New Era’s Guide to Credit Card Safety

The amount of credit card data hacked or stolen has been rising each year. It’s scary to think about the possibilities of becoming one of these victims. There are a few precautions you can take to keep your credit card information out of the wrong hands. Making sure to take the proper steps in securing your credit card information is the best way to prevent future fraud.

Shop Securely

Online shopping is quickly dominating the retail market. It’s a fast, easy way to shop, without having to leave the comfort of your home. While online shopping is one of the great luxuries of the digital age, it can also leave your credit card information at risk.

When shopping online, it’s important to make sure the website you’re purchasing from is secure. One indicator is that they will have “https” instead of “http” at the beginning of their web address. The added “s” stands for secured, letting you know that it is a safe website to enter your credit card information on. Secured sites encrypt any information entered by visitors before sending it back to the site administrator or ecommerce interface.

Passwords 

One of the easiest ways hackers obtain credit card information is online. That’s why it is so important to spend time creating difficult passwords. For the best security, it’s smart to use a different password for each website. Make sure your passwords are not kept in the same place you keep your credit cards. In the unfortunate event that your credit card gets stolen, so will all your passwords if they’re stored in the same place.

When creating a password, make sure that you don’t use the names of people or pets that you are close with. The most secure passwords have uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. In addition, your passwords should be 8-12 characters. More complex is always better. Creating passwords that are impossible for hackers to figure out is a great way to prevent your credit card information from getting stolen.

Other Precautions

If you’re entering your credit card information onto your computer for any reason, make sure that the computer browsers autocomplete settings are turned off. If they are not, they will automatically store your credit card and personal information to your computer.

Having that information stored on your computer gives hackers an easy access point to your information. It’s also beneficial to go through the trash bin on your computer every so often to make sure you don’t have any previous payment information sitting in there. The trash bin is another common place that hackers obtain private information about their victims.

Reading over your credit card statement every month is enormously important for the safety of your card information, financial assets, and credit health. If you see any unfamiliar activity on your statement, make sure to contact your credit card provider right away. The longer you wait, the more time the bad actor has to continue making transactions.

If you or someone you know has credit card debt, contact us today. We want to help you reduce your credit card debt so you can become debt free!