These Are The 5 Places You Should Never Use Your Credit Card
Card payments are becoming increasingly popular all over the world. That’s why many of us have chosen to use them more frequently, replacing cash altogether. Although this payment method has become increasingly secure in recent years, the reality is that there are still some scenarios that are best avoided.
- Online payments
The main recommendation we can give you is to never use your credit card to make payments on websites that do not have SSL encryption. This encryption ensures that the data transmitted between our browser and the site’s server is secure and private. If this certificate is not present, our financial and personal information could be at risk.
Finding out if the website we are making a purchase on has this certificate is very simple. In browsers like Google Chrome, for example, a warning appears before entering informing us that the said certificate is not present. In addition, we can also check manually by adding the verification that the URL begins with "https". If this is not the case, it is better to avoid it.
- Public or communications devices
Secondly, it is also not advisable to use your credit card on any website that you have accessed by connecting via a public Wi-Fi network. These types of networks, which are very common in airports or train stations, usually do not have sufficient protection for entering our card data. In fact, it is one of the methods used by cybercriminal groups to try to steal our data. If we want to make a payment with our card and we only have this network available, it is advisable to avoid it.
In addition, we should also avoid doing the same thing if we are using a shared computer. A fairly common situation, for example, in public libraries. The explanation is that no one has real control over the software installed on these computers and it is possible that someone has downloaded a program to try to track all the information entered by users.
- Trial subscriptions
Trial subscriptions are another scenario we should avoid, especially if we are not sure if we want to pay for that service once the free period is over. It is very common, due to negligence, to forget to cancel the subscription in question and end up paying the full price for an app we will probably never use. If we are not sure, the best thing we can do is to avoid entering our card. This way we will avoid worries later.
Finally, we must also be careful when using the card abroad. Especially if it is a joint card and there is a currency exchange between our home country and the place where we make the payment. In these transactions, there is a commission that varies depending on the payment and can make our trip much more expensive. Alternatively, we can opt for cards specifically designed for travel, such as those of many banks.
In short, be very careful when using your card in certain places and you will minimize the possibility of being robbed. It is not infallible, but it helps a lot to achieve more security.