Credit Cards
Most companies will accept any of the major cards (ex. Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover). They'll sometimes also ask you questions about you that the get from publicly available data (ex. the color of your car or where you used to live), or specific questions about your address, date of birth, or social security number. Wireless carriers use this data to ensure that you are the rightful owner of the card. They do this to protect the cardholder and the company from having fraudulent transactions on the account from stolen cards. Rest assured that the information you provide is secure. Wireless companies are very highly regulated, and must maintain security and confidentiality of customer information at all times. The good news is that once you provide your information, you won't have to provide all of your information again unless your card number or address changes. On occasion you may be asked to verify certain information like the last four digits of your card number. Carriers do this to make sure that someone can't just grab your phone and start adding money to your account with the credit card on file. The only word of caution about this method of direct replenishment is that you don't want to accumulate any additional debt by paying with your card and not paying off your full bill every month. This will in turn negatively affect your credit score. So if you don't tend to pay off your bill in full each month, I would definitely recommend sticking to the cash based replenishment methods. If you don't have a credit card, but like the idea of the convenience you get from using one, you click here to browse various different offers. The list is organized so you can review the available cards by different types:
If you don't have a credit card, and for whatever reason either can't get one (ex. poor credit), or don't want one (ex. cost control), a prepaid debit card may be a great option for you. Click here to learn more! A word about identity theft: Identity theft is when someone gets a hold of you name, address, social security number, and other personal information. They then use that information to basically pretend that they're you, and apply for credit cards, bank accounts, mortgages and other accounts in your name. It can often take years before you figure it out. In the meantime, your credit store is shot, and you may not find out until you apply for a car loan, mortgage, or new credit card. I'd had heard about identity theft many times, always thinking that it's horrible, but could never happen to me. Then two people I used to work with told me that they had their identity stolen. And needless to say, it's a huge pain in the butt, not to mention expensive. So even though it hasn't happened to me yet (knock on wood!), I have my credit locked just for peace of mind. LifeLock offers proactive identity theft services, including a guarantee that you're welcome to check out to see if it meets your needs. You can also click here to learn more about identity theft. |
