Credit Card Identity Theft

1. Visa stands for Visa International Service Association. The company consists of six different entities. Each segment focuses on one particular geographical area, providing offers and meeting regulations that vary from region to region.

2. There is a huge variety of credit cards suited both to the corporate and consumers. For every $100 that consumers spend, approximately $14.60 is spent with a Visa-branded product.

3. More than 500 million Visa credit cards are currently circulating in United States. This is the nations leading electronic payment brand.

4. No credit cards are directly issued by Visa. An association of member banks provide cards to its wide customer base.

5. Visa is accepted in over 150 countries around the world. This makes it as one of the most universal credit cards available. The wide acceptance of Visa is substantiated by the fact that more than 20 million merchants accept Visa cards across the globe.

6. Security for its cardholders is the first priority for Visa. To achieve this Visa has adopted a "Continuous Monitoring" system. Unusual credit card transactions are quickly tracked and recorded. Visa also has a free helpline for identity theft.

7. The 3-digit code found on the back of the card of Visa card provides greater security. The information can be provided when making purchases. It makes sure that every transaction is authentic.

 Visa is continuously evolving and adopting strict security measures to counteract the high-tech fraud. Great efforts are made to improve member benefits and provide a virtually universal card acceptance. With the wide range of credit cards issued by Visa, you are sure to find one that makes your life easy.

What should you shred?

 The easy answer - anything that has a signature, account number, social security number, or medical or legal information (plus credit offers).

The complete answer - see below.

• Address labels from junk mail and magazines
• ATM receipts
• Bank statements
• Birth certificate copies
• Canceled and voided checks
• Credit and charge card bills, carbon copies, summaries and receipts
• Credit reports and histories
• Documents containing maiden name (used by credit card companies for security reasons)
• Documents containing names, addresses, phone numbers or e-mail addresses
• Documents relating to investments
• Documents containing passwords or PIN numbers
• Driver's licenses or items with a driver's license number
• Employee pay stubs
• Employment records
• Expired passports and visas
• Unlaminated identification cards (college IDs, state IDs, employee ID badges, military IDs)
• Legal documents
• Investment, stock and property transactions
• Items with a signature (leases, contracts, letters)
• Luggage tags
• Medical and dental records
• Papers with a Social Security number
• Pre-approved credit card applications
• Receipts with checking account numbers
• Report cards
• Resumés or curriculum vitae
• Tax forms
• Transcripts
• Travel itineraries
• Used airline tickets
• Utility bills (telephone, gas, electric, water, cable TV, Internet)