Many people think that the most secure way to manage your money is with paper, this, however, is not completely true. 

Here are five top tips for keeping your money safe…  call them good habits to keep your finances safe both online and offline.

Check your statement 

The easiest way to keep track of your money, is to download the Cleva app or other banking apps for your accounts, set up all alerts for spending notifications and check your statements. If you check your account after a purchase is made, you will see the payments made and the amounts. All account activity and monthly statements are available on the Cleva app.

According to TotallyMoney, 1 in 12 people admit they wouldn’t spot a rogue £20 entry on their statement.  If the payment isn’t right then chase it up ASAP, even if it’s only by a tiny amount.

Hold on to your receipts

It is all too easy to forget where you have spent your money, especially when using contactless so it is always best to keep hold of those receipts or get them emailed as many stores do nowadays, just so that you can check them against your account or statements.

This is a good habit to get into, especially for electrical or high value items, for warranties and insurances etc.

Don’t give your card or PIN to anyone else

For security reasons, you should never give your bank card to anyone else.

Although not illegal, with the owner’s permission, but it is a breach of your terms & conditions. If you were to have the card stolen or be a victim of fraud, it’s unlikely that any provider would cover any losses.

Use secure and obscure passwords 

The advice we have heard time and time again, don’t share your passwords, passcodes or log in details with anyone. Be sure to change your passwords regularly and don’t use the same password for every website, that means that if someone gets into one of your accounts, they can get into them all. 

Try to stick to combinations that would be hard for others to guess, avoid using your birthday, names etc.

Trust your gut

Trusting your gut is the best tool you can use, whether it’s a website that doesn’t look quite right or an email that looks too good to be true.

If you don’t know the person on the other end of the email or it looks at all suspicious, don’t click the link. Watch out for sneaky misspellings to fool you, and websites that don’t use the classic domains like .com and .co.uk. Clicking on links in spam emails is one of the top ways hackers gain access to a computer.

People often think that falling victim to financial fraud is something that only ever happens to other people. There is plenty you can do to keep your money safe too. Here’s just some of the advice we have. Although it’s mainly common sense, there might be something in there you weren’t aware of…

Here are some measures we take to make sure your money is secure and safe:

• Card security and spending controls
• Spending notification alerts
• Online/app security system
• Real-time checks