Ramsey County

Making $ense of Dollars and Cents

November 2005 - Number 2

Credit Card Statements & Fraud

          Credit card fraud can happen in several different ways – when consumers share their credit card information with unethical individuals, when cards are lost or stolen, when employees of a business copy the card numbers or when mailing is diverted from the intended recipient and the information on a credit card statement is used.

          Tracking your credit card statements is one of the ways to prevent credit card fraud.  It is important to review your credit card statement when it arrives.  If one of your credit card bills is late, call the card issuer right away.  A missing statement may indicate that your statement has been stolen. 

          To be fully protected against unauthorized credit card charges, you must report fraud in a timely manner. If you do not report fraud within 60 days of the billing statement containing the questionable charges, you may be fully liable for unauthorized charges.  Review credit card statements the day you receive them and report any questionable charges to your card issuer immediately.

          Be wary of any offers from someone selling “credit card loss protection insurance.”  This type of insurance is unnecessary as federal law limits your credit card fraud liability.  However, scam artists try to sell credit card insurance by falsely claiming that cardholders face significant financial risk if their cards are misused.  According to recent Federal Trade Commission estimates, 3.3 million consumers have purchased unnecessary insurance to prevent unauthorized use of their credit cards.  The best insurance and protection against unauthorized use of your credit card is to report missing cards right away. 

          What about paying for a service that will notify all my card issuers if my cards are lost or stolen?  Save money by doing it yourself.  Keep credit card account numbers and toll-free numbers in a separate place from your credit cards so that you can easily find the information when you need it.

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524 4th Ave NE #5, 2nd Floor Ramsey County Courthouse
Devils Lake  ND  58301
701-662-7027
email - ramsey@ndsuext.nodak.edu