Guide to Balance Transfers

Criminals steal credit card information from consumers' bills, report new addresses, and request additional cards. They also obtain personal data through crooked Internet information brokers whose sources are voter registration rolls, tax records, public filings, and sometimes "credit header" information. Criminals also steal information from discarded computer hard drives and hack business sites to steal credit card information.

Credit Card Companies and Credit Agencies Should:

Deflate Your Credit Card Rate

• Perform more secondary identity confirmation steps and mail follow-up letters to consumers who have requested credit cards to make sure they received the cards.

• Eliminate pre-approved credit mailings.

• Use an issuers' clearinghouse when processing applications for credit cards.

• Issue tighter fraud alerts at credit agencies.

• Improve communication among credit agencies and give them easier ways to report identity theft.

• Notify consumers if creditors receive change-of-address requests or requests for additional cards regarding the customers' accounts at other addresses.

• Include photographs on all credit cards to prevent fraudulent use.

• Upon request, provide consumers with one free credit report per year.

• Develop better ways to verify the identities of consumers before issuing new credit cards or duplicate cards to new addresses.

• Stop sharing consumers' personal financial information with affiliated companies or selling it to unaffiliated third parties unless affirmative consent is obtained up-front (opt-in).

• Ensure that credit card processing at restaurants and retail establishments generates transaction receipts that omit the full credit card number used for the transactions.

• Provide ready and inexpensive access to credit information. Current federal law permits the consumer to obtain credit record information for $8.50 per year.

• Continually monitor various life cycles of credit accounts at consumer stores to identify unusual activity.

How to Protect Yourself from Credit Card Fraud

Sales and refund reports, which track all cash register transactions, show suspect patterns of repeat unmatched high-dollar store credit activity issued on transactions without original sale receipts. (Even though point-of-sale programs capture all transactions, they don't necessarily have the ability to separate and identify suspect transaction activity as effectively as exception-based reporting programs.)

Consumers must:

• Never provide personal information (credit card number, driver's license number, SSN, birth date, mother's maiden name) over the phone unless you've initiated the call and know to whom you are speaking.

• Don't allow sales clerks to copy credit card numbers on checks for additional information or to use credit cards as identification.

• Avoid giving credit card numbers over the phone if in a public place.

• Use a credit card instead of a debit card; debit cards don't have maximum liability for fraudulent use.

• Sign credit cards in permanent ink as soon as they're obtained.

Fraudulent Methods for Obtaining Credit Card Information

• Individuals create Web pages and pose as legitimate businesses only to use the site with the intent of acquiring individuals' credit card numbers and other personal information.

• Keep a list or photocopy of all of your credit accounts and bank accounts in a secure place, such as a safe, lock box, or locked file cabinet.

• When purchasing items with a credit card, always keep credit card receipts. Never toss them in a wastebasket.

• Don't speak or press credit card or bank account numbers over a wireless or cordless phone unless it's equipped with encryption technology.

• Cut up, shred, or otherwise destroy pre-approved credit offers that you don't intend to accept before putting them in your trash or recycling bin.

• Register credit cards with a credit card protection agency, and then place that agency's stickers on the cards.

• Check credit card statements and immediately report unauthorized purchases.

• Contact the issuer if a new or renewed credit card doesn't arrive.  

The Evolution of Bank Cards

Victims of identity theft will be able to alert banks, credit card companies and law enforcement with one phone call under a pilot program called the Identity Theft Assistance Center. The Financial Services Roundtable, which represent 100 institutions handling about 70 percent of financial transactions created the center, which will be handled by Wells Fargo and Company. The program will begin on May 1 st and involve the financial industry groups 100 members, including credit card companies.

Legislation before the Senate would allow consumers to receive free copies of their credit reports annually, place frauds alerts in their credit reports and call one credit bureau and have the information shared with all of them.

Credit card transfers