Personal Finance News
Survey: 85% Review Card Statements for Unauthorized Charges
With the holiday shopping season approaching, a new survey asked consumers about their online shopping and digital security habits.
About the survey findings:
According to a new survey conducted by CardRates, several online shoppers are making security a priority as we head into the holiday retail season. Although 72% of respondents say that shopping online allows them to save time, 69% say they worry about fraud or identity theft when making online purchases. In turn, 85% of those surveyed said they regularly check their credit card statements in a bid to catch any unauthorized purchases or transactions.
CardRates also asked shoppers about some of their online retail habits. Interestingly, although the option to store credit card information with individual retailers is now ubiquitous, two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed claim that they could name all of the platforms where their card number is saved. When it comes to password security, there’s good news and bad news. Starting with the former, 62% of those who shop online say they make sure to use different passwords for each site. However, on a negative note, 56% admit that they don’t proactively change their password at least every few months.
Lastly, considering the number of high-profile breaches in recent years, 88% of shoppers surveyed said that laws should hold businesses more accountable for data breaches that expose personal information (including credit card numbers).
What they’re saying:
Commenting on the survey results, CardRates’ consumer finance expert Erica Sandberg said, “The holiday season is known to be a peak time for credit card scams. With consumers shopping more than usual, it can be more of a hassle to notice any fraudulent charges and actively monitor credit card statements.”
Sandberg continued, “Cybersecurity month in October is a great time for consumers to proactively change their passwords across online shopping accounts, remain vigilant of their credit card statements, and keep track of their purchases ahead of the busy online shopping season.”
My thoughts:
I have to admit that I am not nearly as diligent as these surveyed shoppers — starting with the fact that there’s absolutely no way I could name all the retail sites that have my credit card info saved (not to mention third-party services like Shop Pay). On top of that, while I definitely review my credit card transactions to see if anything odd jumps out at me, I wouldn’t say I “regularly inspect” my statement.
While I guess that puts me in the minority, I am glad to see that the majority of shoppers (or at least the ones CardRates talked to) seem to be doing it right. Hopefully, those added security steps pay off for them as, unfortunately, we’re sure to see many more data breaches this holiday season and well beyond.
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