As you are gearing up for Thanksgiving and scouring the ads for Black Friday deals, there are a few things you should keep in mind to protect your financial information this holiday season.

If you are traveling, be mindful when you are getting gas. Credit card fraudsters are filling up at the gas pumps. According to this article from WHO TV, Casey’s General Stores recently found six credit card skimming machines installed on their gas pumps. Here are five tips from GoBankingRates to protect yourself from card fraud at the pump. Be sure to look for things such as tamper-evident stickers and credit card skimming devices. And, when in doubt, use cash.

Not only do you have to be vigilant at the pump, but you will also want to make sure that you protect yourself while doing your holiday shopping. The best option is to use an EMV chip enabled card, commonly known as a chip card. When you make a transaction with a chip card, the chip-enabled terminal sends a unique code to verify the transaction, not your actual card number. This prevents stolen data from being used fraudulently. 

Although we only offer chip card technology for our credit cards (debit cards coming soon), we do offer a free mobile app called CardValet™ that allows you to safeguard and monitor your Collins Community CU debit card. With CardValet you can turn your debit card on and off, receive push notifications when your card is used, approved or exceeds transaction controls, and receive real-time balances for your account. To download the app, search CardValet in the App Store or Google Play Store.