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The credit card, banking, and other financial offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us – for example, when you click a link, are approved for a product, or open an account. This compensation may influence how and where offers appear on the site, including the order in which they appear on category pages. It does not influence our evaluations, ratings, or opinions, which are ours alone. We do not include every bank, credit card company, or offer available in the marketplace.
Scams, card and account fraud, identity theft, data breaches, and credit freezes. Spot the threat, lock down your accounts, and recover fast if you’re hit.
Applying for student loan forgiveness or a new repayment plan costs nothing on StudentAid.gov or through your loan servicer. Never pay a company to file for you, and walk away from anyone who charges upfront or monthly fees, promises fast forgiveness, or asks for your StudentAid.gov password.
When a charity you don’t know asks for money after a disaster, spend five minutes checking its ratings and complaint record before you give. If it asks you to pay by gift card, wire, crypto, or a payment app, walk away. If it checks out, donate through its own website, not the link or caller that reached you.
Thieves steal outgoing checks from home mailboxes, wash off the ink, and rewrite the payee and amount. If you still pay by check, move every bill you can to electronic payment. Drop the checks you must mail in the slot inside the post office instead of leaving them under a raised flag.
Nearly every financial scam borrows a trusted name, invents a problem or prize, demands you act now, and wants a payment you can’t reverse. The deadline is the part you can always catch. When anyone pushes you to pay or move money today, hang up and call back at a number you look up yourself.
Scammers who break into a title company’s or agent’s email send buyers fake wiring instructions, usually framed as a last-minute change. Before you wire a down payment, call the title company at a number you had before that email arrived, and confirm the account name and number.
Scammers can clone a loved one’s voice from a short clip posted online, so a familiar voice asking for money proves nothing. Agree on a family code word in person, and ask for it on any urgent request for money. If the caller can’t give it, hang up and call your relative’s own number.
When you search for a company to pay a bill, the top result can be a paid ad for an impostor’s site. That site can tack on a fee and deliver your payment late. Skip the search and go straight to the website listed on your bill or the company’s own app.
Debit card fraud pulls money straight from your checking account, and your bank can take 10 business days to return it. A fraudulent credit card charge is the issuer’s money while you dispute it, and federal law caps your loss at $50. Pay with a credit card you clear each month, and keep debit for the ATM.
You can pull your credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion for free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com, and checking your own report doesn’t affect your score. Make it a weekly habit so a fraudulent account or a costly mistake surfaces within a week instead of sitting there until your next yearly look.
A credit freeze keeps lenders from pulling your credit report, so a thief can’t open new credit in your name, and it’s free at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Freeze all three today, then lift it briefly whenever you apply for credit, an apartment, a job, or insurance.
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