Using Your Credit Card Online With Peace of Mind!

A Consumer's Guide to Credit Cards & E-Payments

The Internet has taken its place beside the telephone and television as an important part of people’s lives. Consumers use the Internet to shop, bank and invest online. Most consumers use credit cards or debit cards to pay for online purchases, but other payment methods, like “e-wallets,” are becoming more common.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants you to know about these payment technologies and how to make your transactions as safe and secure as possible. Keep these tips in mind as other forms of electronic commerce, like mobile and wireless transactions, become more available.

“PAYING” IT SAFE

The FTC encourages you to take steps to make sure your transactions are secure and your personal information is protected. Although you can’t control fraud or deception on the Internet, you can take action to recognize it, avoid it and report it. Here’s how.

Use a secure browser — software that encrypts or scrambles the purchase information you send over the Internet — to help guard the security of your information as it is transmitted to a website. Be sure your browser has the most up-to-date encryption capabilities by using the latest version available from the manufacturer. You also can download some browsers for free over the Internet. When submitting your purchase information, look for the “lock” icon on the browser’s status bar, and the phrase “https” in the URL address for a website, to be sure your information is secure during transmission.

Check the site’s privacy policy, before you provide any personal financial information to a website. In particular, determine how the information will be used or shared with others. Also check the site’s statements about the security provided for your information. Some websites’ disclosures are easier to find than others — look at the bottom of the home page, on order forms or in the “About” or “FAQs” section of a site. If you’re not comfortable with the policy, consider doing business elsewhere.

Read and understand the refund and shipping policies of a website you visit, before you make your purchase. Look closely at disclosures about the website’s refund and shipping policies. Again, search through the website for these disclosures.

Keep your personal information private. Don’t disclose your personal information — your address, telephone number, Social Security number, bank account number or e-mail address — unless you know who’s collecting the information, why they’re collecting it and how they’ll use it.

Give payment information only to businesses you know and trust, and only when and where it is appropriate — like an order form. Never give your password to anyone online, even your Internet service provider. Do not download files sent to you by strangers or click on hyperlinks from people you don’t know. Opening a file could expose your system to a computer virus or a program that could hijack your modem.

Keep records of your online transactions and check your e-mail for contacts by merchants with whom you’re doing business. Merchants may send you important information about your purchases.

Review your monthly credit card and bank statements for any errors or unauthorized purchases promptly and thoroughly. Notify your credit card or debit card issuer immediately if your credit card or debit card or checkbook is lost or stolen, or if you suspect someone is using your accounts without your permission.

REPORT PROBLEMS IMMEDIATELY

The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) establish protections against lost or stolen credit card or debit cards, and procedures for resolving errors on credit and bank account statements that can include:

credit charges or electronic fund transfers that you — or anyone you’ve authorized to use your account — have not made;

credit charges or electronic fund transfers that are incorrectly identified or show the wrong amount or date;

computation or similar errors;

a failure to properly reflect payments or credits, or electronic fund transfers;

not mailing or delivering credit billing statements to your current address, as long as that address was received by the creditor in writing at least 20 days before the billing period ended; and

credit charges or electronic fund transfers for which you request an explanation or documentation, because of a possible error.

For credit: The FCBA generally applies to “open end” credit accounts — that is, credit cards and revolving charge accounts, like department store accounts. It does not apply to loans or credit sales that are paid according to a fixed schedule until the entire amount is paid back, like an automobile loan.

Lost or stolen credit cards: Under the FCBA, your liability for lost or stolen credit cards is limited to $50. If the loss involves only your credit card number (not the card itself), you have no liability for unauthorized use. It’s best to notify your card issuer promptly upon discovering the loss. Many companies have toll-free numbers and 24-hour service to deal with such emergencies. Always follow up with a letter and keep a copy for your records.

Courtesy: www.ftc.gov