Most people usually have more than one credit card making it hard to distinguish which bill goes to which card. Seeing you’re probably getting your first credit card, its best to be “neat” when it comes to your credit cards. One of the main reasons is because you want to make sure that there is no suspicious activity on your account, therefore making you pay for something you never bought.

A lot of people will simply get a bill in the mail, glance over it and just pay the bill without really looking into what they have purchased. This is a huge no-no. With fraud going on everyone in the world, it’s always best to take a few minutes out of your day and make sure that everything is running properly. This time spent will definitely beat the time spent if you get your identity stolen.

Organizing your credit cards is actually quite simple. If you tend to use more than one, make sure you glance at which card you use when you make your purchase. If using more than one card, make sure you write down the name of that card that you used on the receipt. If you made a purchase online, make sure you print out a receipt for your own records. Never save this on the computer because you never know when you hard drive will crash!

It’s always best to get some sort of lockbox, so that no one can have access to these receipts. Even though most receipts only show a few numbers, some places that tend to give you a carbon copy will show your whole number. The best bet is either to get a fire safe box or a file cabinet that has a lock on it. This way whenever you have company, you can feel safe knowing that your personal information is locked up.

In that file cabinet, you should have a manila folder for each credit card. Make sure you label each credit card by its name. If you have two credit cards, a chase card, and a discover card, mark the appropriate name on the folder. This way every time you get that receipt, you can throw it in it’s proper folder. This way when the bill comes at the end of the month, all of these receipts are there.

Once you have your folders sorted out, you’re getting one step closer to the end. At the end of every month, you will receive a bill from your credit card company. Carefully match up each receipt to each transaction. Make sure that you have a receipt for each transaction, this is very important! If there is a transaction on your card that you didn’t make, make sure you contact customer service right away to dispute the charges. If you wait to long on this, you may have to pay the full amount.

Finally, when you receive the bill and have matched up every receipt to it, make sure you staple them all to the bill. Neatly throw them back into the manila envelope. It’s always safe to keep at least 2 years of receipts, so that if anything ever comes up, you will have the physical evidence. Once you decide to get rid of your receipts and statements, make sure you shred them either by a paper shredder or by hand. If doing it by hand, make sure you shred it more than once. This prevents thieves from putting it back together to receive the information they need.

If you follow these important steps when it comes to organizing your bills, you shouldn’t have to worry about transactions you haven’t made. This doesn’t mean that they won’t happen. The best thing overall is to make sure you keep your eye open each month and always be responsible.