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Practical Suggestions for Protecting Yourself From Identity
Theft
It's no surprise that thousands of Americans are victimized by
identity theft each year. Last year more than 9,000,000 people
were victims of identity theft amounting to some $45 billion
dollars.
By the time the average person realizes they have become a
victim of identity theft; it is much too late. By this point, the
victim's financial stability and credit rating may be impacted
significantly.
What can you to to protect yourself from identity theft? Here
are some useful suggestions for you...
- Place passwords on your credit card, bank, and phone
accounts. Avoid using easily available information like your
mother's maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of
your SSN or your phone number, or a series of consecutive
numbers.
- Secure personal information in your home, especially if you
have roommates, employ outside help, or are having work done in
your home.
- Use a paper shredder to shred sensitive documents before
discarding them.
- Ask about information security procedures in your workplace
or at businesses, doctor's offices or other institutions that
collect your personally identifying information. Find out who
has access to your personal information and verify that it is
handled securely. Ask about the disposal procedures for those
records as well. Find out if your information will be shared
with anyone else. If so, ask how your information can be kept
confidential.
- Never tell anyone your personal information over the phone
or send it through email, or fax. Most legitimate companies
will not request this information from you via phone or any
other unprotected source.
- Monitor your credit report on a monthly basis to watch for
unusual activitiy. Many credit report services will alert you
to such activity and even assist you in resolving issues. We
have partnered with Equifax to offer you their Credit Watch
product.
By following these steps you can lower your risk of becoming
an identity theft victim. Being informed is the most valuable
protection against identity theft.
Bryan A. Mjaanes is the owner of the successful ReviewCardOffers website -
a credit card offer comparison site where you can review more
than 130 credit card offers and apply online.
MORE RESOURCES:
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