What's in your wallet?

A new research study of the top 25 largest credit card issuers suggests many of those firms need to upgrade their identity fraud prevention and detection tools to better serve consumers according to a story published by ComputerWorld.

The story continues with the excerpts from a recently released study conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research which found some of these deficiencies:
56% of the 25 card issuers surveyed continue to require full Social Security numbers to help identify their customers, whether by phone, online or by mail.

"This is a risky practice that unnecessarily increases the customer's exposure to identity fraud," the report states.

Consumers are not allowed to set transaction limits or block certain types of transactions using their credit cards, such as restricting card use to purchases only made with U.S. vendors, according to the study.

In fact, only 24% of the surveyed card issuers allow consumers to set so-called user-defined limits and/or prohibitions (UDLAPs) on their accounts to help prevent unauthorized use, the study concluded.

While card issuers can offer consumers e-mail or telephone "transaction alerts" to advise them of account activity, the number of participating card companies is still small -- about 8%.

So, our tip for today is to check what is really 'in your wallet.'

Make sure to contact your credit card company and inquire into what fraud prevention services they offer - for free.

We recently learned of major card provider which uses account numbers as the default mode for customers to access their online web site.

The consumer has to call the card issuer's customer service department and request an alternate user id be setup for web site access.

Regardless of "what's in your wallet", take proactive action to minimize your risk of becoming an easy target for identity theft.