According to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research, Bank of America’s Visa Platinum is the safest.
Javelin found that “while almost all card issuers do well in helping their customers after fraud or theft occurs, many need to upgrade their identity fraud detection tools,” according to a story published today by Computerworld.
Among the shortcomings: 56 percent of card issuers still ask customers to provide Social Security numbers to identify themselves.
B of A’s platinum card scored 69 out of 80 points in Javelin’s survey. American Express Blue was second with 66 points, followed by Discover Platinum and First National Bank Omaha’s Platinum Edition Visa Card.
Apparently that extra security comes at a cost. The story didn’t mention this, but the top-ranked cards seem to have higher interest rates, according to a quick check with Bankrate.com. The top-ranked card charges 4 percent more than the best-rate platinum card, so you have to balance the risk with the cost.