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One thing that can affect your credit the most is how much debt you are carrying on your cards. Thereofre, it may be time for you to finally get rid of some of your credit card debt.

Another factor is how close to the credit limit you are on each card. Any good credit repair company will tell you that it is best to keep your total balance below one fourth of your credit limit. This is for the total of all your cards.

If you want to continue to get rid of credit card debt here are some additional tips and facts:

Reduce the amount of interest paid while buying things with a credit card. You can do this if you pay back the balance within a 25 to 30 day grace period.

Remember that late payments appear on your credit file. Therefore, try to avoid allowing your balances to become past due.

If you are unfortunately already overwhelmed by the debt you have nationwide debt settlement options are available. This is a great place to go for educational advice on what financial options are best for you.

Seek all re-financing options such as consolidations before considering bankruptcy. You may also want to consider budgeting and debt repayment programs.

Settling Debts

The devastating economic conditions right now have caused 60% of Americans in financial distress not knowing what to do. They also quite often do not know where to go for help.

Debt settlement is one option. This helps you eliminate unpaid balances by reducing the amount you owe, by as high as 50 to 70% (and in rare cases up to 100%).

However, this solution is not without its consequences. Using debt settlement could have a temporary negative impact on your credit file. Therefore, whenever possible it is in your best interest to do what you can to pay that account.

The idea is to do whatever you can possible to avoid charge offs, because this can also hurt your credit file. Apparently according to some sources debt settlements are like a charge off.

However, sometimes you have to do what you have to do. The key to all this is to help reduce chance of bankruptcy proceedings, as this is often thought of as a last resort.

When credit card accounts are settled, the creditor will notify the 3 credit bureaus within 30-45 days. Even though this may not always be the option that works for everyone, it can improve your debt to income ratio.

You never can be too careful when using the Internet. This is evident in the number of identity theft cases that take place annually-and even daily, weekly, and monthly. This pertains to making purchases as well as using free credit report services and shopping in traditional stores.

Statistics

According to Better Business Bureau and Javelin Strategy & Research, over 9 million cases of identity theft crimes have taken place now for two years in a row. Within the past five years there have been a total of over 30 million victims, as reported by agencies such as the FTC and BBB.

Some more interesting facts you might want to know can help you be safer. Take a look below:

• About 71% of fraud occurs within a week of someone’s personal identification being stolen. Sometimes the crime takes place almost immediately if it is a credit card being used that was stolen.
• Although online identity theft is on the rise, only about 11% of identity theft crimes originate here. Stolen wallets and physical documents make up for about 43% of all identity crimes.
• The breakdown of identity theft cases is as follows (2009): 26% credit card fraud, 18% utilities fraud, 17% bank fraud, 12% employment fraud, 5% loan fraud, 9% government fraud, 13% other. This of course are approximate numbers and 2010 stats are going to be different.

Ways Identity is Stolen

Your personally identifiable information can be stolen in a variety of different ways. Your credit cards and/or credit card digits is one of the most common forms of identity theft. This takes place as fraudulent websites set them selves up appearing as a legitimate company.

This often is the case when ordering a free credit report, which when it is legit can save you from credit card/identity fraud. However, if you enter information into a fake free credit report site you are in trouble, especially if you are entering credit card numbers or other personal data over a server that is not secure. Your financial and personal information is then stolen.

Also, numerous traditional brick-and-mortar stores are sometimes careless about asking for a picture I.D. when a purchase is made. So, when someone uses a stolen credit care it often passes through electronic credit card systems.

However, it is not just physical credit cards and credit card numbers that are stolen and exploited. Driver’s license and social security cards and numbers, birth certificates and birth dates, banking account numbers and checkbooks, and even credit reports are stolen.

Why Identity is Stolen

It is done for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons is to secure a home loan and another is to apply for a job, or to be able to find a way to have a utility or phone line turned on (i.e. using a child’s name). It could be even done to get away with committing a crime.