Financial Safety During the Holiday Season

Shopping during the holiday season can be a lot of fun. Finding meaningful gifts for everyone on your list should be a joyous experience.

However, financial safety during the holiday season is essential. You must keep your credit card, bank account, and related information protected from cybercriminals. The following tips can help.

Monitor Your Spending Limit

Although gift-giving brings you and your loved ones joy, avoid piling on debt during the holidays:

• Plan how much you can realistically spend on family and friends. Stick to your budget to avoid impulse purchases and debt.

• Coordinate with anyone on your joint account to avoid overdrawing your funds.

• Monitor your credit card limits to avoid overspending and incurring penalties.

Understand Your Credit Card Protections

Credit cards typically offer fraud protection if a transaction is compromised or your account information is stolen. Most cards let you set up text alerts for purchases, which can alert you if an unauthorized user adds charges to your account.

Avoid Using Public Wi-Fi When Shopping

Public Wi-Fi is not as secure as private, at-home Wi-Fi. Whereas shopping online from home is usually safe and most retailers’ websites are secure, public Wi-Fi is easily hacked.  Therefore, entering your credit card number to make a purchase using public Wi-Fi can lead to a cybercriminal stealing your information.

Protect Your Credit Card in Public

When shopping in public, make sure nobody sees or hears your credit card number. For instance, hide your credit card number as you type it into a website. Also, avoid reading your credit card number over the phone in the presence of others, as they might remember or write it down for later use. 

Protect Your Passwords

Use a different password for each online account, including your credit cards and any shopping websites you use during the holiday season. If a password is stolen, the rest of your accounts should be safe while you recover the compromised one.

Manage your passwords with a password manager or by writing them down on paper in a secure location. Retrieving or resetting your passwords is less stressful than dealing with a hacked account or fraudulently used credit card.

Beware of Scams

Email and text message scams requesting account information and passwords, as well as robocalls claiming to be from Visa or Amazon, are rampant during the holiday season. Understand that reputable retailers and financial services providers will never call you and ask for your account information.

Not answering robocalls and sending scam emails or texts to your Junk folder is best. If you happen to answer your phone, hang up. If you are unsure whether the call was legitimate, call the company at the phone number listed on its website to verify.

*This information is for educational purposes only.