Read the fine print. Read everything. Read it through several times so that you make sure you understand what it is saying.

It may appear to be a bunch of financial jargon that you might not think is very important, but the truth is, this information is valuable and critical to your decision in whether or not you make the big switch.

Card shaving's growth comes partly as a reaction to increased high-tech credit card security steps, experts say. "As regulati­ons and security tightened on electronic credit card processing networks, it became increasingly difficult for hackers to penetrate them," says Shyam Krishnan, an industry analyst with the Smart Cards group at Frost & Sullivan, a high-tech research and consulting firm.

And so they turned to other low-tech scams, such as card shaving. Call the credit card company and ask any questions you might have.

If the deal is solid and they want to make a sale, generally they should be able to help you out in any way.