How To Protect Yourself From Credit Card Fraud

It has been a big news yesterday in Canada about the credit card fraud fears in one of the biggest airport in the country, Toronto Pearson International Airport. It’s feared the security features of the kiosks at Canada’s largest airport may have been compromised, and that sensitive information may have fallen into the wrong hands. For this post, I would like to share some ideas about how to protect yourself from credit card fraud.

• Reduce number of credit cards you have: I used to have around seven credit cards in total until one day I realized that I was crazy to carry so many credit cards at the same time. I called my credit card company to cancel four of my credit cards and keep the other three( one VISA, one MasterCard, and one AmericanExpress). With less number of credit cards, it is much easier for me to make sure none of them has been lost, misused and so on. Also, it reduces my chance of being a victim of potential identity theft. I think most of the time people will need only one credit card. But just in case some places will only accept one or the other, you can try to keep one of each of the major cards just like I do. There is one thing you need to pay attention to when you cancel your credit cards. You do not want to cancel the one with the longest credit history,in other words, the oldest card you have since it might hurt your credit score.
• Check your credit card statement more frequently and online: most of the credit card companies allow their users to check their credit card statements and recent activities online. Checking your statements and recent activities more frequently allows you to identify any unauthorized purchase much earlier to achieve a solution that is much favorable to you if it did happen!
• Get your credit report: credit report is free for you to require. There are two major credit bureaus in Canada, Equifax and TransUnion. Get your credit report and check it at least once every year to see if there is anything wrong.
• Consider using paypal or low limit credit card for your online purchase: Internet is probably the most possible place where credit card fraud will happen. If you need to do a purchase online, maybe you should consider using paypal to pay for it. If the website does not support paypal payment, try to keep a credit card with low credit limit and use that exclusively for online payments. This will greatly reduce the possibility of credit card fraud and limit the damage to the minimum.

Do you have any tips to protect yourself from credit card fraud? If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment. If you like this article, please share it by clicking on “Share This” link below.

Have a nice weekend everyone!