It doesn't take much effort for a savvy thief to find personal credit card information and spend thousands of dollars in your name. These persons know exactly where to look, and they know of less common phishing tactics that dupe consumers.

Safeguarding your credit cards and credit rating is very important. In a single moment, a thief can steal your identify, max-out your credit accounts, and do years of damage. Most identify theft cases go unnoticed. Fortunately, many credit card companies regularly monitor consumer spending habits. Thus, if abnormal spending behavior is detected, the account is red flagged, and the consumer is required to verify purchases.

Nonetheless, credit card fraud can occur without any red flags. For example, if you tend to use your credit card for many purchases, and normally carry a high balance, your credit card company will not detect suspicious activity. Therefore, it is important for each person to take a proactive approach, and protect themselves from credit card fraud.

Consumers should avoid leaving the house with all their credit or bank cards in tow. Crafty thieves can steal wallets, and max out all your credit accounts before you realize the wallet is gone. Limit contents of your wallet to one credit card and perhaps one debit card.

Personal information such as Social Security number, passports, birth certifications, or utility bills should remain in a secured location within your home, perhaps a safe. Visible mail within your vehicle is an open invitation. A thief can easily break into your vehicle, swipe a credit card bill or utility statement, and open a credit account in your name.

Never toss paid credit card statements, utility bills, or other documents containing personal information in the garbage. Spend a few bucks and invest in a paper shredded. When a paper shredder is unavailable, use a dark or black marker and strike through your name, address, account numbers, account balances, etc. Rip the documents into several pieces, and dispose the pieces in separate trash bins.

Check monthly credit card and bank statements each month. Smart thieves tend to use multiple credit cards for purchases. For example, a thief may fraudulently acquire 100 credit card account numbers, and make a small charge of $10 per card. Because many people do not review their account statements, the $10 charge will likely go unnoticed, and the thief pockets $1,000. Register for online statements, and check your bank and credit card accounts weekly. Notify your creditor of any unfamiliar charges.

Not receiving a mailed credit card statement could be a sign of trouble. The postman may have delivered the statement to the wrong mailbox, or the statement could have been stolen from your mailbox. Alert your credit card company immediately, and request a new credit card number.

Before moving, contact each creditor and notify them of your new address. Sometimes, it can take 10 - 14 days to activate mail forwarding. During this time, your credit card and bank statements could inadvertently get delivered to your old address. Contact the post office and ask them to hold your mail until the forwarding service takes effect. You will not receive mail for a few days. However, it's better than personal information falling into the wrong hands.

Credit card thieves use your name and telephone number to open the account, but usually have the credit card forwarded to a fake address. When payment is never received for items, victims are contacted by debt collection agencies. Do not disregard phone calls from a collection agency or creditor. Just because you don't recognize the goods or purchase doesn't mean you're off the hook.

Until the matter is resolved, you are responsible for the purchases, and the collection account is reported to the credit bureaus. Contact the credit bureaus and creditors, identify the purchases as fraudulent, and begin taking steps to settle the issue.

For a small monthly fee, you can have all your credit accounts monitored. This service alerts consumers to any changes on their credit report such as new accounts opened in their names, credit inquires, change of address, etc. Before a new line of credit is approved, the monitoring service will contact you for verification. This is one of the easiest ways to stop identify thefts early.