Credit Card Fraud Protection and Prevention

How To Protect Against Credit Card Fraud
By: StudentCreditCards.com

Protecting your student credit card is a vital part in maintaining good credit. The following are some ways to prevent student credit card fraud and catch fraud in action.

Watch Your Back
Know when your bill is schedule to arrive each month and if it doesn’t come, contact the lender immediately. After receiving the bill, review all the charges to ensure the bill is correct. If there are mystery charges, contact the credit card issuer for further investigation.

Protect Your Interests
The days of leaving your outgoing mail in the mailbox are gone. A red flag on a mailbox is more like an invitation to thieves then a signal to the carrier. Whenever possible, drop your outgoing credit card payments into a secure Post Office reciprocal. If you must use a freestanding mailbox at your home, do not put the flag up. The mail carrier will see the mail when he or she arrives to drop off the day’s letters. In addition, put the mail out at the last possible moment. Do not put your outgoing mail in the mailbox the night before unless it is a necessity.

In the past, most driver’s licenses, health insurance cards and student identification cards boasted the individual’s Social Security number as the card number. Times have changed, and the practice is not so common now. However, if you find your Social Security number being used as a card number too, request a new number to best protect this important number.

Go the Extra Mile
Contact your banks and student credit card lenders to request a password be applied to any account that doesn’t already have one. Make this password hard to guess. Do not use your mother’s maiden name and include both alphabet characters and numerals in the password. Commit the password to memory. If you must keep it written down somewhere, secure the location of the information.

Check your credit reports on a regular basis. Review the reports for unusual accounts. If you find erroneous information, file an alert with the fraud department and contact the creditor directly via certified mail.

How to Fight Credit Card Fraud

Even after taking all the protective steps imaginable, some individuals still become a victim of student credit card fraud and personal identity theft. If you find yourself in this situation, there are several steps you can take to fight back.

Victims of identity theft or credit card fraud may request, free of charge, a credit report. Order reports from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax for review.

File a report with the local law enforcement agency. If you find the agency unresponsive, do not deter. You need an official document stating the event. Persist until you receive such a document. If at all possible, request the agency to investigate the student credit card fraud. Once you have a police report in hand, make a copy for your records.
Contact the three major credit bureaus (listed above) and request to have your records flagged. In addition ask to have creditors contact you directly before opening a new credit line in your name.
If the fraud is really out of hand, cancel all of your student credit cards and open new accounts. Do not forget to request a password for each new account.
If your mail was stolen as part of the identity theft, contact the United States Postal Service and file a mail fraud complaint.
Double check with the Social Security Administration to ensure your name is listed correctly and that your retirement benefits are properly attributed.

Contact your banks and report the fraud. Request that all payments be stopped on outstanding checks. If needed, close your checking accounts and savings accounts and open new ones. Also request new ATM cards and PINs.
Contact each creditor for every fraudulent account. Include a written letter and affidavit notarized by a witness. Request the account be closed because it is fraudulent. Include a police report when possible and ask the lender to correct your record and confirm the changes via mail.