0051 – Credit Card Tip for Holiday Shopping (or any other time for that matter!)
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One way to avoid the safety issues involved with Holiday Shopping is to do your shopping at home on the internet.
- Avoids crowds
- The internet is always open
- Specials on shipping and lower prices make it financially attractive
- You aren’t likely to get mugged walking back to your car after shopping on the web
Shopping on the internet requires a form of payment other than cash such as a credit card, or a check card with a VISA or Mastercard logo, or paypal, or a paper check.
- Credit Cards are the most convenient method of payment.
- Widely accepted
- Most people have one
- Afford protection should security be compromised
The biggest problem I have with credit cards is the inconvenience that is caused if a card is lost or stolen.
- A card can be compromised by physically being stolen
- Having the information stolen by a crooked clerk
- Having the data being stolen with fraudulent online transactions
- Having the data being stolen from data bases
In our family we use a credit card to handle many of the recurring payments in our monthly expenses.  This makes for a great time savings until I have to reschedule these payments to a new card because of a security problem.
This tip comes from Alex Haddox of the Practical Defense Podcast. Â Thanks to Alex we now have a single credit card that is used ONLY for recurring payments. Â That card is not in my wallet, it is in my safe. It is not used for holiday shopping online, it doesn’t leave the house.
This means that when I get robbed and my wallet is stolen I have one less problem to deal with. Â I won’t have to reschedule my automatic payments.
