Credit Card Debt Management

Welcome to the future - contactless payment processing, i.e. Visa’s payWave, MasterCard’s Paypass and American Express’ Express Pay. This has been in the works for a while and is slowly creeping into the retail scene, starting with the big chain merchants.

Essentially, consumers have a card that is enabled for compatibility with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card reader. One wave of the card in front of the machine, similar to a barcode reader, and the consumer is on their way. It could certainly help during the holiday rush by cutting down shopping lines, for one.

RetailWire is now encouraging more merchants to adopt the new technology. RW’s article downplays any associated costs as minor and hypes the impact contactless pay can have on speed of service, sales volume and customer loyalty.

As more B2B media outlets promote this line of thinking, look for contactless payment processing to catch on in a major way. You will probably already own an RFID-enabled credit card before this occurs, however. Credit card companies are now in the midst of a major push to spread RFID love to all, whether by issuing renewal, replacement or brand new cards.

The holidays are prime time for identity thieves. There are many ways for predators to seize your personal information and use it to their advantage. The hustle and bustle of the holidays only makes their quest easier. So wise up and protect yourself year round, but especially during this hectic season!

Internet shopping has increased slightly to 30 percent over the last year. It’s a convenient way to knock out the Christmas list without fighting the crowds. However, it’s also a prime way for identity thieves to snatch your info. A few questions to keep in mind when shopping over the Internet:

Does their privacy policy protect my information?

Does the company sell my information to other companies?

Did I read the fine print and understand it?

Does the company store my credit card information?

If so, where is this information stored? An online database, their own business files, or both?

When filling out credit card payment forms, what information is required?

When shopping in person, keep your personal cards on your person instead of in a purse. This will alleviate the stress that could follow a purse snatching. Perhaps you can wear a vest, pants or shirt pocket that buttons to ward off pickpockets.

When traveling for the holidays, have the post office stop your mail temporarily or ask a trusted neighbor to pick up your mail for you each day. This might prevent people from filtering through your mail and removing anything that may help them assume your identity. You may even want to have the post office hold your mail throughout the entire holiday season, if it would not be too inconvenient for you to stop by the post office and pick it up.

You may want to consider a locking garbage can. Although it can be a hefty investment, it can keep identity thieves from prowling through any credit card statements, credit offers or bank statements you may have received. Of course, a cross-cut shredder does a fine job of protecting against this as well.

Remember, you can have pristine credit, but it can take an identity thief five minutes to wreck it. It will inevitably take you at least a year to clean up the aftermath. It’s a real headache, to say the least - particularly if it comes at a time when you were about to try for a major home or vehicle loan. Be proactive instead of reactive and enjoy a peaceful (and stress-free?) holiday season.

Every family has at least one. Those people who are so incredibly finnicky (or so incredibly elusive about what they want and need) that you are praying not to get their name in the family gift exchange name draw. Enter the gift card. Traditionalists claim they are impersonal and the number of adults who do not spend gift cards within a year of receipt increased from 19 to 27 percent this year, according to Consumer Reports. Nevertheless, gift cards are more popular now than ever before in our busy society and major credit card companies have jumped on the band wagon.

USA Today featured a terrific article about holiday gift cards, encouraging creativity in giving. Some of the non-traditional ideas tossed out include gift cards to a massage, a golf game or even admission to a national park. These are ideal for people who just don’t like retail shopping, the most popular form of gift card.

Gift cards from Visa, American Express and MasterCard are versatile and can be spent on online bill pay, gas station pumps, grocery stores or practically anywhere else. They are, however, laden with fees that can eat up the available cash. There is a purchase fee ranging anywhere from $2 to $10, USA Today reports. Shipping and handling can also apply. There is also a nominal monthly non-use fee if the card still has a balance after a year or so. There is also typically a fee of $5 to $10 to reactivate the card’s balance if it has expired. The articles points out that some states legally prohibit expiration dates on gift cards: California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Nevada.

Consumer Reports recommends reading the fine print before buying gift cards, and trying to find cards with no expiration date, shipping charges or fees. Gift card recipients should also read the card’s fine print to understand the terms and conditions. This, along with strategic placement of the card in a visible place, will help ensure the card’s value does not go to waste.