We use our credit cards for quite a few automatic bill paying. We pay these off every few weeks and gain both rewards and protection. As it happens, baddies abound and our card gets compromised from time to time. It’s actually happened to us 3 or 4 times over the past several years! This is a headache, but it is only a mild one now because of these few simple steps:
- Make sure your bank is working for you! Call or get online and set up notifications of suspicious transactions. This idea is to get these notifications asap. One reason we use our credit card instead of our debit card is for the increased protection from fraudulent transactions.
- Create a document that lists your cards and what accounts are associated with it. With each account, make a small note of how to update the payment – a URL link or a phone # to call. Make this list your one-stop shop for updating your accounts. Make sure to keep this list updated! If you open a new account or set up a new payment, make updating this doc a part of your process. Since my husband and I share this document, we utilize Google Drive and the commenting features.
- Lastly, we utilize a free program called Keepass. I can’t recommend this software enough! It is a secure way to store account numbers, user names, account URL’s, security questions, passwords, and more. I have only one password to remember. Additionally, the key combo of Ctrl-Alt-A automatically logs me into most websites. Quick, secure, and easy! Seriously, you should try it out.
That’s it! The last time our card was compromised by nefarious persons unknown, it took us only half an hour to sort it all out and move on with our lives.
*Update 3/12/2017: We moved our list into Asana as a shared project. Everything sits there completed, and should we have need of it again, we simply mark everything is incomplete and start again.