Your credit rating is important to you, and you don’t want anyone to harm it. Spending too much and paying bills late aren’t the only ways to harm your credit rating. Thieves will go to great lengths to steal credit cards and credit card information and use them illegally to purchase anything they want. To avoid the hassles of credit or identity theft, it’s important for you to make sure your cards and your credit information are protected.

Follow a few simple steps to keep your credit secure from theft or fraud:

• Don’t give out your credit card information over the phone, unless you initiate the call and you are sure the company is a legitimate company.

• Don’t let other people use your cards, and don’t let your cards leave your possession.

• Guard your social security number. Avoid using it for ID numbers at school, work, etc.

• Be very cautious about using credit cards online, use secure connections, and do some research to make sure a company is legitimate.

• Be very cautious if your driver’s license is lost or stolen.

• Know how to cancel your credit cards

Making credit card charges that go up to or over your limit, or “maxing out,” is one of the last things on earth you want to do. When a credit card company sets a limit on your card, they are saying, “This is the most money we’ll risk on this person.”  Maxing out your credit will haunt you for months, even years, of your life, and will eliminate your possibility for getting car loans, home loans, or credit to use in emergencies. Credit overextension is a result of spending way more than you can afford to repay over a reasonable time frame.  Even making a minimum payment becomes a challenge, and when you get low on cash, you in turn, have to charge more for other needs in your life. It’s like quicksand ­ you struggle to get out, but you keep sinking deeper. Speeding ahead toward your limits will lead to one thing: a financial crash.