Holiday shopping safety tips

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Are you ready for the holiday shopping season? After recent data breaches at big-name retailers like Target, Neiman Marcus, Home Depot, Jewel-Osco and Staples, you might want to think twice about how you shop.

Joan Jensen, president and CEO of Central Credit Union of Illinois, came into our ABC 7 Eyewitness News studio to tell us about helpful apps and other tips to better insulate yourself against data breaches.

Joan's Tips:

Keep current with new technologies

-Look to EMV Chip Cards in 2015: EMV-enabled cards have an embedded microprocessor chip that encrypts transaction data differently for every purchase.
-Smart Phone Payment Systems:

• Apple Pay


• Google Wallet


• CurrentC


• Other apps: PayPal, LevelUp, etc.

ID Theft Protection
-Consider credit cards over debit cards
-Put alerts on your accounts.
-Freeze your credit reports

Credit Reports
Review your credit report on a regular basis. To order, visit www.annualcreditreport.com.