Business Marketing & Finance Resources

Arm Yourself

Credit card fraud can happen to anyone and is becoming more common. You need to arm yourself with the knowledge of how to prevent it and what to do if it happens to you. Hold onto your credit card receipts and dispose of them properly. While most places are now hiding your credit card numbers and only showing the last four digits this is not always the case. Some receipts will still show your entire credit card number and if you have placed your signature on it as well then a thief has enough info to go on with just that alone. They can put in for a change of address to your credit card company and spend it all before you ever know what happens. You’ll wonder why your bill hasn’t come in yet, and if you put it off, the collectors will come calling. Don’t wait, if your bill is late then you need to call your credit card company and find out why, and also to check if there are any charges that you have not placed on the card.

Properly Dispose of Personal Info

So it turns out you have great credit and receive regular offers from credit card companies with great interest rates, but you have enough cards so you toss your junk mail in the trash, sometimes without even opening it. Bad idea. Many thieves will happily dumpster dive to get some good info. They can take those pre approved offers, and often times don’t even need to speak to an actual person. They will open the card in your name through an automated system to make things fast and efficient and start spending your money as quickly as possible. Shred those offers, dunk them in water, burn them, whatever it takes to get your information scattered, hidden, and difficult to contend with. Make it difficult for those thieves so they won’t want to mess with it. You can ‘opt out’ of these offers by sending a request or calling the company and asking them to remove you from the list.

What about those old deposit slips at the back of your checkbook that you never used? You know the ones with your name, complete physical address, your account and routing number. Someone could very easily transfer money to a temporary account, or just write a bad check to deposit and sign for the money in the less cash received section. Black out all the info and shred them before you throw them away. The same goes for voided checks.

Don’t Give Out Your Info Unless Necessary

Your social security number is, unfortunately, your identity when it comes to many things, including your credit. Make sure it is absolutely necessary before giving out this information. If a company calls you, claiming they need to update your information, get their number and call them back before you give any of it out. Many identity thieves will call you, pretending to be some credit company associated or working with your credit card company and ask to ‘update your info’ and you will give them all the info they need to open up accounts and start spending.

Monitor your spending. If anything shows up that you did not buy, call immediately. If your bill is taking longer than expected to get to you, call. Automated systems make things easier not only for you, but for identity thieves as well. Go paperless if possible so you don’t have any physical papers a thief can get too easily. You can buy protection through many companies that will alert you if there any changes in your credit. In the end just be careful with any info that can lead to your bank or credit card account. Make sure you dispose of the information properly and you may be able to avoid the stress and hassle of identity theft.

Just about everyone has been in the position of wanting something that they just can’t afford, of coming up short when it’s time for a big shopping trip or big-ticket item. Imagine how great it would be to be able to buy the items you want, while paying for them over time, a little at a time, in an amount that would fit in your monthly budget. Consumers would flock to a product that met that need, wouldn’t they?

Well, that product exists, and consumers do flock to it. It’s the common, everyday credit card, and consumers have been turning to those little rectangles of plastic more and more during the past decade.

By allowing consumers the opportunity to make the purchases they want, when they want them, and to pay for those purchases over time in amounts that fit easily into their monthly budgets, credit cards have been meeting the needs of happy consumers for decades. And when your business begins accepting credit cards as a valid form of payment, you can expect to experience all the benefits of pleasing a wider range of customers. In addition to flexible payment arrangements, credit cards offer many other advantages to consumers.

Credit cards are more convenient than bulky cash, and can be used worldwide without the need for currency conversion – a real boon to travelers. For online, catalog, and television shopping, credit cards offer much speedier service than checks, which can delay order fulfillment until the check clears.

Credit cards can also be used to pay for purchases of widely varying amounts, which means customers who use them don’t have to bother with making detailed shopping lists and plans before they hit the stores. It also means that customers who use credit cards have a greater degree of altitude when making impulse purchases. Rather than being bound by the cash in their pocket or purse, credit card users can buy items they see which they might not otherwise have planned on purchasing.

Retailers also benefit: credit card users make more costly impulse purchases, and more frequent impulse purchases, than those shoppers who use cash, meaning your profits can be significantly increased with credit card sales.

Regular, conscientious use of credit cards is the number one way to build a strong and healthy credit history, and a high credit score. Today, consumers are bombarded by messages from the media, advising them of the importance of having a high credit score and a strong credit history.

Consumers know that these factors can have a significant influence over their ability to qualify for loans for homes, cars, and other items, and can also have a direct bearing on the interest they will be asked to pay for those loans. In addition, consumers know credit scores and histories are used for much more than loans, and are considered when applying for cell phone plans, some utility services, home and auto insurance, and even employment.

Credit scores have become more than an indicator of a consumer’s willingness to repay loans, but are now used as an indicator of overall lifestyle habits. Therefore, consumers are more likely than ever to use credit cards to help strengthen their scores.

Credit cards also offer some alluring bonuses to consumers. To attract a wider customer base among an increasing field of credit card issuers, many credit card companies now issue reward points each time their card is used to make a purchase or pay a bill. Over time, those points add up, and they can eventually be redeemed in exchange for a wide range of perks and benefits, including jewelry, electronics, and other merchandise, airline and hotel vouchers, cash, and other valuable incentives.

Lucrative reward programs are one of the primary reasons why so many more consumers are using cards today than they were even a few years ago, when rewards programs were few and far between.

Finally, credit cards offer greater security than cash or checks, which can be lost or stolen. While cash is gone for good once it’s stolen or lost, stolen or lost credit cards can be replaced with a single, simple phone call.

Most cards also offer terms which do not hold a card holder responsible for any charges made on the card once it’s lost or stolen, offering consumers a greater degree of security and peace of mind. And many cards today also offer extended warranties on computers and other electronic goods that are purchased using the card, adding another level of security for consumers who use credit cards.

It’s easy to see why credit cards have become more widely used among consumers than ever before. By accepting credit cards at your business, you can begin to attract a wider range of customers and increase your business’ bottom line. And all it takes is a few moments today to fill out a merchant account application.