| 
Fraud & ID Theft Prevention
- Check credit and bank statements: Ensure that there are no unauthorized
purchases or changes in your personal information.
- Record credit card information: Keep a record of your credit
card issuers' customer service department telephone numbers. If
you realize your cards have been lost or stolen, immediately call
customer service. Many companies have toll-free numbers and 24-hour
service to deal with such emergencies.
- Save, then destroy, receipts: Compare receipts with billing
statements to confirm amounts charged and evaluate whether the
purchases listed are yours. Destroy receipts and statements before
throwing them away.
- Keep cards secure: Don't lend credit cards to anyone or leave
cards or receipts lying around (including in your car's glove
box), and never write account numbers on a postcard or the outside
of an envelope.
- Use caution with telephone or Internet purchases: Don't give
out your credit card information over the phone or online unless
you initiate the transaction and you're comfortable that the company
you're dealing with is reputable. If you have any questions about
a company, check it out with a local consumer protection office
or the Better Business Bureau.
Credit-score ignorance
can hurt you
A a
new study commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America found
that Americans are woefully ignorant about credit score even though
those three-digit numbers are the difference between getting approved
or being denied for everything from buying a car to buying a home
or renting an apartment. They
don't know what they measure, how they're used, and how to
raise them.
The cost of not knowing your score and its significance could be
not only denial of credit but also difficulty obtaining needed services
and even a job. The higher a consumer's score, the more likely he
or she will qualify for a good interest rate on credit cards and
mortgages.
Most consumers surveyed understood that lenders use credit scores,
but only a minority knew that electric utilities (30%), home insurers
(47%), and landlords (48%) often use credit scores to decide whether
to sell a service and at what price.
Now that credit scores are increasingly used by utilities, insurers,
and employers, as well as creditors, it is essential for consumers
to learn their score and what it means.
.
|