Why You Should Organise Your Credit Cards

Most adults in the UK now own at least one credit card; many people have several credit cards, as well as store cards and gift cards. Organising these cards and their use properly and be an important issue that should not be overlooked.

The first thing to consider is not actually the cards but the statements, most people open up the envelope, hardly glance at the transactions and go straight to the amount owed. This is a big mistake, it is essential that you actually look through all the charges and make sure that they were all made by you. Suspicious transactions should be checked with your bills or by calling the card company. Transactions not made by you could indicate false charges on your card, credit card cloning or even identity theft.

Getting your cards organised is a relatively simple exercise. If you're using multiple cards, make sure that the card you are handing over is the one you intend to use to make that purchase. When the shop assistant and you your bill make sure, you write name of the card on it. This will make checking your bills when your statement arrives so much easier. If it is an online purchase, you are making make sure to print out a receipt and again, place the card name on the receipt.

You need to find a safe place in your home, to keep all of these bills, which are often small and easy to loose. A secure place, ideally somewhere like a safe is the best option as credit card bills and statements can give away a lot of personal information. That can be used in identity theft scams, if someone were to break into your home.

It is sensible to have a separate file for each credit card then put all statements and receipts in each file. That way they are separated, and not mixed together with all the other cards. This will make checking your statement at the end of the month a much easier proposition. When you do receive, your statements now carefully take each bill and match it against an item on the statement. If you cannot find a bill to match an item on the statement, consider carefully whether it is genuine charge; perhaps ask anyone else who might have used the card, if it is their transaction.

If all else fails, call the credit card company and ask them which company made the charge. Ninety nine times out of a hundred, the purchase will spring to mind as soon as the operator tells you the name of the company. If you do not recall the purchase you need to think carefully again, if you are still unsure. You may need to ask the operator to connect you to the security department.

If there are, any charges that only partially match your statement such as an overcharge on repeat charge these should also be immediately reported to the credit card company. If you do not report it quickly, you could loose your chance of recovering the misappropriated charge. Keep the bills, and the statement together and you should probably aim to keep them for a least a year may be as long as two years. Once you decide to have a clear out of all these old bills and statements. It is essential that you do not just throw them out, or even rip them up.

You must shred any paperwork relating to your credit cards even offers a credit that you are not interested in should be destroyed. The reason for this is a growing activity of searching through dustbins for valuable credit information that can be used in all kinds of ways by criminals.

If you follow these simple steps, it will greatly reduce the possibility of you being involved in any kind of credit scam or serious identity theft problems.