Stopping Credit Card Identity Theft

Credit card identity theft is on the rise, and if you are not careful you could become a victim and lose hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Your identity is your most precious thing, and if someone gets hold of it they can make it look like you have spent vast sums and got yourself into debt. By the time you know the money has been spent, the thieves might have racked up many different credit card debts, as well as other loans and financial products. It pays to know how to prevent identity theft, so here are some tips about how to do just that.

Be careful with mail offers

One of the most common ways that thieves can get hold of information is to intercept or remove from rubbish credit card mail offers. Although many people remember to get rid of bills and other items properly, they forget about these items, as they believe they are junk mail. However, many of them have information about you on them and only require a thief to sign the document and send it back to obtain a credit card. If they get the card before you do then they can spend money in your name. Make sure that you properly shred or dispose of any financial mail, whether you think it is junk mail or not.

Keep all records safe

Apart from destroying unwanted mail, you have to make sure that any letters or records that you want to keep are stored safely. If you have a credit card, or even if you don’t, you have probably received a stack of credit card letters in the post, telling you that you are ‘pre-approved’ for a great credit card deal. Although some of these credit card deals are genuine, many are not what they seem or are even complete scams. If you know want to make sure that you don’t fall victim to these poor deals, then here is some advice on the ins and outs of credit card pre-approval.

What does pre-approval mean?

Although in other areas pre-approval might mean that you have secured a definite amount and definite terms with a lender, depending on final credit checks, with credit card pre-approval mail it does not mean this. It simply means that you have a credit score that matches the criteria to let you apply for one of these cards. You are not guaranteed specific terms, nor are you even guaranteed to be accepted.

Why do I get sent these letters?

Often, credit companies send you these letters because your credit score matches their criteria for card applications. Card companies are always looking for new customers, but if they simply sent out letters to everyone it would cost them a lot of money for little return. Instead, they search consumer credit ratings to look for people who match specific criteria. Whether this is a good credit rating for high limit cards or a bad credit rating for the sub-prime market, you are targeted because they think you are more likely to respond to their offer.

Are these offers real?

Although many of these offers are not what they first appear to be, they are not technically illegal. They are offering you the opportunity of ‘up to’ a certain credit limit, and they are not saying you are approved, only ‘pre-approved’ or ‘pre-selected. This means that they can change all of the conditions of the card you are sent and they are still not technically lying to you. Although this does seem morally wrong, it is your responsibility to check the information before applying.

Common techniques used

These offers are often misleading, and there are certain tricks that the card issuers use in order to make more money out of you. Usually these terms are listed in the small print, but because most people don’t look at this they know they can get away with it. One common trick used is to charge you a very high interest rate, but put a clause in the contract saying you must transfer your entire current balance from another card onto the new card. This means that they are putting a balance on the card straight away at a higher interest rate than you might currently pay. Another common trick is to offer you ‘up to’ a massive credit limit, but then give you something much lower. For example, they might offer you ‘up to’ £10,000, but only give you £1,000.

Read the terms

The only way to really stop yourself being caught out by these offers is to read the small print carefully if you are thinking of applying. However, the best way to not get caught is to simply shred the offers and put them in the bin. You are much more likely to get a better deal, even with the same card issuer, if you make inquiries yourself and shop around for the best deal.

Peter Kenny is a writer for The Thrifty Scot, please visit us at Debt Consolidation Loan and IVA Visit http://www.thriftyscot.co.uk/

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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How Credit Scores Affect Mortgage Applications

With a good credit score an applicant will receive prompt response from many lenders, all of them offering low interest rates and low down payment options. The loan amount offered also may be high. On the contrary a low credit score would result in a lot of rejection from various mortgage financers. Because creditors wouldn’t come forward easily to give credit to individuals that have a history of difficulty in repaying existing loans. After all, creditors take risk when they finance mortgages against the credit history of a debtor. Naturally, they will wish to remain on the safe side and pick up less risky ones that have good credit histories. A good credit score means less chance of missing on payments and therefore less risky.

But there are some real risk takers that will come forward to finance mortgages for individuals with bad credit scores. They would charge high down payments and always high interest rates though. They may also fix additional charges for every little paper work and may charge high closing rates. The loan amount offered will also be considerably less. The individual with poor credit scores will not have much choice but to accept the terms and conditions as there are no other alternatives. This is a tight situation and to avoid this you must have a good credit score.

People with bad credit may fall in to the trap of ’secured loans’. Secured loans are the ones where the loan applicant offers an asset as collateral security. The lender becomes secure about the repayment of the loan and not the borrower. Securing a loan with bad credit score becomes easy only when the applicant is willing to offer some asset as collateral security. This again is a very dangerous situation where an individual runs the risk of losing his entire collateral asset in case of failing to pay the loan installments in time. An individual should always avoid such type of a loan.

Resort properties normally require large amounts of finance which a person with bad credit may find it difficult to obtain. So it is always advisable to keep your credit score high. Incase the credit score becomes low due to unavoidable financial reasons it can be improved upon. There is no need to lose hope simply because a person has a low credit score. If the property that he intends to buy has good equity he should go out and try to obtain finances for it. There are many sub prime lenders willing to offer their services.

For a review of your credit report as it relates to a mortgage loan and a consultation on the best loans available to you, give us a confidential, no obligation and no cost call.