When Tennessee residents overspend on people’s credit cards they can find themselves facing overwhelming debt. However, there is another way that a person may find a high balance affecting his available credit. The use or misuse of a person’s credit card by another person may result in an individual becoming liable for credit card debts that the person did not personally incur.
The Federal Trade Commission offers some god advice on how consumers may protect their credit cards and credit card numbers. First, the FTC suggests that individuals do not share or lend their credit cards with others. Giving another person one’s credit card may be viewed as consent to pay off the other person’s charges that are incurred on the card. Second, the FTC notes that individuals can protect their credit accounts by only writing credit card numbers on safe and secure methods of correspondence.
Since theft and identity theft are real problems for modern consumers, individuals can safeguard their credit accounts by only carrying a few credit cards at a time and monitoring activity on those cards for fraudulent charges. In some cases, credit card companies may only have a designated window of time in which a consumer may report a fraudulent charge; if a report is not made in that period of time the card holder may become liable for a charge that the person did not incur.
It is one thing for consumers to have to seek debt relief for financial obligations that they incurred themselves. It is quite another thing for people to find themselves paying off the debts of others who erroneously or fraudulently used their credit cards. Whether a person faces steep credit card debt from personal actions or unaddressed fraud, the person may have to consider if consumer bankruptcy is the right path to debt relief. Individuals who wish to learn more about personal or consumer bankruptcy may seek out of the counsel of trusted bankruptcy professionals.
