A new year means a new time to take stock of where you’ve been and where you’re going. One of the things you can do is take a life inventory and see how well you are protecting yourself from identity theft. Are you taking all of the following actions?
1. Checking your credit report at least three times a year? Using annualcreditreport.com, you can get a free report from each of the bureaus; TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. If you request one from one of the bureaus every four months, you get a good look at your file fairly regularly at no cost. The reports should be similar if not identical, since the bureaus are supposed to share information with one another.
2. Using the right ink to sign your checks? A lot of people don’t know this, but it’s a lot easier for thieves to “wash checks,” which means using a solvent to dissolve the ink on them and writing in a new name and amount, if you write them with dye based ink. If you’re worried about your checks falling into the wrong hands sign them with pigment based ink instead. It permeates the paper instead of sitting on its surface.
3. Shredding catalogs with identifying information on them? You probably know that the shredder is your friend when it comes to discarding important financial documents. But, did you realize that it’s important to do that with certain catalogs too? If the catalog is connected to a personal account in some way – such as with a barcode or numeric code, you need to get rid of those identifying parts in a secure manner. You don’t have to shred the entire catalog, but look carefully through it for such pages.
4. Being careful about using your debit card? When a thief gets your credit card number, he can basically take out a loan in your name, but when that same thief gets your debit card number, he can effectively drain your bank account. Credit cards are safer for online and less secure in person purchases just for that reason. Be careful when choosing which plastic to use for payment.
5. Using identity theft protection? Sometimes just being careful is not enough. You could use another set of eyes to look out for your best interests. That’s where an identity protection plan comes in. You should take all of the above precautions and look into one, if you haven’t already.
For more information on how you can keep your identity protected please visit our blog, it full of ideas and article that will help you prevent identity theft.
Stay safe and make 2011 an identity theft free year.