You thought you don’t have to worry about new unactivated credit cards you just ordered? Think again. Just read an article giving the answer to that. While many credit cards cannot be used unless they are activated via activation phone call for example, many banks send credit cards that can be used for purchases even if not activated yet, with customers claiming they were able to make purchases up to in the hundreds of dollars. Many banks seem to allow these purchases out of courtesy. I wonder how much of a courtesy customers feel when there card has been taken out of the mail box and they get a bill later in the month for purchases someone else did. And if the thief then actually has collected some more information about you through other mails he grabbed out of your mailbox, and actually calls in, imitating your phone number over VOIP, the bill could easily end up being quite big. One way to limit this risk is to have a locked box, or a post office box, and call the credit card provider if you have not received your card latest after a couple weeks following your order to check whether they really sent it and whether it has been used by someone else.