GPI 449 – Cancel all credit cards for your company on a regular basis and reissue/replace them to curtail theft.

When your company has multiple credit cards issued being used to purchase goods and services by employees in purchasing, sales, maintenance, supply chain management and many other management positions, the chance that information from one card or more will be stolen is increased with every swipe by some remote unscrupulous store employee.  The best thing your firm can do to avoid this risk is to regularly cancel the cards and have them reissued. They will arrive in just a few days thereafter.  It may be easier to do a few per month instead of all of them at one time but consider this as an ongoing plan.

Those who steal credit card information do not use the data right away. Some will wait a month or two before charging items.  When they do, many begin stealing small dollar amounts that most likely will not be noticed on a large credit card statement. Once a small charge is used and clears, the thief will then increase the next charge to see if it clears. Stolen credit card numbers are sold regularly on the internet so it may be a week or two after the information is stolen that the fraudulent charge occurs.

If your cards are cancelled on a regular basis, these charges will be less likely to go undetected. Credit card companies are more than happy to replace cards since they want to cut credit card theft. This theft cuts into their profit and forces them to raise rates causing them to be less competitive in the market.  Replacing cards regularly will help to eliminate or cut down on card theft.

Note: Check your credit card activity every day online.   This ten minute exercise you take daily will help you spot credit card theft and catch illegal and unapproved charged ‘surprises’. This allows your firm plenty of time to dispute the charges and get the card reissued to the cardholder in your company.  As frequently as possible, distribute the credit card statements throughout the month to each user to review their charges in order to spot theft.