Debt Consolidation - How to Protect Your Credit Accounts from Theft

Sponsor:

Debt News:

Debt Consolidation
Advertise with Us
Debt Blog
Link to Us

Informative Articles

Bad Credit Debt Consolidation Loan
Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit Nowadays, many people can get into a bad credit situation if they do not keep track of their income and expenditure. Many young executives suddenly find that they are being offered credit cards by various...

Business Debt and Loan Consolidation: Help, Solutions, and Services
There are a lot of businesses that run into financial trouble and turn to financial advisors to help develop a business debt and loan consolidation plan. As with a personal debt consolidation plan, the key to having success with a business debt...

Consolidation Loans for Tenants- Empowering Tenants with a Method to Counter Debts
Tenants are persons who are residing in a rented apartment. They do not have a home of their own. Cities have a larger population of people who have been living as tenants. Debts are as much a menace for the tenants as it is for the homeowners....

Moneynet targets debt consolidation loans as UK bankruptcies rise
Moneynet.co.uk, the UK's most established financial comparison site has recently launched a new section on debt consolidation loans. Debt consolidation has become a major market in the UK as consumers struggle to pay off their debts. According...

What is a Debt Consolidation Loan?
If your objective is to reduce interest rates and lower your monthly payments, avoid bankruptcy, consolidate your bills and have one monthly payment, or simply get out of debt the fastest way possible, then a debt consolidation loan could...

Debt Consolidation - How to Protect Your Credit Accounts from Theft

Last week, a security exploit at CardSystems Solutions, Inc, a credit card processor, may have allowed thieves to obtain as many as 40 million credit card numbers from unsuspecting victims. The theft was brought about though a virus introduced into the CardSystems that allowed external hackers to obtain access to the account information. Adding to the problem was the fact that CardSystems wasn't supposed to have the account information at all. It appears that CardSystems "inappropriately" held onto the information after clearing the credit card transactions. At that point, the account information should have been deleted. CardSystems held onto the account information for supposed "research purposes." Fortunately for those involved, the compromised information only included account numbers and not Social Security numbers, which would have assisted the thieves in identity theft scams. This latest security breach at a credit card processor outlines how anyone can be vulnerable to account or even identity theft. Is there anything that can be done about it?

The credit card companies largely dictate the relationships between the credit card companies and the credit card processors. They are supposed to keep tabs on the processors and make sure that the processors use secure measures to protect the data of customers. These issues are not governed by law, but the processors can be fined by the credit card companies for violations. So what can the average credit card customer do to make sure that their account information isn't compromised? Not much, it would appear. The paper transaction has long since been replaced almost universally by the electronic one, and anytime a customer uses a credit card, their account information is moved from one computer to another. Hackers continue to develop more sophisticated methods of stealing information, and their techniques are often ahead of the processing companies' ability to develop comparable security measures. For the foreseeable future, credit card customers must consider that their accounts are vulnerable.

In time, the credit card companies and their associated processors will establish security guidelines that are more effective than the ones that are currently in place. In the meantime, the best thing cardholders can do is to simply minimize their exposure. The best way to do this is to have as few credit card accounts as possible and to use them sparingly. Granted, it is often difficult to avoid using credit cards, but there are times when people simply pull them out of the wallet out of habit when using a check or cash would suffice. This may sound inconvenient, but at the moment, the only way to make certain that your account numbers are safe is to avoid using them when possible.

About the Author

�Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to debt consolidation and credit counseling, and HomeEquityHelp.com, a site devoted to information regarding home equity loans.