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.

One you have signed up, you will see, exactly who you owe money to, and exactly what your status is:
- are you just in arrears?
- have you had a default issued against you?
- have you possibly even had a CCJ, or as it’s known in the UK, a county court judgment, issued against you?

Once you know the situation, you need to start looking at your debts, which normally are credit cards, unsecured loans, and store cards. Never feel scared about calling up these companies, and explaining to them exactly what the situation is. Dealing with your monthly outgoings and making sure that you can afford them – will all help to improve your credit score. Always remember that some form of a payment is always better than no payment, and a lot of the time you can ask the credit card companies to freeze your interest.

Another big way of improving your credit score – for those of us, who don’t have credit cards, is to get one!

Strange as it may seem, if you are looking to improve your credit score, after let’s say, years of bad credit, obtaining a credit card, and keeping to your monthly payments, will go a long way to improving your score.

The last of my tips on the above subject is all about tidying up bad accounts. Carefully examine your Experian credit report, and make sure that all the history on your file is legitimate. If there are small and insignificant amounts of debt that you can easily pay off, than do so! Watch out for silly little mistakes, which do occur – for example you might have an old telephone bill, which has gone into default, for pennies. Why – well possibly you moved address or changed contract, and there was an old and very small balance, left on the account.

You forget to pay it, and well you can have a default issued against you – not the thing you want to see when you are looking at ways to improve your credit score.

Credit is something which is very important to your personal profile, and lifestyle, and spending some time, examining and improving it will always be beneficial to you and to your family.

This constitutes a gap that can be exploited by surfer’s credit card. Purchases are made with their 0% APR credit cards until the credit ceiling. Only the minimum required by the credit card company will be paid each month without incurring the cost of interest rates. Once the card is maxed out, surfer’s credit card will make a request to another 0% APR credit cards and repeat the same cycle.

Sounds like a great way to get free money, right? Well, when you may be able to browse through some cards, sooner or later you’re bound to reach a road block. With the massive debt piled with interest charges imposed after 0% introductory period the rate in April, surfers credit card will face snowballing debt, since interest charges come into the picture. The exception to this is when surfer’s credit card pay off all outstanding debts before that happens.

Otherwise, with multiple credit cards in their hands, each of which are charged to a maximum credit limit, any default or late payments will result in a bad credit score. Now what are the consequences of a bad credit score?

Well, now you’re labeled a high risk lender, you probably will not be entitled to more credit cards regularly. The ones you can purchase cards are high interest credit catered specifically for consumers with bad credit reports. That puts him at a disadvantage as it is now paying higher interest.

Besides that, getting your loan approved for a car or a house will also be a challenge. You’ll probably have to pay much more in the interests of others. In the end, it may be better that you do not purchase until your credit report is set straight. This will only happen if you pay your debt to credit card debt and maintain a good payment history for the next six months to a year. This is the hardest part because you need to work harder or take another job to get your debt cleared.

Pros

Consolidated monthly payment debt management plans consist of one monthly payment of an individuals credit card debt and other unsecured debt. Instead of several payments that are sent out monthly the credit counseling agency will receive your monthly payment and break it down to individual payments to all of your creditors.

Reduced interest rates although some creditors have tightened what they will as far as an interest rate reduction for a client who is working with a debt management plan there are still some credit card companies that will reduce rates as far as charging no interest while on the debt management plan. However that is not the norm so it is reasonable to expect a slight decrease in interest rates and if you receive a larger break in rates that is more of a benefit to you.

Reduced monthly payments The days of a creditor reducing the monthly payment by half or more seem to be over, however several creditors reduce payments required by several percentage points for a customer of theirs that is enrolled into a debt management plan. This can help free up money to apply elsewhere such as a savings account or a retirement account.

Stopped Late & Over Limit Fees This is probably the most beneficial portion of the debt management plan for a credit counseling client who is behind with their payments to their creditors. The average late or over limit fee is about $29 so if you combine that with an average of six credit card accounts the savings on the fees alone could be up to $174 dollars for that example.

Customer Service Often overlooked by a person researching a debt management plan that is appropriate for them, customer service means that all of your credit card accounts should be accessible by the credit counseling agency you are working with and any questions you have regarding those accounts should be answered in a timely fashion. A well rounded customer service staff will go a long way as far as assisting you to get out of debt.

Con

Accounts Closed – All of your credit card accounts are closed to further charging. This can be initially looked at as a con by the consumer because it takes away their ability to charge, however in the long run this portion of the debt management plan should be viewed as a pro because it allows the client to rely more upon the income they are bringing in and will result in less overall debt that is accumulated while on the debt management program.

Debt management programs offer an array of help with little to consider as negative. The service is designed to assist anyone in need from freeing themselves of the burden of debt. One important factor is that a debt management plan has no negative impact on your credit score. This is according to Fair, Isaac the nations credit scoring system, also known as the FICO Score.

These are a few points to consider in determining if a debt management plan is the best option for you. Contact an agency to determine if their plan can meet your needs.