Ok, this one is a freebie! Yes, you read that correctly, it did say FREE. You may be asking yourself why a company would simply give away such advice when the market for identity protection is a billion dollar industry, and the answer is very simple: we care more about our clients' peace of mind and trust in us than most companies do.
So, without further delay, if you truly want to help ensure that your identity stays your own and avoid the headaches along with the hassles of being a victim, here are some useful tips on how to keep yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft:
- Contact all of the credit bureaus and notify them that you want to "opt-out" from receiving pre-approved credit card offer (this is only good for 5 years at a time).
- Sign up for electronic billing/statements with all of your creditors, banks, and anyone else who will be billing you (insurance companies, telephone and utility companies, cell phone provider, etc).
- Sign up for automatic bill-pay. This will reduce the number of checks that you will have to write, thereby reducing the chances of having your mail raided and thieves having your banking information.
- Understand that regardless of what hang-ups some people might have about transmitting information electronically, it is infinitely more difficult for someone to hack your computer to steal your information than it is for anyone to open your mailbox and take its contents.
- If you are not planning on applying for new lines of credit in the near future, you can place a freeze on your credit reports. This will prevent a credit reporting company from releasing your credit report without your consent. You will be provided a security passcode to release the freeze or to allow temporary access to a given third party, so access to the file is not totally blocked. Be warned, though: using this method may be a great way to protect yourself, but it also cost money to bot freeze and "thaw" your credit files (the price varies depending upon where you live and your age), and it may also delay the time that it takes to complete the application process for new lines of credit.
- Invest in a high quality crosscut or diamond-cut shredder. The smaller the pieces of sensitive information the shredder can make, the more difficult it would be to piece the documents back together.
- Take advantage of your free annual credit report. This is the only truly free method of obtaining your credit reports (from all three of the major bureaus) without having to worry about calling to cancel a trial subscription and being charged those annoying recurring monthly fees for a service that you don't even want/use.
- Pay for at least one additional copy of your credit report 6 months after obtaining your free copy. Regularly monitoring your credit report is an important method of protecting yourself and helps reduce the effects of having your identity stolen in case it does happen.
- If you have to send anything in the mail that contains sensitive information, take the extra effort to personally hand the item to the postal carrier, or use the blue US Postal Service mailboxes. They are much more difficult to break into, and are much more secure than the standard home mailbox which can be accessed by virtually anyone passing by.
- Never respond directly to requests for information made via e-mail, especially those asking for you to click through a link and provide account or log-in information. Real companies will never contact you via this method and they should be treated with extreme caution. You should delete them immediately, but you can take the extra step of going directly to the real company's website and search their help section for the e-mail address of the fraud (phishing) department and forward the suspicious message to them for further action.
- Make up passwords that are obscure to others, but easy for you to remember. Never use an important date (birthday, anniversary) or common phrase that would be easy to guess. For added security incorporate numbers, symbols, and capitalization (many sites use case-sensitive passwords and will not allow access unless they are entered with 100% accuracy) in your passwords.
- Examine your bank and credit card statements thoroughly each month for unrecognized transactions. Being proactive with your accounts is one of the most effective ways of catching fraud early and preventing further damage to your credit.
- When shopping or filling out forms online, only do so if the site is secure. To verify the security, first check the address bar--the page address should start with "https" which designates the secure server connection. You can also look to the bottom right-hand corner of your browser window for the little yellow padlock. The image below shows you these items circled in red.
- Use our Credit and Identity Protection links page to find resources to help protect and inform yourself on these and other issues pertaining to credit reports and identity protection.
Well, there you have it: several steps that you can take to insure that your identity remains your own. And, almost all of these tips will cost nothing to follow. This page will be constantly evolving, so if you have any other tips or resources that we have yet to mention, or if you need us to help you implement an action plan of your own, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time!
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