I just signed for a credit card online. It says: Annual fee: $45. Interest rate: 12.99% pa for purchases, 18.48% pa for cash advances. Up to 55 days interest free on credit purchases. I've bought a item that cost me around $50

1. If a credit cards says 12.99% p.a for purchases does that mean $50 item plus 12.99%? Or if i pay within 55 days theirs interest that i pay.

2. Just say i have a computer that had virus before and only have free anti virus protection.  I know most of you's would say go buy a top of the line protection, but lets just say a hacker hacked into my computer and got my credit details.

I know banks say they have secruity with 128 but ercpytion but as we all know on news theirs alot of people that had their credit card numbers hacked.

a) What secruity measures would a standard major bank (in Australia theirs NAB, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, St Geaorge) have against hackers?

b) (most important question) Once a hacker got your details (or even protended to be you=hacked into your details and collected your details such as name, address, d.o.b) and they buy items online or whatever.

i) How do you prove to the bank that it isn't you that buying all those items? I mean the bill wont come until a month later and you wouldn't know yourself either and plus you yourself would still have the credit card.

most "Hackers" aren't really hacking to get your credit info, they plant a keylogger in a 3rd party cookie (It was all made up for them) and if you have it and enter the credit info they can check for it and find it. The best way to protect against this is to have a key scrambler that encrypts your keys on the kernel level.

As far as credit fraud you can put a limit on how much is spent at any one time and report any illegal purchases on your credit, you fill out a form and they change your card send you a new one and remove the charges, some companies charge for large amounts but never as much as was stolen. If you're so worried about internet theft, shop big name stores and make the 1-800 call for your purchases it's not that inconvenient people did it for years before the internet.

Best protection is to not enter your info just anywhere don't do your banking online get a spyware and/or malware scanner for your PC in addition to your virus scan and get a key scrambler/encrypter.

Edit: There's also a service that guarantees they will protect you against identity theft of any sort give you warnings with big charges to your name etc for a fee every year. If you're worried you can check that out. Edit 2: Most banks don't do much except encrypt the data from their end and keep it safe from their end and have a claim department where you can report theft of identity that's about it.. One of the most common things when that happens is they'll take 50$ and spend it on items at a major store and have it shipped hoping you don't notice it on your bill, another is they take money and transfer it from your card as a cash advance to Korea or Africa. My parents reported credit theft not long ago for 75$ at some clothing store. The credit company had a phone number address and name of the guy who did it but never filed any charges they just changed the info and reimbursed my parents.

1. If you pay within 55 days, you don't pay any extra. However, if you use it for cash advances (not recommended), the interest accumulates daily.

2. Don't worry about fraud. Using a bit of common sense, it is unlikely anything will every happen. Even if it unforunately does, you are only responsible for $50, no matter how much credit is run up on the card.

1. What Katilian said.

2. What Katilian said. Just check the bill and if its fishy and you did not make that transaction, report it to the credit card company.

Wow Credit cards are such a rip off, couldnt you of just taken a loan out with your bank if you need money? not that i would recommend that to anyone either.

At 17 I got my first full time job and was applied my first credit card.

I was earning £100 / $200 a week and one card led to another and wihin 12 months various banks had allowed me to collect 15 credit cards with a credit limit combined of about £35,000 / $70,000

It is so very easy to spend on credit cards and over a few years my combined balances went up to £17,000 / $34,000 dspite being still on £100 / $200 per week.

I destroyed all my cards except a debit card so all I could spend was money which was actually mine and 9 years later I finally managed to clear off all my balances.

Just don't lose control of a credit card and just pay off the minimum payment because you'd rather havea good time that month because before you know it you will be thousands in the red and the credit card companies will not give a damn as long as they get their money back.

is microsoft internet exploler most at risk with virus and fraud? i've heard that firefox is much safer, is that true?