Stay Safe This Holiday Season
Podcast Transcription
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Maddy: Hi everyone, thanks for tuning in to PFCU’s Money Talk podcast, I’m your host Maddy. We are continuing with our regular safety and security tips and for this episode we’re focusing on the holidays. I am once again joined by Liz, the Executive Administrative Assistant here at PFCU, and she is going to share holiday shopping tips, how to be safe when decorating your home and what PFCU can do to help keep your information safe during this busy time of year. Please join me in welcoming Liz!
Thank you for being here with me again!
Liz: Thank you for having me!
Maddy: Of course.
Liz: It’s the holiday season so we thought it would be a great time just to talk about safety tips this season. Starting with holiday shopping safety. When going to the store always park in well-lit areas, especially this time of year, it’s getting dark earlier. Just making sure you’re parking in safe locations. When going in the store, only bring the credit cards you plan to use and not any of your other credit cards, just because you don’t want anything to get lost or stolen. Don’t leave your purchased gifts in plan view inside your car. I know sometimes that can be easy, to just throw them in the backseat…
Maddy: Right.
Liz: …And go about your day, but just making sure it’s not tempting anyone. Also, when making online purchases, I know I love to online shop, make sure that you’re only purchasing from secure websites. That way, to help limit the fraud, we don’t want anyone putting any of their credit card information on a site that is not trustworthy.
Maddy: Right.
Liz: And also, check your transaction history regularly to make sure there’s no suspicious activity. You know, logging into your online banking, looking at your account, looking at your credit card transaction history just to make sure that all of the transactions are actually your transactions. PFCU has products to help keep you safe when you’re doing your holiday shopping. As I just mentioned, your transaction history. We’ve got our mobile banking, you can even set up e-alerts so you get notifications for your transactions. Mobile wallets, that’s always very nice so that when you’re going into the store, you’re not worrying about what credit card to bring in, you’ve got it right on your phone or your smart watch. And if you like prepaid VISA cards, those are amazing as well. That way for some reason, if there was fraud on the card, it would limit the amount the fraudster would have access to.
Maddy: Great, alright, good!
Liz: Now, let’s talk about decorating.
Maddy: Oh!
Liz: I know! I love my Christmas tree…
Maddy: Yes!
Liz: …And the lights.
Maddy: Oh my god, I decorating before Thanksgiving this year. I was that person. We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving.
Liz: Oh, that is amazing. Me too, we had our tree up and it’s just, I love that time of year.
Maddy: Yes.
Liz: So, some safety while decorating. Never use furniture as a ladder. I know, I myself, can be tempting but it’s not the most safe way to go about decorating. Make sure to avoid electrical fires by purchasing lights from reputable retailers.
Maddy: Oh interesting.
Liz: I know!
Maddy: I’ve never thought about that.
Liz: Making sure you’re not buying, I know sometimes, like, cheaper lights are nice because lights can be very expensive but just making sure that they are approved and not connecting too many together as well because it will tell you on the box how many strands you can put together.
Maddy: Oh, okay.
Liz: Inspect both indoor and outdoor lights for broken sockets, frayed wires, loose connections. Just making sure that the lights you do have or any outdoor decorations and indoor, you’re just being safe when having electricity going to them. Do not overload your outlets with too many electrical devices, this could cause a fire. So, just make sure that you are, again, practicing safe there. And make sure you have working smoke detectors in your home. This is good any time of the year but just making sure those are up and running. Now an interesting fact I found, I was doing some research on holiday safety and according to the CPSC, there are on average about 160 decorating related injuries each day during the holiday season with almost half of the incidents involving falls.
Maddy: Wow! A day?!
Liz: A day. And that just in the US so that doesn’t even include other countries.
Maddy: Yeah.
Liz: I thought that number was very high. Like, I never would have imagined that.
Maddy: I wouldn’t have either. I mean, it makes sense when you think about it.
Liz: It does.
Maddy: Like, I have used furniture as a ladder before.
Liz: I have too.
Maddy: I just like, grab the nearest chair and I’m just like, it’s just going to be a second! You don’t think about how unsafe that is, and even, we don’t do lights up high on our house at all but…
Liz: Yeah.
Maddy: …People, like, get up there and I can see that happening.
Liz: Oh, for sure.
Maddy: Like, falling of the roof or the ladder
Liz: Yes.
Maddy: That’s scary.
Liz: And if you are doing that, making sure someone else is with you!
Maddy: Yes!
Liz: Just in case something does happen.
Maddy: Yeah.
Liz: Hopefully not but…
Maddy: Yeah, for sure.
Liz: You never know.
Maddy: Good tips! Well thank you so much!
Liz: You’re welcome!
Maddy: And happy holidays.
Liz: Yes, happy holidays to everyone!
Money Talk is a podcast brought to you by PFCU. PFCU offers many products and services to fit your needs, from our various loan and account options to our team of financial coaches to help you reach your goals. Make sure to take advantage of the many conveniences PFCU offers such as the mobile app, mobile wallets, bill pay and more. Visit our website at PFCU the number four me dot com to learn more. PFCU is an equal housing lender and is federally insured by the NCUA.