortgage loan that you qualify for.

Keep in mind that this service will cost you – Upfront in closing costs or in extra interest. The middle man has to get paid, after all.

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Tip #2 – Learn to Improve Your Credit

Learn to improve your credit three to nine months before purchasing a home. There are several tricks you can use to bump up your score, without actually changing your financial situation.

One example is to balance your credit cards so they’re all about evenly used, instead of one being nearly maxed and another near zero. Ideally, your credit cards should all be under 30%. A large part of your credit score comes from your highest credit card utilization rate: In other words, evening out your credit cards can have a huge impact on your score.

This is just one example of a trick to improve your credit. Learn how the credit system works and actively work on it for three to nine months before applying. Doing this will save you thousands of dollars in the long run, and may make the difference between getting approved or denied.

Tip #3 – Compare Your Loan

Bad credit borrowers are often “prime targets” for high interest rate loans. While it’s true that with bad credit you’ll be paying more and often need more money down, that shouldn’t keep you from shopping around.

Don’t just settle for the first loan you get approved for. Instead, compare your loan options to find the one that suits you best.

Tips for Repairing Your Credit Report

Having a credit score that is less than perfect is quite common these days. A single late or missed payment can drop your credit score by up to 100 points! There are techniques to bad credit report repair that you can learn to fix your bad credit. While it’s easy to see it slip, it is just as simple to raise it up – if you follow the advice given here.

Tip 1: You need to pay down your credit card balances.

The algorithm that dictates your credit score weighs the difference between your available credit and your credit in use very heavily. If you have credit cards that are maxed or near maxed, then you need to do more than pay the interest on them each month. Make some sacrifices and start reducing the principal amount on them. The most that you should have on any one card at any time is bout 30% of the maximum limit allowed. When you have credit that is available to you that you are not using, it makes you look like you practice restraint and shows responsibility. Credit score algorithms like that.

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Tip 2: Break out some of those older credit cards and use them.

The longer that a credit account is in good shape for, the better it weighs on your credit score. If you have older credit cards that are still valid, but you haven’t used them in a while, use them. Charge up to 30% of the maximum limit and then pay it off promptly and in full. This way, these actions get reported to your credit bureaus and make you look like a well-established credit champion!

Tip 3: Dispute negative items on your credit report.

You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once every year. They are: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. So, once every four months, request a copy from one of them. This way, you are always in the know about your credit situation.

Go through them each time you get one and dispute every the negative items on them. It is your legal right to dispute any negative claim against you. By disputing an item, you are exercising your right to have the claim verified. This is the responsibility of the credit reporting agency since they are the organization selling your information for profit. It is their responsibility to verify the information that they are selling.

They must verify each claim disputed in a reasonable time frame of 30 to 45 days or they have to strike it from your report. Now, about 40% of these disputed claims do not get verified in time. This is the single most powerful method of bad credit report repair. Use it to your advantage and use it often. Make sure to submit your dispute forms via certified mail at the busiest business times of the year.

These are just a few of the ways that you can engage in bad credit report repair. All it takes is attention, diligence and then some patience. Bad credit report repair is your legal right and something that you should do regularly!

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