Stolen Credit Info- Target Not The Only One

Credit Card Hackers Go Upscale, Steal Neiman Marcus Customers’ Info
Chris Morran | Consumerist.com

"The retailer confirmed to Krebs that it had been victimized by a hack in mid-December and that it was working with the Treasury Dept.’s Secret Service to investigate the attack. A rep for Neiman says it still doesn’t know the full scope and duration of the breach."My Comments About The Article Above
All of this is making me wonder if we shouldn't go back to the old way of doing things by carrying cash.

A lot of credit cards carry limits of 1,000's of dollar$. Credit cards identify who an individual is. Cold hard cash exposes a customer to none of these. If someone carries around a couple of hundred bucks that's about all a crook is going to get.

Swiping plastic allows hackers to steal identities. Once they have that, all things are possible. Face it, few if any of these white collar hacks have the guts to outright face someone to steal a wallet.

But wait you say, couldn't they still steal your identity when they take your wallet?
Not if you didn't carry one with anything worthwhile in it. If they were going to steal a wallet they wouldn't get any credit cards if they weren't in it in the first place. Besides these crooks aren't looking to steal one wallet at time. They're counting on 1,000's of customers at a time not being aware they've been had.

Perhaps no one should be spending money they don't have in the first place if they can't afford something.

We all bought into the idea at one time that plastic was safer by these banking institutions who profit from the fees on them. Identity theft carries far larger repercussions then a simple theft of cash. It can affect one's federal taxes, social security, mortgage ratings, banking accounts and an untold number of other unforeseen problems down the line.

My advice these days is to go cash