If you’ve been a reader of Studenomics for any decent period of time, you likely have considered signing up for a student credit card at some point or another. Chances also are that you’ve been using your credit card to build up your credit score. This is what I’ve been doing. I’ve had no issues with any of my credit cards – until recently.
A few months ago I was a victim of credit card fraud. I got a call on a Saturday night while I was watching a UFC show with my brother. I was wondering what the credit card company was trying to promote to me on a Saturday night. It turns out that they flagged my credit card because there had been purchases made in Toronto and in Europe on the same day. They suspected that I was a victim of credit card fraud. After a quick investigation, it turn out that they were in fact correct.
I wrote about how to pay off credit card debt because we all know that it’s important to be debt free and that your credit card should be a tool, not something that puts you further into debt. Just as important as paying off debt is, it’s also critical that you protect yourself from credit card fraud. I protect myself by paying a small monthly fee for credit card insurance.
What should you do right after you realize that you’ve been a victim of credit card fraud?
Contact your credit card company.
Fortunately in my case the credit card company contacted me first about the credit card fraud. You need to get in touch with your credit card company to let them know that something has gone wrong. This way you can prevent further damage from happening.
Go over your transactions with them.
Next you want to go over your transactions to see where everything went wrong. Luckily for me, the credit card rep immediately flagged some $600 purchase in Denmark. When you go over your transactions you can see if perhaps you made a mistake or if your credit card number was simply stolen.
Get your new credit card in the mail.
Your credit card company will likely issue you a new credit card. You just have to wait until this card comes in the mail. You then have to activate the account and set your pin again. I would recommend changing pins for security reasons.
Change all of your automated payments.
Once your new credit card is activated you need to change all of your automate payments. This includes any of the following automated payment plans that you might have:
- Cell phone bill.
- Gym memberhsip.
- Utilities.
- And so on.
This is where I got screwed over. I forgot to change a few of my automated payments and I got hit with a few late notices. I don’t know how I forgot to do this.
There are many ways you can avoid making mistakes with your credit card. If you happen to be a victim of credit card fraud, it’s important that you deal with it immediately. You don’t want to be charged for some purchases that you didn’t make. You also don’t want to hurt your credit score.