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stay on top of your financial housekeeping to keep fraud at bay
Published: 20/07/2009 |
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Andrew Hagger of Moneynet.co.uk looks at the benefits of closing accounts and credit cards that you no longer use. Over time, many of us will switch the balances of savings accounts or credit cards to get a better deal, but on many occasions we never get round to closing the old account down. Banks and building societies will have a millions of unused or forgotten about products cluttering up their systems, so do yourself a favour and make sure none of them belong to you. Whilst the old account or credit card is unlikely to have a balance on it, leaving it open and forgetting about it could still have a serious impact on your finances at a later date. With a credit card for example, you may have a nil balance, however your credit report will still show that you have hundreds or maybe thousands of pounds of credit still at your disposal. Any lender that assesses your credit history will take this unused limit into account if you apply for new borrowing and it could lead to your application being declined. Another issue with dormant financial products comes from the possibility of fraud or identity theft. For example if you move house, you may forget about that old credit card that you don’t use now the 0% deal has ended, and then in say 12 or 18 months time when the card expires, a replacement card will be sent to your old address. It’s the same situation with current account or savings statements; you don’t want to make life easier for someone to steal your identity. So whilst it’s a sensible habit to keep an eye on best buy financial products, be sure to close any accounts that you no longer need otherwise you could become easy prey for a fraudster. Take five minutes weed out the accounts you no longer need and write to the provider asking them to close the account and to confirm to you that this has been done. Keeping only the accounts you really need and safely disposing of the chaff will make your finances far simpler to manage and help you avoid any nasty surprises in the future. ENDS |
