DO YOU HAVE BAD CREDIT?

While credit card use is at an all-time low—a 2014 Gallup poll found Americans have an average of 2.6 cards—theft still leaves millions of Americans scrambling to close accounts, reconcile false charges and clean up their credit every year.
Consumers reported about 7.7 million credit card theft or fraudulent use cases in 2012, according to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. A 2013 Federal Reserve Payments study estimated 31.1 million unauthorized transactions, valued at $6.1 billion, in 2012.
Don’t leave yourself vulnerable. Here are several ways to identify and prevent credit fraud and what to do if your information is stolen.

Watch

Do a monthly check in. Give your monthly credit card statements a once over, and check for any transactions you don’t recognize. Report anything suspicious immediately.
Pay attention to the news. Large-scale information leaks are becoming more and more common. A Target security breach in 2013 left up to 70 million customers compromised; hackers stole information on 56 million credit and debit cards used at Home Depot in late 2014.
If your information may have been compromised through such an attack, take advantage of any remediation the company offers.
Watch your credit report. Obtain free copies of your credit report annually, keeping an eye out for credit lines or debt you don’t recognize.
Consider LifeLock Ultimate Plus, which includes data breach notifications and black market website surveillance. One convenient feature of the subscription is its ability to monitor all your financial accounts in one place.

Report

Act quickly. If you suspect your card or information was stolen, act immediately. Report the loss to your credit card company. Once you’ve reported it, you can’t be held liable for any subsequent unauthorized charges.
Follow up in writing. If you send a letter, make a copy and store it for later reference. Include your account number, when you reported the loss, when you noticed your card was missing, and when you noticed phony charges.
For more written back-up, file a police report with your local precinct or online.

Prevent

Don’t leave card statements or receipts lying around. Scan anything you may need and shred the paper documents. Put your documents on a thumb drive you can tuck away, or sign up for a secure online storage solution.
Don’t loan out your card; even to friends or your kids.
Watch your back. RFID-chipped cards are vulnerable to digital pickpocketing. Scammers can use card readers (called skimmers) to capture your name and credit card number, which can then be transferred to a blank card ready for swiping.
Take only what you need. Keep just one or two credit cards on you, keeping any others safe at home.
Notify your card company if your address has changed or you’ll be traveling.
Don’t write your credit card number or account number down anywhere someone may find it, and never email credit card information.
Stick to secure sites. Check online retailers for security and privacy seals and an https:// URL, which encrypts and decrypts page requests to protect against online attacks.
Shred or cut up old cards before you throw them away.
Consider an e-wallet for your digital device. The LifeLock Wallet app is one such option.
Keep a list of your debit and credit cards — including numbers, expiration dates and security codes — tucked away somewhere safe.

Dispute

The Fair Credit Billing Act caps liability for unauthorized charges at $50. If the number was stolen or the card is reported stolen or missing before any charges are made, its holder isn’t responsible for any authorized transactions that follow. This applies to revolving charge accounts and open-end credit accounts.
In some cases, when damage isn’t limited to these types of accounts, victims come away with much more to repair. If fraud leaves you with substantial debt, take the following steps:
Contact all three national credit reporting companies. Explain the situation and ask for fraudulent debt to be blocked from your credit report to stop collection efforts.
Respond, in writing, to any written debt notice within 30 days. Indicate you were the victim of identity theft and don’t owe any money. Include any documentation you have, including notices from your credit card issuer.