Credit Card Safety Tips For Students Going Abroad

So your child is ready to travel foreign for higher studies and you’ve arranged money for him for expenses abroad. But have you taught him credit card safety tips in order to secure money thereby protecting him/her in case of unexpected emergencies.

So here are some basic and easy to follow tips on safeguarding credit card wherever you go:

1. Always keep contact number of your credit card handy. While contacting customer support executive of your credit card company, things like last four digit of your credit card number, date of birth, expiry date etc. details are always needed for identity verification. This practice will help you in emergencies like credit card is stolen and you wish to block the card immediately. In case you buy a credit card in your home country keep their international toll free number handy.
2. One of the best solution is to keep photo-copy of your credit card handy with you. One easy solution is to take a snapshot of your credit card using your cell phone/smart phone/tablets. But make sure you don’t disclose the card details to anyone as these days scams are on rise and your slight negligence would result in a big loss.
3. Before buying any stuff in foreign country always compare prices or get reviews of the products you wish to buy. This is to ensure you don’t make hasty decision while purchasing. Saving even a $100/month on day to day things would annually save you a good amount of money.
4. Always keep shopping bills till the time you receive your monthly statement. This is to cross check what you purchased as against how much you’re billed.
5. These days frauds like phishing, skimming etc are rampant and once fraudsters succeed in getting card details they may steal your money. So always keep account number PIN, never disclose account number to unknown person on phone/internet/in writings.
6. Never carry two or more cards while travelling within a foreign location. There is absolutely no use of these many cards unless you face any unexpected emergency.
7. Whenever you receive charge slip, never forget to put a line on blank spaces. This will ensure that a person would not be able to make any changes.
8. No matter how loyal your room-mates / colleagues are, never make a mistake of lending your card to someone else. You never know, when your friend may deceive you.