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Consolidate A Credit Card To Reduce Your Debt
Strange though it may sound a credit card can be a useful tool
in controlling debt. The properly chosen credit card can, in
fact, be used to consolidate debt. There are several features to
look for though if you plan to use a credit card in this...
Consolidation Debt For Newbies
Consolidation debt to help get you out of the quagmire Will you agree with me if I tell you that, the key to financial success is to live within your means? This is an old belief that modern day income earners have completely forgotten. This is...
Consumer Intelligence: Choosing Smart Debt Consolidation
There is an onslaught of American consumers acquiring more debt. It makes for the business of debt consolidation management an emerging industry. Nonetheless, as the marketplace of the indebted continues to reach proportionate heights, it does...
Debt Consolidation - What it is and how it works
What is Debt Consolidation?
Debt consolidation in the UK is the process where a debtor
takes out a single loan to pay off other existing loans. This
can be done to secure a lower interest rate, and hence make
lower monthly repayments, or to...
UK Debt Consolidation – Helps you Forget Debts Like a Last Night’s Dream.
Debt consolidation is the name given to a very popular process of debt settlement in the UK. Debtors didn’t have lesser choices before the conception of debt consolidation techniques, for settling their debt load. Debt consolidation however...
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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.
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