The answer to that question is a flat-out, yes, and this article will tell you why. Technology and E-commerce have become so secured that credit card applications done online are already deemed safe. Financial institutions even say that it is literally safer to apply online rather than fill-in an application form and send via postal mail.
It is the SSL technology that makes online credit card applications safe. This technology stands for Secure Sockets Layer. This protects websites from hackers and data theft. It automatically encrypts the data sent, your personal information required, from your computer to the bank’s servers. Encryption is a complicated mathematical process that conceals data. This is done by altering in a lot of ways some of the information so it becomes hard to decipher for someone who tries to steal it. In layman’s term, there is a secret message created so eavesdroppers, or in this case peeping toms, will never understand the data being transmitted.
It used to be that an encryption can be transformed into approximately one trillion ways with a 40-bit technology. However, hackers were able to decode data in no time. Engineers upgraded to a more secured 128 bits in the late 1990s and made encryption more powerful. Today’s methods make credit card applications online even safer. An internet site that uses SSL technology requires two encryption keys where there is a public and a private key for both sending and receiving computer. This data exchange is encrypted then decrypted in a complex process that only experts understand. Let us just say that with this double-edged technology, hackers will not be able to capture and interpret any data because they will not have both keys to decode.
Just reading high technology stuff, I am sure it sounds confusing. However, it is just as simple as being able to submit credit card applications online securely, as long as you are transacting in a credible website. The regular sign of a secured page is the “s” after “http” in a website URL. It is also advisable to do bank transactions like this in the comforts of your own home and own computer. Avoid public computers or library computers where the chances that someone else may be able to read the data you input are very high.
Financial advisers think this is relatively safer because theft of mailboxes is rampant – this is one of the ways identity thieves collect information. Just spare yourself from worrying whether your paper application was duly received by the credit card company. Plus, you would probably get an instant approval online and will get your card sooner than when you apply manually.
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