My New Credit Card Arrived Already

I applied on Sunday and It arrived in the post on Thursday. That’s pretty quick I think.

I got a whole heap of documentation with it, basically all I need to do is activate it.

But I’ll hold off on activating the credit card until they send me the info on doing balance transfers. as the 6 month 0% interest period starts from when I activate the card (you must always read the fine print). I wonder how long they will wait until they send the balance transfer information.

Also included was practically a whole page of charges for using (and misusing the credit card) While these are fairly typical of most credit card providers these days, you really need to be aware of them. I’ll post them all when I have more time, they are an eye opener if you’ve never read the small print before.

The thing that scares me is the lack of identity checks required to get the card. The only definitive information I gave in the application was my drivers license number. It’s almost possible that one person could get a few details from a few drivers licenses (like a nightclub doorman) and apply for a whole bunch of cards in other peoples names.

I think this leaves them open for huge amounts of credit card fraud, and no doubt this will damage a lot of peoples credit report until the whole mess is sorted out.

The other scary thing is that I haven’t signed a single thing (not even the back of the credit card yet). Doesn’t a legally binding contract (for finance or whatever) require some sort of signature?

Oh well, nothing to do but hide away the credit card until I get my 0% balance transfer information.