If you’re a bit worried about making online purchases with your credit card – and let’s face it, who isn’t? – don’t despair. There are a number of steps you can take to make sure your next purchase is a bit safer.

The sheer number of online security breaches and sophisticated computer hackers has left many consumers weary about making online purchases. Although the only way to ensure safety from online hackers is to completely eliminate making online purchases, there are a few things you can do to greatly reduce the chances that you will become the next victim of online credit card theft:

  • Ask your bank if you are able to create a “disposable” credit card number.  Consider ShopSafe, through Bank of America, for example. If you have a Ba

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Online Purchases, Purchases

Recently released results of a study related to Federal Trade Commission research into credit reporting fairness show that only one out of about every 100 people who try to get the information in their credit report changed actually succeed in doing so. The study, with the title “U.S. Consumer Credit Reports: Measuring Accuracy and Dispute Impacts,” was done to determine the accuracy and quality of data collected and maintained by the three major credit reporting agencies, namely Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. What researchers discovered was that less than one percent of all credit reports examined by participants prompted a dispute that resulted in a credit score adjustment and an increase of a credit score of 25 points or greater.

The conclusions are nothing new, because a similar study back in the early 1990s found the same thing. Bas

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Credit Report, Info

That’s the question we asked our Facebook fans, and here are a some of our favorite answers!

What’s your budget?

Budget, Budget, Budget! It is an absolute must to have a budget on paper and stick to it! (Ranee A.)

Don’t blow ten, twenty, thirty, forty Gs or more on a four-hour party. Elope!! (Phil M.)

Party down!

I kept the wedding just to parents and grandparents, and the reception was the next day and it was a potluck and everyone loved it we spent about $600 total with everything, including cake and clothes. (

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Question, Question Weddings

The Sacramento Bee newspaper reported in early May that according to the major credit rating agency Moody’s, defaults on credit card payments are about to hit their lowest level in 20 years. Credit card defaults will reach a 20-year low by next year, Moodys Investors Service said Monday, as card issuers remain choosier in their lending practices.

For the past few years card companies have dealt with billions of dollars worth or lost revenue due to uncollectible credit card debt. They made it harder to get credit card applications approved, they raised penalties and rates, and they lowered lines of credit for their customers. B

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Credit Card, Low

When you buy real estate, it’s very exciting. First, you shop until you find your dream home (or maybe your dream home minus some bedrooms and closets). Then, you write possibly the biggest check of your life.

What is it? W

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Credit card issuing banks are lobbying federal regulators in an attempt to put restrictions on who qualifies for a credit card. Under their proposed changes, for example, if your spouse makes the family income but you stay at home and don’t draw a salary because you are raising kids or caring for a sick parent then you won’t be eligible for a credit card of your own.

The card companies argue that giving cards to people who do not have any verifiable income is a mistake, and that many people who fall into that category end up defaulting on their payments. Bla

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Make, Make Harder