debit card

Should I Sign the Back of My Credit Card?

December 9, 2015 By Amanda Blankenship 1 Comment

There has been a long debate on whether or not you should sign the back of your credit card or write “See ID” instead. Of course, if someone got your credit card, with your signature, they could use it freely. However, the majority of places don’t check for the signature on your card anyway, and they rarely check your identification, so should you sign the back of your credit card?

Reasons You Should Sign the Back of Your Credit Card

While many say no, don’t sign the back of the card, there are a few reasons you should. For one, government services will not take a credit or debit card payment unless you’ve signed the back of the card. For example, a man trying to pay to ship a package at the post office will not be permitted to pay with a card unless his signature is on the back of it.

Another reason to sign the back of the card is that it is technically not valid unless signed. Treat it like your Social Security Card or your passport. No one is going to take those two things without a signature, and they shouldn’t (technically) be taking your debit or credit card without one either.

It won’t likely help in the field of identity protection. In fact, it may even further hurt you. If you leave that space on the back of your card blank, it makes it easier for the person who stolen your wallet, card, etc. to just sign it themselves.

Newer technology also allows for easier identity attacks as well. You are able to swipe your own card much of the time, leaving it up to the consumer whether or not they press debit or credit. If you press credit, you are just prompted to sign the line on the credit card machine, not on any paper.

Of course, you can write “See ID” on the back of your card, but you should maybe sign it too because there are plenty of people out there willing to sign it (and use it) for you.

Possible Reasons to Not Sign Your Card

The reality is that most cashiers are not even looking at your card, so there is probably no real reason to sign it other than to potentially save yourself from identity theft. However, even signing your card may not protect you from that.

Ultimately, there are a few things you can do to protect your identity, and it has nothing to do with signing (or not signing) you credit cards or putting all of your cards in a special wallet that will block identity thieves technology. If you are worried about card security, set up a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for you cards. You can also update to a chipped card (a one-of-a-kind card) that cannot be duplicated.

To keep yourself safe, you should also monitor each accounts activity every couple of days (at least). By keeping an eye on your accounts, there shouldn’t be anything that gets past you. Take steps to avoid identity theft, but don’t necessarily worry about the signature on your card.

How to Write a Check

August 18, 2015 By Will Lipovsky 1 Comment

The paper check is a dying payment method. But even if it is dying, it still comes in handy sometimes. We might use them to pay the doctor or the landlord, for instance. Just one of those reasons is enough to know how to write a check. After all, you don’t want to miss a rent payment because of an improperly filled out check!

When you need to write a check, there are just a few simple steps to follow.

Filling in the Blanks

Writing a check is a simple matter of filling in the blanks:

Date – The top right corner has a line for you to fil in today’s date. Include the month, day and year. Some people will postdate a check for cashing at a future time. This is called postdating and there’s nothing wrong with it as long as you can be certain the funds to cover the check will be in the bank by the date you put on the check.

Pay to the Order Of – Write the name of the person or company you’re giving the check to in the line next to this phrase. Use the full legal name and be careful to spell it correctly. Avoid writing too large or else risk running out of space.

Dollar Amount – Most checks have a box on the right for the check amount in dollars and cents. The dollar sign is usually already printed next to the box. If the check you’re writing is for $100.00, you only need to print “100.00” in that box.

Write Out the Amount – To be sure the amount in the box is correct, checks include a second line ending with the word ‘dollars’ under the ‘Pay to the Order Of’ line. Here you will write out the check amount in words. Using our example above, you would write ‘One Hundred and 00/100’ on that line, or simply, ‘One Hundred’. If you do not use all the space provided, put a line through the unused space. This way, no one can change the amount by adding a word, changing it from ‘One Hundred’ to ‘One Hundred Thousand,’ for example.

Memo – The memo line is optional. It’s really just for record keeping purposes. Most people don’t take the line too seriously. You can use it for an account number if you’re tired of writing out words.

Signature – The lower right of the check includes a line for your signature. Be sure it’s the same way you sign your name on your bank account, credit card slips and legal documents. Be consistent.

Following these simple steps will ensure you write checks correctly while minimizing the chances of someone using your check fraudulently. Writing checks is simple but it’s very important. You were wise for taking just a few minutes to learn how its properly done. There will be no more guessing about this payment type from now on. If you’ve understood this post, you’ve mastered the skill of writing checks. If you have yet to get a bank account, read this post about how to apply for a bank account.

Suggested reading: Simple Ways to Avoid Bounced Checks

How Target’s “Free” Credit Monitoring Offer Can Cost You

December 21, 2013 By Jeffrey Strain 2 Comments

Target free credit card monitoring service

In my original post about the Target credit card data breach, I mentioned that one of the things that Target was likely to do was to offer a free year of credit card monitoring. This is what they included in the email about the data theft to their customers:

“For extra assurance, we will offer free credit monitoring services for everyone impacted. We’ll be in touch with you soon on how and where to access the service.”

When data breaches like this occur, free credit card monitoring is a common offer which makes it seem like the company is concerned, and it wants to do everything it can to help in the situation. But in reality, it’s usually nothing more than a marketing tool to try to get you to pay for the monitoring service down the line.

While the details of this offer haven’t yet been revealed, my guess is that it’ll be an offer for a year’s worth of monitoring service which will automatically be renewed at the regular price if you don’t cancel it before the renewal date. No matter what your best intentions are, there is a good chance that by next year, you’re not going to be thinking about this incident at all, and you’ll forget to cancel that credit monitoring before the renewal happens. In fact, that is exactly what they’ll be counting on, and it’s why they’ll likely structure it in that way. If they were truly only concerned about you and the credit card data breach, they would offer it without any strings attached. In that case, it would be for a year and you would specifically have to renew it yourself if you wanted it for a longer period of time.

The question then becomes, should you take them up on the free portion of the credit card monitoring? If you have already canceled your credit card which you should have done (doing so won’t hurt your credit score), the answer is that you can probably do a better job of it than the credit monitoring service can. Consumer Reports doesn’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about credit monitoring services and it plainly states that “Do-it-yourself safeguards are just as effective as paid services.”

Instead, they suggest that you sign up for the no cost mobile app alerts that many credit card issuers and banks offer which will text you anytime a purchase is made on your credit card for more than $100, or if your checking balance falls below a certain amount of money. Getting these alerts have a much better chance of helping you spot unauthorized purchases in a timely manner since credit card monitoring services can sometimes take days, or weeks, before they inform you of suspect charges.

Another important step you can take is to get your credit reports from the three main credit reporting agencies. You’re entitled to see them all for free once a year through annualcreditreport.com, and also if your credit card has been compromised, as it has been in this case. By getting them now, then staggering one every 4 months next year, you should be able to spot any trouble as well as the credit monitoring services.

There really isn’t a need to accept the credit monitoring since you can do it as well, if not better, yourself. However, if you do decide to take Target up on their offer, be sure to mark down the date with some type of reminder to cancel. This will help ensure that you don’t end up spending even more money than you already have to for a service that you would have never otherwise purchased.

(Photo courtesy of Jay Reed)

You’re Responsible for Knowing Your Bank Balance

May 8, 2013 By Jennifer Derrick 4 Comments

Lately I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to get a Target Red debit card. As much as I shop at Target, the five percent discount would be nice, but there are some drawbacks. I’m still looking into it and will probably make a post about what I’ve learned once I make my decision.

Anyway, the one con that people cite over and over again is the fact that transactions completed with the card take a few days to post to your account. Even though it’s labeled a “debit” card, it doesn’t behave like the one issued by your bank, which typically posts transactions instantaneously, or at least on the same day. The Target card functions more like a paper check and transactions take a few days to clear.

Unlike a traditional debit card, the Target card does not have access to your bank balance, so it doesn’t know whether you have enough money to cover the debit. You won’t be denied at the register if you have insufficient funds. The transaction will go through and if there’s not enough, your bank will hit you with the overdraft fee. It’s not an insurmountable problem, and it wouldn’t be a problem for me, but a lot of people gripe about it.

So why is this such a huge a con for this card? Because there are apparently a lot of people out there who rely solely on what they can see on the computer screen (either at home or at the ATM) to know their bank balance. They don’t write transactions down anywhere, or keep up with expenses in a program like Quicken. Instead, they rely on the bank to tell them how much they have to spend. When the Target transactions don’t clear immediately, these people incur overdraft fees. Because they saw a balance of, say $200 on the ATM receipt, but forgot about the $250 they spent at Target that week (or didn’t know about the $250 their spouse spent at Target that week), they overdraw their account.

This kind of “bookkeeping” is a recipe for disaster. Relying on your bank to keep track of every expense in real time isn’t a solid financial plan. There are many reasons why a transaction may not post immediately, even those that normally do. The computer system may be down, the transaction may have been routed or coded differently (credit vs. debit, for example), or there could be a glitch somewhere. While many people don’t use a lot of checks anymore, those take longer to clear, so you have to keep track of those. Deposited funds are often held back for a period of time while the bank makes sure the transaction is legitimate. Not everything will post immediately and in real time. You cannot trust the balance you see at the ATM or when you view your account online.

It’s up to you to know how much you’ve spent and to keep up with your current balance. To that end, you need to find a way of bookkeeping that works for you. You can use an old-school paper checkbook register and write everything down. You can use a computer program like Quicken or iBank and enter all of your transactions. You can also use a ledger book or even a simple sheet of notebook paper. Use whatever makes you comfortable and is easy for you.

You have to consistently write down all of your spending and deposits and you have to train anyone else that’s using the account to do the same. Everyone must be aware of what’s in the account. This is particularly important if you don’t keep a large balance in your account and are easily subject to being overdrawn if even one expense isn’t accounted for. The problem isn’t with the Target card, or any other payment method. The problem comes when people trust the computer to tell them their bank balance and don’t do the work themselves.

(Photo courtesy of lemonjenny)