We’ve all heard stories, rumors and even some urban legends about nightmarish experiences when shopping online, especially for shoes. Someone’s credit card numbers were taken and used against them in a swindle. Their bank account was drained, taking months of hard work and money literally flying out the door. Someone else thought it was better to just “buy now pay later”. The amount of complaints and attempts at swindling businesses is absolutely amazing.
Perhaps this is the main reason why more and more people want to shop online, you know, because of the security and privacy you get to enjoy. However, as we know all too well, it’s not always just “a few bad apples” causing these problems, it’s a sickness of epic proportions spread by a quarter of the online population.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at how you can avoid the problems, and how you can make the most of your online shopping experience.
Paying With a Credit Card Is Safe
There is a very simple way to prevent your credit card information from being stolen before you leave your house: pay with a credit card. Credit cards offer a lot of security because you must give them something to accountable for the money that is being stolen from your card. Byusing a credit card payment method, you eliminate the opportunity for someone to make a grab for your credit card information when you leave your house or simply forget to lock the door. If you forget to lock the doorknob, it becomes someone else’s problem.
Another benefit of using a credit card is that you have a very good idea that your purchase is secure. What many people either do not know or simply don’t think about is that when you use a credit card method of payment, information that you use for your purchase is collected and stored by the card provider. This information can include your social security number, your birth date, your driver’s license number, your prior address, your telephone number, your address book entry, your credit card number complete with billing and other information. Since this information is collected by the card provider, it is very easy for them to match it to information that is needed to place you in a correct address database.
In short, not using a credit card will allow you to take the Pink Bag method of payment any time you want. You can pay for anything using a credit card, and you will never need to worry about VISA orMasterCard information.
How do I Use a Credit Card?
The most important step in protecting yourself is to be aware of the 3 “Z”s. They are Zero, zeros and zeros. Many people have heard the expression “zero liability” and think that means you are somehow magically insured for any problems. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone who has ever had personal information stolen can tell you that while you were the victim, you were as responsible for your actions as the thief.
Theenger. Newsletter subscriptions provide exclusive access to members of the card companies’ resources, which are designed to assist customers and protect you as a consumer. These include phone hotlines, online chat rooms, and email support 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can also access this information from a secure website accessed athttp://www.liestCo.com. Lest you forget, the thief can use your credit card to ruin your credit. There is no zero tolerance policy on stolen card information.
In the event that your credit information is stolen and used, the card company will make you whole dollar amounts on your credit card activity. For example, say that you made three purchases of $50 each, your “Monthly Card Receipt” is mailed to you for $300. The trick here is that the thief can take the $300 that you spent and then go spend it somewhere else. The wiser approach is to use cash only and use a separate credit card for your online purchases only.
When you make a purchase online with a separate credit card, you automatically increase your credit limit. Credit cards have an “Adjusted credit” feature for when you exceed the value on your card. Simply put, it looks like your credit limit has increased, however, in reality, nothing has. The website operator knows this and adjusts your credit line to reflect this without charging you an additional amount.
You can also use this method to improve your chances of recovery. Simply use a credit card with a low credit line. Larger credit cards force you to pay more on the balance because you have more available to pay with a credit card. For a want of a greater margin, use a smaller credit card with a high interest rate.
