In today’s economic climate, lay-offs continue to swell the ranks of the unemployed, and those already unemployed face increasing competition for fewer jobs. If you have bad credit, you are particularly disadvantaged as about 40 percent of prospective employers are performing credit checks as part of checking out the background of job candidates.

If you have bad credit, it is still possible to secure a position, but you need to be a bit more proactive about how you go about applying for a job. Here are a few tips that can help people with poor credit overcome the stigma of bad credit when applying for a job:

1. Know which employers are more likely to require credit checks. Government organizations, both local and federal, carefully scrutinize applicants’ credit reports before making decisions. Likewise, non-profit groups and other businesses that work with or are tied to the government are more likely to check your credit history. If you’ve had significant financial troubles in recent times, you’ll have more luck applying elsewhere. Also, be aware that most financially-specialized companies, such as accounting agencies or brokerage firms, will investigate your credit history as well.

2. Know which companies are less likely to check your credit history. Many small or locally run businesses don’t have the time or the resources to screen applicants, and they may not have as many people contending for positions either. If they do check applicants’ credit reports, they will most likely target those applying for mid-level management and above.

3. Know which positions usually warrant a review. While some companies may not require credit checks for all new employees, people applying for positions which involves handling money in any way, shape, or form can expect to have their credit checked.

4. Be upfront about your credit history. If you have bad credit but still want to apply with a company that is likely to check your credit report, take steps to minimize the damage. Be the first to bring up the concern. If you address your bad credit before the prospective employer checks out your credit report, it shows that you are honest and proactive—two important character traits employers always look for. Employers are not as concerned about your past credit behavior as they are about your personal integrity. If you are able to demonstrate that your bad credit is not a sign of dishonesty or lack of integrity, but due to circumstances beyond your control, it will go a long way to counteract any bad impression that a poor credit history would otherwise create.

5. Explain how you are taking care of the situation. Describe the steps you are taking to deal with your debt. Also, if extenuating circumstances, such as medical expenses or long-term unemployment played a part in your financial troubles, let your prospective employer know. Many people understand that bad things happen to good people.

6. Show how qualified you are for the position. Your credit history doesn’t really reflect on your ability to perform well on the job. By giving a strong interview and illustrating how perfectly your strengths line up with job requirements, you may be able to convince a potential employer to look past poor credit.

7. Use networking and recommendations to your advantage. A vote of confidence from a reliable source can score you a job that otherwise may be out of reach. Personal recommendations are likely to sway an employer’s opinion and can compensate for a dissuasive credit history.

With the economy in a slump, there never has been a better time to take a close look at your credit card debt. Credit card debt is generally the most expensive type of debt to carry and, it’s the most risky. Being highly leveraged with credit card debt amounts to flirting with financial disaster. As far too many consumers have discovered, all it takes to push you over the edge is for a card issuer to increase the interest rate and/or monthly minimum payment due, and you might no longer be able pay your monthly credit card bills.

How do you get the extra money to pay down your credit card debt? The most effective way is to look for ways to reduce your recurring expenditures, or preferably, eliminate them completely. This generally involves making some lifestyle changes to cut back on your fixed monthly costs.

There are two ways to reduce recurring expenditures: One is to stop paying for things you don’t really need. The other is to stop paying for things you think you need, but actually, really don’t need. The first extraction is relatively painless; the second, well, let’s face it, will need a shot or two of novocaine.

5 Painless Ways to Zap Credit Card Debt

Most people are being robbed by recurring credit card charges for services they don’t really need, but which they have gotten used to or have forgotten to cancel. To make sure you’re not one of them, here are some things to look for.

1. Monthly Subscriptions—Do you have magazines lying around the house, which you never find the time to read? Book club subscriptions you don’t need? Online subscriptions you signed up for months ago and rarely ever use? Zapping monthly subscriptions can easily free up $50-100 a month, or more.

2. Memberships to Health Clubs—For people with credit card debt, a monthly membership fee to a healthy club is a luxury they can’t afford. Walking is free; exercise DVDs and online fitness downloads offer great variety and can be used over and over.

3. Credit Card Late Fees. Can you hear that Ca-Ching! sound? That’s credit card companies raking in late fees to the tune of billions of dollars a year. If you think that late fees amount to little more than bad planning on your part, think again. That $39 fee quickly runs into hundreds of dollars each year.

4. Credit Monitoring and Reporting—Services offering a free copy of your credit report and daily credit monitoring might sound like a great idea. However, when that seven-day free trial turns into a $14.95 monthly subscription fee, you’re paying almost $180 a year for a service few people will ever need. Instead, get a free copy of your credit report once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com. If you feel a desire to check your credit report more often, you can purchase a copy from one of the three major credit bureaus for less than what you pay for one month of credit monitoring service.

5. Cut Your Utility Bills. Saving on utilities can free up a surprising amount of money to help pay down your debt. The simple act of turning off lights and other electrical devices when not in use can cut your electric bill by as much as 10-30%. Most electronic devices burn up electricity even when they are in stand-by mode. This includes computers, TVs, DVD players, printers, modems, and satellite dishes. Instead of simply turning them off, unplug them from the outlet when not in use. Other ways to cut your utility bills is to turn the temperature of your hot water heater down; take shorter showers; and install a programmable thermostat to regulate the heating in your house.

5 Really Painful (But Effective) Ways to Cut Your Credit Card Debt

If you really want to pay down your credit card debt quickly, let’s face it, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices. As often in life, the things that create the greatest discomfort in the short run, can end up conferring the greatest benefits in the long run. And so it is with credit card debt. If you cut back on some of your largest recurring expenditures, you will free up money to pay down your debt much more quickly.

This will, inevitably, be a painful affair. Most of us have gotten so used to our creature comforts that we think we cannot live without them. However, if you’re really struggling with credit card debt or other types of debt, the consequences of defaulting on the debt will be much more painful than foregoing some of the comforts you currently take for granted. Plus, you don’t have to cut back forever! Once your finances are back under control and you have wiped out your debt, you will have money left over to scale your lifestyle back up. So take a deep breath, relax, and sit back. Here goes.

1. Cable TV. Yes, we feel your pain. After all, cable is like the holy cow of American households. However, if you carry high credit card debt, you don’t have the money for cable. Just because you can charge it, doesn’t mean you can afford it. So, take a deep breath, and get rid of that $80-100 monthly charge. That money will go a long way towards paying down your debt each month. Once the debt is paid off, you can always reevaluate whether or not to get cable again, unless, of course, you decide that having a cable subscription is not a life or death matter after all.

2. Dump your cell phone. It’s hard to imagine that less than ten years ago we all got along just fine without a cell phone. But in fact, we did. So, take a break from the mobile; or cut your subscription to the most basic, enroll in Friends and Family programs, and talk mainly on free minutes.

3. Get a Cheaper Car. So what if your car doesn’t look like it’s straight off the assembly line. There are plenty of reliable, low-maintenance, ten-year old cars around, costing you a fraction in monthly costs.

4. Start Cooking. Okay, so you don’t have to become a Julia Childs, but cooking your own meals instead of eating out isn’t just healthy for your wallet, it’s good for your body as well. And while you’re at it, junk those expensive, unhealthy habits. Stop smoking; scrap the junk food, avoid sinking money down the drain guzzling soda pop or expensive lattes. It’s a great way to tighten the belt, so to speak, and free up money to pay off your credit card debt.

5. Take a Shopping Break. With the exception of groceries, put a moratorium on spending for six months. Most of us have plenty of stuff, much more than we need. Avoid going shopping for six months; postpone major purchases; avoid purchasing new clothing (unless it’s for your kids); pass up on gadgets, thingamajigs, and irresistible sales offers; shun the mall. At the end of six months, make a list of the things you absolutely do need, and purchase those. Rinse and repeat. If you keep taking six-months shopping breaks; you’ll be surprised how quickly you can wipe off that debt.

Let’s face it, radically changing your spending habits in this way won’t be pleasurable. However, treat it like an experiment in reevaluating priorities and trying out some new lifestyle habits. At the end, you may find that you haven’t just succeeded in wiping out your credit card debt, your old habits may have been replaced by some new hobbies and interests in the process. Good luck!

Credit card companies rake in more than $15 billion a year from fees alone, including late fees, over-the-limit fees, cash advance fees, and so on. That’s before the interest charged on Americans’ almost $1 trillion in revolving credit card debt, which earns interest at rates ranging from around 8.99% to a sweet 32.99% APR.

Paying interest on credit card debt over a short period of time makes some sense if you simply need a short-term bridge loan—at least you’re paying interest in exchange for a service. However, most of us end up paying for credit card “services,” which we don’t get any benefit from.

Is your credit card leaking money from your wallet? Here are three common leaks and how to fix them:

1. Frequent ATM Withdrawals. According to industry estimates, the average credit card holder withdraws money from ATMs four times each month with an average of $250 in monthly withdrawals.

ATM withdrawals have three strikes against them. First, if you don’t withdraw from your own bank, ATM transaction fees at $1.50 to $3 a pop can add up to $72 to $144 a year. Second, ATM withdrawals using credit cards are treated as a cash advance, so you’ll pay a 3% cash advance fee—in our example amounting to $7.50 a month, or around $80 a year on top of the ATM fee.

To top it off, the APR charged on cash advances is generally much higher than the purchase APR, often at around 21.99%. Credit card companies apply payments to the balances with the lowest APR first, so if you carry a balance over from month to month, the cash advance balance will stay on your account earning high interest charges until the entire balance is paid off. Over a year, the added interest costs could end up costing you several hundred dollars more in interest charges each year, depending on how much cash you take out.

Adding it all up, those ATM withdrawals can easily make $300-500 leak out of your wallet every year. However, it happens in such small increments that you won’t have a clue.

How to Fix: Withdraw the exact amount of cash you’ll need each week from your bank. Only take out cash advances in emergency situations.

2. Late Fees and Over-the Limit Fees

It’s an easy slip-up. Put that credit card payment in the mail a day too late or draw your card too close to the limit and, wham!, you’re slapped with a punitive late fee or over-the-limit fee to the tune of $29 or higher. Repeat that mistake several times a year, and it quickly adds up.

How to Fix: Sign up for an online account with your credit card company, if you don’t already have one. With an online account, you can pay your credit card bill online, so that payments are applied to your account the same day they are submitted. In addition, you can check your credit card transactions online regularly, so you always know what the balance is.

3. Paying Annual Fees on Credit Cards

Annual fees are almost a thing of the past, but some frequent flier or “high-end” credit cards with added services still charge annual fees ranging from $39 to a whopping $450.

Rewards credit cards or frequent flier cards with an annual fee make sense only if you charge enough to more than earn back the annual fee in rewards. The value of rewards (including frequent flier miles) is often estimated to be, on average, the equivalent of about 1% cash back. So, for a card with for example a $90 annual fee, you’d have to charge $9,000 on the card just to earn back the annual fee.

How to fix: Credit cards with annual fees are dinosaurs of the past. If you’re holding on to a credit card with an annual fee, just because you’ve had the card for a long time and have gotten used to it, save yourself some money and look for a better credit card deal.

There are many other ways that credit cards will cost you more than they need to. For example, paying only the minimum monthly payments is one of the most expensive credit card habits, which could cost you thousands of dollars over time. However, unlike interest charges on credit card debt, most credit card fees are entirely avoidable.

Imagine how nice it would be to have a financial advisor at your fingertips, a kind of personal Jeeves to keep track of expenditures, help make ends meet, and, particularly, rein in credit card spending. Well, a new breed of Web 2.0 financial management sites aims to be just that, and best of all, most of them are completely free.

Best described as a kind of “Quicken meets Facebook,” web-based personal finance applications like Geezeo.com and Wesabe.com combine personal finance software and social networking forums, and throw in quite a few additional innovative services and tools. Here are some of the functions and benefits afforded by this new generation of websites.

1. Keep track of expenditures. One of the great secrets to controlling expenses in general and credit card spending in particular is to keep track of your expenditures. If you know where your money goes, you’ll also know how much money is left to spend. It’s that simple. But let’s face it, bookkeeping is tedious and time-consuming—it’s just one of those things most of us never get around to.

One advantage of personal finance sites is that they put expense tracking on automatic. Once the information for your accounts has been entered, including credit cards, checking or savings accounts, all transactions are automatically updated, enabling you to stay on top of expenditures in real time. By tagging expenses by category, users have an instant overview of how much they’ve spent in different areas, such as clothing, transportation, or food. When a transaction has been tagged once, the website itself assigns categories to future transactions from the same vendor, making expense tracking almost automatic.

2. Set financial goals. Want to reduce your credit card debt by $1,000 over the next three months? Pay off student loans faster? Or save up for that dream vacation in Hawaii? Most websites have a goal-setting feature, which lets users specify their financial goals. Once the goals are set up, users are directed to discussion forums or they automatically receive tips from other users about how to meet those goals.

3. Create a budget and stick to it. One of the great strengths of personal finance sites is that they can help users create a budget around their goals and determine how much they can spend in each area and still meet those goals. Users can set budgeting goals for how much they want to spend on, for example, food, transportation, clothing, entertainment, and coffee/snacks.

Tempted to get that new dress on sale? Log in to your account (you can even use a mobile device) to see how much you’ve already spent on clothing and how much over or under budget you are for that area of spending. So yes, sure, you can charge that dress to your credit card. But then again, that means that the Hawaii vacation will have to wait until next year. Hmm, now, is that dress really worth it?

4. Save money. Wondering how to cut back on expenses and free up some extra cash? Some personal finance websites come with cool little add-ons that will look through your regular expenditures and alert you to items you may not really need. Wesabe.com, for example, features a “Cutback Tool,” which looks over your transactions and picks up monthly charges for subscriptions you may want to reevaluate or bank fees that quietly add up without your realizing it.

5. Get a little help from your friends. Whatever financial issues you’re dealing with, be it credit card debt or increasing cost-of-living expenses, one thing is for sure: There are millions of other people out there who are struggling with similar issues. A major strength of many of the new breed of Web 2.0 finance sites is that you can exchange advice with other users and learn from their experiences.

For starters, browse online forums for savings advice, other people’s experience with changing credit card practices, tips for the best deals on auto insurance, and so on. Exchange experiences and advice with other users who have similar goals or are struggling with the same financial issues as you. See what goals other people are setting, choose the same goals, and track your progress compared to other users.

In short, investing half an hour in getting yourself set up on a financial management site might be well worth the time. Whether you want help getting rid of credit card debt, saving for college for your kids, or simply are tired of looking at an empty checking account at the end of the month wondering where all your money went, personal finance sites offer an easy way to take charge of your finances and make better financial decisions.

Also see: 3 Cool Credit Card Management Tools

While Quicken and MS Money have been around for a while, a new breed of personal finance websites are giving them a run for their—well, money. Combining money management tools with social networking, the new Web 2.0 personal finance sites are barely five years old, yet have become an instant favorite of consumers looking to take greater control over their credit cards and general finances.

There are a lot of choices to choose among. Here is an overview of some of the leading personal finance aggregators listed by popularity (i.e., by how much traffic each attracts).

Mint.com

Named the best online personal finance tool by Money Magazine, Mint.com is one of the largest personal finance sites, with more then one million users. Mint.com offers online money management and budgeting software tools as well as many other great features. The website aggregates users’ credit card charges and other expenditures, analyzes spending patterns, and suggests alternative providers or savings opportunities for regular expenditures in a separate window.

Mint.com has won accolades for being extremely user-friendly and for its ability to download financial data from a very wide range of credit card and bank accounts without a hitch. According to the website, Mint.com has helped users identify more than $100 million in potential savings, and it is growing rapidly, attracting more than 3,000 new users each day.

Geezeo.com

The Boston Globe calls Geezeo “the Weight Watchers of money” management. Like Mint.com, Geezeo is a free personal finance web-based application created to make cutting-edge financial tools available to everyone—without a high price tag.

Geezeo takes personal finance one big step further, however, by adding a social networking dimension to money management. The idea is that people can advantageously learn from each other by sharing spending and savings tips based on their own experiences. Like Mint.com, Geezeo lets users add credit cards, checking and savings accounts; users can also track student loans, mortgages, car loans and investment data.

Geezeo has many cool functions, which actually make money management fun. If you set a goal such as paying $1,000 of your credit card debt over the next three months, for example, Geezeo will take you to a group page with a discussion board and a percentage meter that keeps track of your success.

Wesabe.com

Wesabe is a financial social networking site, particularly recognized for its extensive user forums, which are rated among the best on the Web. The site lets users share their financial information anonymously with other users, enabling fellow users to comment and give advice on how best to save money based on where you shop and how you usually spend your money. The message boards contain lots of detailed and useful information from other users sharing their experiences with topics of interest like weekly expenditures on food, buying a first home, debt management, credit cards, and so on.

The site features some great Web 2.0 features, such as a “Cutback Tool,” which suggests ways to save money by looking through your regular expenses for things you might be able to cut back on. A particularly cool feature is the ability to Twitter cash purchases to your account immediately instead of entering them when you come home.

Mint.com, Geezeo.com, and Wesabe.com are the largest personal finance/social networking websites, receiving the lion’s share of traffic. Runners-up worth checking out include Buxfer.com (sometimes referred to as “Quicken for 20-somethings”), GreenSherpa.com, and Moneystrands.com.

It takes time to set up your account and spending categories, so before deciding on which website to use, invest a little time getting to know each one. Look for the one that has the features most suited to your needs and is the easiest to use. Some sites have a limited list of bank accounts and credit card companies from which they can download information and this can be a serious drawback. Still, all sites are constantly being updated, and this is one area where improvements are likely in the future.

There are some things in life that get better with age. Unfortunately, credit card debt is not one of them. The longer you wait before dealing with credit card debt, the more it will grow, and eat away at your long-term financial health.

The first step to dealing with credit card debt is to look into ways to consolidate your credit card debt by doing a balance transfer to a low interest credit card. However, if you are knee-deep in debt, this usually won’t be enough. If you are in danger of defaulting on your debt, try to negotiate with your credit card company to get your interest rate and monthly payments lowered to a level you can afford.

If at all possible, negotiate before you fall behind in payments. If you call your card issuer before you are late with payments, you will not only save your credit score, you may be able to get your interest rate and monthly payments lowered to a level you can afford. If you are more than 30 days past due, your account will eventually be turned over to the collections department, and the rules of the game change.

Credit card companies get lots of calls from people who can’t pay their monthly bills, so the challenge is to convince them that you’re not just a deadbeat trying to get out of paying your debt. The more you can show them that you’ve landed in this situation due to no fault of your own, the better your chances. Here are 6 steps to follow for best results:

1. Before approaching your card issuer, find out how much you can afford to pay on your credit card each month. It must be as high as you can afford, but it must also be sustainable, so that you can continue to live up to your side of the agreement
2. When you call your lender, explain the reasons you’re behind on your payments. Give them a few details of why your financial situation has worsened. If your financial hardship is due to life events beyond your control, explain these, but stay brief and to the point.
3. Let them know how much you can afford to pay each month, and explain that you really want to be able to pay the debt down. Keep reiterating that you want to hold up your side of the bargain, but that you need them to change the terms to make it affordable to you. Make it clear that they can avoid losing money, if they work with you.
4. Be polite and persistent. There is a great difference between customer reps, so if one person is unwilling to help you, don’t take it personally. Simply call back later. In most cases, you’ll need to ask to talk to a manager. If the first manager you talk to isn’t willing to help, wait eight hours for the next shift before calling back.
5. The changes to the terms of your credit card debt should include both lower monthly payments and a much lower interest rate, so that you won’t be paying off your debt forever. If they offer you a lower interest rate, but it’s still above 10%, explain that you’re trying to get out of debt fast and ask if it’s possible to go any lower.
6. Get it in writing. If the lender agrees, you will be placed on a repayment plan that should include changes to your current account terms. Ask for a written document detailing the terms of the program so there’s no room for misunderstanding. And don’t miss a payment date.

If your card issuer tries to refer you to a non-profit credit counseling agency instead, say thanks, but no thanks. Most card companies have “non-profit” credit counseling agencies they work with. That produces a conflict of interest, which means that their idea of good terms will likely be bad terms for you. Instead, politely explain that you’re the one they should be dealing with if they want to get the debt settled.

Alternatively, consider consulting an attorney for advice. An attorney familiar with your financial situation may have greater success calling your card company on your behalf. If you can’t afford to hire an attorney, try to find one who is willing to work pro bono or for a small fixed fee.

Have you noticed that merchants rarely check the signature on the back of credit cards anymore? For small purchases, hardly anyone checks; for larger purchases, some stores check, but many don’t.

Most retail stores now have you swipe your credit card through a machine yourself, so you never even give the credit card to the clerk, making it even less likely that the signature will ever get checked. At gas pumps, when you pay with a credit card outside, you never interact with an employee.

So what does this all mean? If no one is checking your signature anyway, is there any point in signing the back of your credit cards? And does that signature really offer protection in case your card gets stolen?

One school of thought holds that signing the back of your card can actually be counterproductive if your card gets stolen. After all, it just makes it that much easier for thieves to forge your signature. Credit and debit cardholders who subscribe to this view often opt to write “See ID” or “Check ID” instead in the signature panel of their credit cards. The idea is that this offers an added layer of protection should their card be stolen.

However, major credit card issuers like Visa and MasterCard hold that a credit card is not valid without a signature on the back. From the point of view of credit card companies, the signature panel has a two-fold purpose: It enables merchants to verify signatures, and, by signing, you confirm that you agree to the terms of the credit card (you’re still bound by these terms if you use the card, even if you don’t sign the back, however).

In short, if you write “Check ID” on the back of your card, technically speaking, a merchant should refuse to process that credit card. Instead, to complete the transaction, a merchant should require the cardholder to sign the card and show valid identification to the store clerk.

So is there anything you can do to protect yourself if your card gets stolen? Some people recommend doing it both ways. Sign the back of your credit card, and put “See ID.” This way, if your credit card does get stolen, fraudsters would find it difficult to use your credit card. They wouldn’t just have to forge your signature; they’d also have to be able to produce an ID with your name.

While many retailers don’t look at the signature panel anymore, the stores where fraud is more likely to happen, such as electronics stores, are much more diligent about checking credit card signatures. So in that case, the dual-protection approach really can save you, should a thief make off with your credit cards.

Fortunately, in either case, you are protected against unauthorized charges to your credit cards, so you won’t suffer any financial loss, should your card be stolen. Still, the stress of having to deal with unauthorized charges is definitely something you’d want to do without.

If you struggle with high interest credit card debt, you’re not alone. The #1 New Year’s Resolution for more than half of Americans two years running has been to pay off their debt, according to a survey by Franklin Covey Company.

When it comes to getting rid of high interest credit card debt, one way to get ahead is to reduce the overall interest you pay on your debt. Cutting your overall interest expense will save you money, which you in turn can use to pay off your debt faster. There are several ways to lower the interest rate on your credit cards. If these don’t work for you, try to consolidate high interest credit card debt into low interest loans. Here are the four most common approaches to debt consolidation and the pros and cons of each.

1. Transfer balances to a 0% APR card. Take out a 0% APR balance transfer to pay down high interest credit card debt and then transfer the balance to a new 0% APR card when the previous 0% offer expires. Rinse and repeat.

Pros: If it works, it’s a sweet deal.
Cons: It’s easy to get caught, particularly as credit card companies are tightening their lending criteria. If you don’t get approved for a new 0% APR deal before the previous balance transfer rate expires, you’ll be stuck with a balance racking up interest charges that may be higher than what you currently pay.

2. Apply for a low interest credit card. If you have good credit, you might be able to transfer high interest credit card balances to a card charging a lower interest. The obvious way to do this, of course, is to apply for a low interest credit card.

Pros: This is a great strategy if your credit is excellent and you are able to get approved for the best low interest credit card offers.
Cons: Many cards offer teaser rates that promise you interest rates as low as e.g. 7.99%. Unless you have great credit, you often end up either a low initial credit line or a much higher rate than the teaser rate.

Instead, look for low APR balance transfer offers on your existing credit cards, with a low interest for the life of the loan. Some card companies offer this more frequently than others, so call your credit card issuers to see what balance transfer offers are available to you.

3. Open a home equity line of credit. If you have equity in your house and good credit, this old standby can be a great choice. If the credit card crisis has a silver lining, it is that interest rates have reached historic lows, so it makes more sense than ever to take out a home equity line of credit to pay off your credit cards.

Pros: A home equity line of credit will not only help you pay off high interest credit card debt, it also lowers your taxes because the interest on a home equity line of credit is tax deductible.
Cons: You turn unsecured debt into secured debt, and that debt is secured by your house! If you don’t meet your monthly obligations, you could lose your house.

4. Refinance your mortgage. Another common way to free up money to pay off high interest credit card debt is to refinance your mortgage with a cash-out and use the extra cash to pay off your credit card debt. While the costs of refinancing are higher than for a home equity line of credit, the interest rate will be quite a bit lower.

Pros: Your monthly payments on the extra debt will be lower than for a home equity line of credit. You can use the difference to pay down your credit cards faster.
Cons: Refinancing can easily cost more than $2,000. Make sure that your savings in credit card interest costs makes that expense worthwhile.

Credit card fraud can strike anywhere, anytime, and often from sources where we least expect it. Most of the time, people don’t even know that their credit card information is stolen until fraudulent charges appear on their statement. A dishonest clerk may use a card skimming device to siphon off your credit card information, or thieves may pick up discarded credit card statements or receipts from your trash.

You can play a great role in protecting yourself from fraud. Here are 6 ways to make sure you don’t fall victim to identity theft or credit card fraud.

1. Guard your credit card information. You guard the physical credit cards in your wallet, but what about your credit card information? Destroy credit card statements, credit card receipts, and anything that contains your credit card number before putting them in the trash. Don’t ever let your credit card out of sight when eating out at restaurants, or anywhere else. Memorize your PIN number, and never keep it together with your credit cards.

2. Watch out for fraud from unexpected sources. According to a report from the Better Business Bureau, 50 percent of identity theft instances aren’t perpetrated by fraudsters, but by relatives, friends and neighbors. This type of fraud costs more time and money; costs to victims when the perpetrator is known can run as high $15,607, according to Javelin Research.

To protect yourself, take simple precautions. Don’t leave your credit cards or receipts lying around in your house where a random visitor, babysitter, or house cleaner could find them. If you go on vacation, have someone you trust pick up your mail, so it doesn’t lie for weeks in your mailbox. If you move, notify card companies well in advance of your new address.

3. Protect Yourself Online. Make sure that you have anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed on your computer and that it is updated regularly. Set your operating systems and browsers for automatic updates; computer companies are constantly creating updated security patches for new security breeches. Never give out personal financial information over the Internet, unless it’s a website you initiated the interaction with and it’s a verified and trusted location.

4. Be on the watch-out for phone fraud. Don’t give out financial information on the phone to companies unless you’re the one who called the company. If you receive a call from a company that requires action, get a phone number, and then call the company back to verify that it’s for real. If you have questions about a company, call your local consumer protection office or the Better Business Bureau.

5. Early Detection Is Your Best Defense – Monitor your credit card accounts frequently. The more time that goes by before fraud is detected, the higher typically the cost. Look at your card statements as soon as you receive them, and preferably monitor your credit card activity online. Most online credit card sites allow you to set up alerts that will be sent by email or to your cell phone, should the account activity exceed a certain pre-specified level.

Credit card fraudsters often test the accuracy of account information they have obtained by making small, insignificant charges which are easily ignored by card holders. Pay attention to even minor charges you don’t recognize, as these often precede large fraudulent charges.

6. Review Your Credit Report Regularly – Review your credit report at least once a year to guard yourself against identity thieves opening accounts in your name. You are entitled to a free credit report once a year at AnnualCreditReport.com. If you want greater peace of mind, consider enrolling in a paid credit service that will monitor your credit report and automatically keep you updated on any changes.