Tips To Use A Credit Card Safely For Online Purchases

As credit cards make your purchases much more convenient as well as rewarding, most people prefer credit cards for shopping and large purchases. Online shopping is taking over traditional shopping very fast as it allows individuals to get everything to their doorstep. Keeping this in mind, card issuers offer exciting rewards for online shopping and hence, people mostly use credit cards whenever they make online purchases. The digital world has undoubtedly made everything easier, but it is not always safe when it comes to sharing your personal financial information online. There are a lot of things that must be kept in mind and we are going to discuss the same in this article:

How To Keep Your Credit Card Safe While Online Transactions

The following are some of the most significant tips that would help you keep your credit card safe whenever you make online purchases using it:

Use Your Credit Card Only On Authentic Website

Your credit card information is not supposed to be shared on any random website. There are many online shopping websites, but you should not enter your credit card details unless it’s a trusted platform like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, etc. Especially if you are making a transaction on an unknown website or a website that you were not much aware of, you can try opting for COD if available. Otherwise, you should do thorough research about the website or the platform by checking customer reviews or other necessary things. One thing you must check for is the website URL. For authentic websites, there would be a ‘lock’ symbol at the beginning of the URL and for websites that might not be safe, you will most probably not see this ‘lock’ symbol.

Don’t Share Any Personal Information When Using Public WiFi

Public WiFi networks that are not secured by any password are never the safe ones to share your personal financial information. So, whenever you are taking online purchases using your credit card, make sure that you are either using secured WiFi or your mobile data. Sharing your credit card details when using public WiFi may be harmful as others might be able to see your information in this case.

Read More: Things You Should Know Before Getting a Shopping Credit Card

Use Two Factor Authentication For Additional Security

Though it is rare, it might be possible that fraudsters have somehow got your credit card net banking login details. In such a case, it becomes very easy for them to access your credit card account and use the card for their own benefit. To avoid such situations, you should enable two-factor authentication via net banking or by calling your credit card customer care. What two-factor authentication means is that no one can access your account just by knowing your username and password. You can add the feature of entering an OTP that is received on your registered mobile number or email I’d whenever you make online transactions using your credit card. As this OTP will always be different, the fraudsters will not be able to misuse your card even after knowing the login credentials.

Check Your Credit Card Statements Regularly

Many credit cardholders make the mistake of not checking their credit card statements regularly as they just find it useless. However, that is not at all the right thing to do if you want to be a responsible credit user. Your statement contains detailed information about all the purchases made during a particular billing cycle. Sometimes, you might not be knowing that fraudsters have managed to make some purchases using your credit card and you will never know it if you don’t check your monthly statements. This empowers those fraudsters to keep using your credit card again & again and you will just wonder how your credit card bill seems so high. So, just check your monthly credit card statements thoroughly and make sure that every piece of information mentioned there is correct and authorized.

Contact Your Card Issuer At The Earliest in Case of Any Fraud

If you ever receive any message/email about any transaction that hasn’t been made by you, make sure to report it to your card issuer as soon as possible. You can even contact them if you find any such transaction/mistake in your credit card statement. Most card issuers provide you with zero liability protection against a lost or stolen credit card if you have reported the loss to the bank in a timely manner, preferably within 48 hours. This means, you don’t lose any money even if there have been some fraudulent transactions on your credit card, but your card issuer takes responsibility. So, just make sure that you contact your card issuer on time if you face any such situation.

Bottom Line

Credit Cards are one of the most important financial tools that you might be having and these may be very beneficial if you use them responsibly. From online to retail purchases, many individuals make all of their spends via credit cards these days. But, it is also very important to keep all the security measures in mind whenever you use your credit card. Make sure that no one is able to see your credit card details online or offline as it may result in identity theft or theft of your financial details. We hope that the above tips would help you keep your credit card safe and you will try to follow all of them. If you have any additional doubts, feel free to ask us in the comment section below!