Credit card identity theft has become a huge problem for millions of Americans. Have your identity stolen is not something that you can easily resolve. Fixing ruined credit as a result of credit card identity theft can be a long and frustrating process that can sometimes plague an individual for the rest of his or her life. In order to prevent this kind of thing from happening to you there are several preemptive measures you can take.
First off you should be aware of your spending habits. If you use credit daily for small purchases and online transactions you should keep a log of your transactions. When you get your statement at the end of the month you can cross check the bill with the purchases you have made to make sure that everything matches up.
A lot of the time identity thieves will try to stay under the radar by only making small purchases that most card owners would overlook if they are not keeping close tabs on their spending habits.
Recently major companies have come up with ways to crack down on credit card identity theft. You should check with your company to see if they offer any of these newer services. Some companies will offer to send automated texts to your mobile phone after each transaction.
These services may come with a small fee each month but it is definitely worth paying it to make sure that you are adequately protecting your credit information. If it becomes a nuisance to receive a text after each transaction then you can set your account to only send notifications for purchases that are over some monetary amount.
Another great service that card companies supply is notification of unusual spending patterns. These automated services can let you know if there has been an unusual charge to your account or if your card is being used outside of your normal spending area.
The way this process works is if your card has been flagged by the software the company uses for an unusual purchase the company will either call you or send an email or text message to verify that the purchase is valid. You can work with your card company to let them know what kinds of things you would like to be alerted to so that you can customize the service that they are offering to meet your needs.
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