Identity Theft: Credit And Debit Cards

Does using my credit card online make me vulnerable to identity theft?

When it comes to using your credit card either at a brick and mortar retail establishment or online over the internet, it's no safer online than it is at a brick and mortar retail store. If you're going to use it online, I would always use it at websites that are secured, where they have https as a secured website in the address bar, otherwise if it's not a secured page, I wouldn't use it. Otherwise, I do recommend that people go ahead and use your credit card. Have a blast. Have a party for yourself. But pay close attention to your statements and refute unauthorized charges within two billing cycles.

Am I responsible for credit card charges run up by identity thieves?

In the event that someone compromises either your credit card or your debit card, as long as you refute those charges within a 6 day period of time, you're not going to be fined. However, the problem is, say it's your debit card that they use and those funds are taken out of your account, you could sometimes bounce checks which could be additional problems for you. That's why I always recommend using a credit card over a debit card. As long as you refute those charges within 6 days, they will be taken off of your account. Sometimes you may incur an insurance fee of around $5 from that issuing bank for that potential fraud. Otherwise, now more and more we're seeing zero liability with these cards because identity theft has become such a problem.

What should I do if my credit or debit card is lost or stolen?

In the event that your credit card or your debit card is lost or stolen, the very first thing you need to do is call the issuing bank and cancel that. Then any electronic funds transfers that you have set for that particular account. You need to start to call those companies as well so that when they go to make those electronic funds transfers, that you do not default and incur extra fees.

Can using an ATM make me vulnerable to identity theft?

ATM's generally are very safe. The beauty of an ATM is that it requires your card and a PIN code. What you have to look out for at ATM's is people looking over your shoulder surfing. Looking over your shoulder, looking for your pass codes. That's something you should be aware of. Other than that, there are hardware devices and if you search the term ATM skimming, you can actually find hardware devices where identity thieves will actually attach to the face of the ATM and they can actually extract the data off of your debit card or your credit card when you put it into the ATM. And these hardware devices, they look just like the face of the ATM. So you need to familiarize yourself with what the ATM that you frequent looks like, making sure that if there's anything out of place, something that doesn't look right, doesn't seem right, that you respond to that. Go inside the bank and tell them about it or simply just don't use that ATM machine.