Lately I’ve started to put lots more data in Address book than before. Why not make a group called “Visa Card” and make entries for all the places you need to update that if it’s lost?

Address book is perfect for this with both phone numbers, URL fields, date fields etc.

Then it also syncs to .mac if you use it, to your iPhone, and you can use Plaxo or special software to sync it to gmail contacts too.

Forget to change your credit card in your FedEx account, and your next package will cost you $25 extra and as a bonus you get a nasty letter from FedEx.

I registered just to make this comment…

I can’t fathom this is legal, but when your card is declined due to expiration some companies will try it a few more times while bumping the expiration date each time.

Whether this happens by policy or some accounting type thinking they’re saving time and revenue, I can’t say.

One thing I wished I had done before applying for credit cards, is to do a test run with the customer service lines. That means calling their service numbers to see how long the wait time is to get through, how complex the phone menu system is, and if the customer service reps are outsourced or not.

Once you do have a card, it’s worth testing out customer service again. Some credit card companies will also follow an aggressive script to sell you services with every phone call you make. I’ve had some nightmare calls with very very eager reps. When this happens, I put the company “on notice” and avoid using their card. I just don’t want to deal with stupid phone calls later on.

Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I hate authorizing vendors to charge my card whatever they decide I owe them this month.

Sure, it’s unavoidable for some things, but I’d much rather get a bill, and see what they’re charging me for, and then authorize the payment.

Instructing your back to pay $63 to the cable company each month is much safer, since you’re not authorizing the cable company to suck down however much they want.

One hears horror stories.

KeePass is a perfect place to store this. I’m already using it to store all my login information for my online accounts, and it has an url field as well as a place to make any random notes you want about each entry. You can also use it to securely store any other type of data you want - your credit card numbers, your kid’s social security numbers, WEP keys, software license keys or registration information, etc.

I don’t have a list of everyone who has my credit card. However, when I moved last year, I started keeping tracking who had my snail mail address.

I’ve compiled that in to a list, including links to the page where you can make the change (or as close as you can get).

Much like keeping track of who has your credit card number, and who has your snail mail address, one might consider making a database (or spreadsheet) for who has your various e-mail addresses on file.

I decided to make a password-protected database containing the date I register at a website, my username and password, and any other registered info (e-mail address, answer to security question, etc.)

As I use multiple e-mail addresses, I decided to initiate this system in the event I ever let one lapse - then I’ll know who has it and whether I want to go back later and update my profile with a new e-mail address.