This week, MasterCard announced that it will be changing its rules to offer broader protections from fraud and identity theft to its US cardholders, by officially expanding a couple of its fraud protection programs.

Effective July 2014, all MasterCard credit, debit, prepaid and small business cards issued in the US will now carry Identity Theft Resolution assistance. The program provides help in canceling missing cards and alerting credit reporting agencies, as well as targeting searches to detect if stolen personal and confidential data appears online. More information on the program can be found at this link.

MasterCard also revealed its intentions to extend its zero liability policy in the US to include all MasterCard PIN-based and ATM transactions, beginning in October 2014. Zero liability protection means that the account holder will not be held responsible for any unauthorized transactions that occur on their account. Currently, zero liability coverage is already provided on signature debit and credit transactions.