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[H968]How To Close Credit Card Account

by Wade Robins, Wad

If you have been the victim of credit card identity theft and you need to restore your credit rating because you have had your credit card or credit card details actually stolen, or because someone has applied for and received a credit card using your name and social security number, you may be at a loss as to where to begin.

First, you can take pre-emptive measures against identity theft as soon as you receive a new credit card. You should photocopy both sides of all your credit cards so that as soon as one of them is lost or stolen you will be able to report that it is missing and have that card account closed.

Second, you should never carry any credit cards which you do not intend to use, and you should have only the number of credit cards that you absolutely need.

As soon as you realize that your credit card is missing, or that there are unexplained charges on your monthly statement, you will have to assume that you are a target of credit card identity theft, and to restore your credit rating you need to stop the missing or compromised cards.

If someone has obtained your name and social security number, perhaps through mail theft, and used them to open a credit card account, you will also be a victim of credit card theft and need to restore your credit rating. But you won’t know that you have been victimized until the credit card company which issued the fraudulent card actually starts contacting you about the payments which the thief has undoubtedly failed to make.

You’ll need to prove that you have never lived at the address which the scammer provided, and that all of the other personal details that person provided are not yours. Experiencing this sort of credit card identity theft and having to restore your credit rating can be a very time-consuming, frustrating experience, but it’s important that throughout the process you continue to maintain the payments on your legitimate obligations.

Contact The Credit Reporting Agencies

As soon as you think you have fallen prey to credit card identity theft you can start to restore your credit rating by contacting the three credit reporting agencies, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, and asking them to place fraud alerts on all your credit reports. A fraud alert will be an obstacle to anyone who attempts to use your information to establish a new line of credit. For more info see on Identity Theft Statistics.

Contact the FTC And Police

You should notify and file a formal complaint with both the Federal Trade Commission, and the police in the jurisdiction where the credit card identity theft occurred, providing the police with a copy of your FTC complaint.

Taking these steps when you have been a victim of credit card identity theft and are trying to restore your credit rating will put you in a much stronger position to prevent whoever has victimized you from doing too much damage.

Credit cards have become an integral part of American life, and the consumerist culture has seen to it that the average credit card bill per annum for each person, on an average, is around $9000 dollars. The increasing use of credit cards and the steadily rising bills have engulfed people into debt traps of their own creation. Credit card debt consolidation programs are but one of the many ways in which you may seek relief from this situation.

Here are some simple reasons as to why you can and should avail a credit debt consolidation loan.

- To put together all existing loans as one.
- To secure a single, lower interest rate instead of multiple, varying interest rates.
- To reduce the monthly re-payment amounts.
- To obtain relief from the hassles of remembering and paying multiple creditors at different times of the month.

Additional benefits from a credit card debt consolidation loan are:

- Total change in spending habits.
- Credit correction.

This debt consolidation loan is primarily for those who are unable to meet the surmounting pressures of an increasing credit card debt, either due to divorce, slashed pay package or job layoff. It should not be considered as an easy route out of debt. That can often make the conditions worse.

A credit card debt consolidation loan actually puts together a number of debts and rolls it into one. This consolidation enables the borrower to pay one monthly installment instead of a number of creditors, thus minimizing the chances of forgetting and landing up with a payment default. The rate of interest is much lower, usually little below the average of all the existing loan rates put together. This ensures that a lesser outflow of cash takes place every month, leaving enough money in the hands of the borrower to spare for other forms of recreation. The debt consolidation loan also gives the borrower ample amount of time for payback, though this often, if not careful results in an overall greater payment than would have been, had the loan not been taken.

Credit card debt consolidation agencies usually advertise their services with attractive gimmicks, highlighting all these above mentioned advantages. But what it keeps silent about is the fact that once the debts are all paid off to your creditors, the debt consolidation agency themselves become your new creditors. The loan actually comes with stringent rules and policies, and it depends entirely on the financial status of the borrower whether the loans would prove to be beneficial or not.

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Both Wade Robins & Gibran Selman are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Wade Robins has sinced written about articles on various topics from Bathroom Decor, Motorola Cell Phone and Dieting. You can also find more info on and. Wade Robins's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.

Gibran Selman has sinced written about articles on various topics from Debt Consolidation, Unsecured Loans and Debt Consolidation. Gibran Selman is dedicated to gather the most valuable information, on and off the internet, on debt consolidation and any other related subjects. His desire is to make this information easily available through his website at:. Gibran Selman's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.