Credit card safety 101

April 16, 2019

Class is in session! Today’s topic: credit card safety. The following post will be your crash course on keeping your precious credit card and online identity safe. As a credit union, protecting your finances is something we take very seriously, which is why we want to educate as many members as we can on this important issue. Keep reading for more.

Shop securely  

You never know if a fraudster has tampered with a public computer. We highly recommend you avoid making that next Amazon purchase from a public library or school computer lab and that you only do online shopping from your personal computer or smart phone (on a trusted Wi-Fi network). Trust us, you don’t need whatever you’re shopping for that badly.

Review privacy policies

As boring as it may be, a little bedtime reading of online privacy policies can be quite beneficial. Why? It’s important to understand how online retailers will be protecting your credit card information after a purchase has been completed. If their site were to be compromised, your information could be at risk.

Keep track of your receipt

Holding on to a receipt after completing an online purchase is a great habit to get into. When your monthly statement is ready to be reviewed, cross reference your receipts with the amount on your statement, to make sure the totals match.

Check your statements

Speaking of statements, while many credit cards have 24/7 monitoring programs designed to detect fraud, it’s also a smart idea to regularly check your statements to make sure everything looks normal. If you notice anything that looks out of the ordinary, call the number on the back of your card.

Create a secure password

When logging in to view your online statements and other credit card information, having a secure password is of the utmost importance. Read our post here on perfecting your online passwords, and remember, the more complicated, the better.

Don’t send credit card details over email, text, or social media

Last, (and certainly not least), do not (and emphasis on the not) ever send your credit card information over email, text, or social media platforms. If your social media or email accounts were ever to be hacked OR you lose your phone, your credit card information could unfortunately, be free for the taking.