Credit card security

Credit card theft and fraud is a now common place crime in which affects hundreds of people in the UK each year. Fraudsters have access to personal accounts and information and in some cases can use your card to spend thousands of pounds. Most banks do have special fraud departments however they are usually reactive to what they perceive to be suspicious behaviour and will then act upon it, restoring information can sometimes take up to 200 hours in which time your account will be suspended.

Three steps to card fraud prevention

• Treat your cards like you would your cash, make sure it is kept safe at all times and ensure tat whenever you receive a new card that it is signed and activated immediately as this makes it more difficult for anyone else to use the card without proper authorisation.

• Register your card with a card protection scheme, for a fee you can register all bank and credit cards. This will give you piece of mind and also means that the scheme will contact the relevant party on your behalf should you at any point lose your card. Being much more proactive and meaning that the card is rendered disabled and therefore can not be used fraudulently.

• Keep track of all credit cards you have, keep this list separately in order to have a record in which is kept apart from the cards themselves. By doing this you can then be much more aware should one going missing or should you receive a bill for a card you haven't used which would indicate the card has been stolen.

Another common type of credit card fraud in which you need to safeguard against is online fraud. Be sure to be extra stringent when using your card to shop online, ensuring that you do not use your details on any public computers or entering your details in a webpage in which does not carry the security ‘padlock' icon in the bottom right hand corner. If you are unsure about using a website to shop there are secure alternatives to shopping online such as paypal and e-cheques in which your bank details are not used in the transaction.

If you are looking to purchase credit cards in the near future you may wish to look online to find the providers that offer the best reward credit cards to you. You may also wish to look for cashback credit cards in which give you the opportunity to obtain cashback on all purchases.