Summary
A new study by AARP finds only 4 in 10 American adults have set up online access to all their bank accounts, and only 57 percent have done so with their credit card accounts
The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Please review our list of best credit cards, or use our CardMatch™ tool to find cards matched to your needs.
For instance, the AARP Fraud Watch Network recommends that consumers establish online access to all of their bank and credit card accounts. Yet the survey found that only about 4 in 10 American adults (43 percent) have done so with all of their bank accounts, and only 57 percent have set up access for all credit cards.
Re-using a password is another way to jeopardize your digital security, but nearly half of the survey’s respondents (48 percent) said they use a single password for two or more sites.
See related: Credit card losses from synthetic identity fraud jump
Perhaps most surprising was that although 47 percent of adults said they had experienced a fraudulent purchase on a credit or debit card, a paltry 14 percent said they had taken the step of requesting a credit report freeze.
With so many Americans reporting risky behaviors – and so few reporting smart security practices – it’s not surprising that a whopping 73 percent failed a “digital identity IQ” quiz, answering half or fewer of the 10 questions correctly.
AARP conducted its survey in July 2018 with the GfK Group, sampling a nationally representative group of approximately 2,000 U.S. adults age 18 and older. AARP released the findings Sep. 5.
Editorial Disclaimer
The editorial content on this page is based solely on the objective assessment of our writers and is not driven by advertising dollars. It has not been provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners.