tip
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to your billing cycles
Follow up with creditors if bills do not arrive on time.
Keep your wallet thin
Minimize the identification information and the number of credit cards tip you carry to what you actually need. If your I.D. or credit cards are lost or stolen, notify the creditors by phone immediately, and call the credit bureaus to ask that a “fraud alert” be placed in tip your file.
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Regularly monitor your credit report
Order a copy of your credit report from the three credit reporting agencies every year. Make sure it’s accurate and includes only those activities you’ve authorized. Report any problems you find. Be careful what you do with tip your trash
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Keep items with personal information in a safe place; tear them up or shred them when you don’t need them anymore. Make sure charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, bank checks and statements, expired charge cards, and credit offers you get in the mail
tip
are disposed of appropriately. Some fraud experts state flatly: “Never carry your SSN in your wallet or purse. Be careful how you dispose of documents that contain your SSN; shred them, if possible.” Crime experts agree that it’s difficult to stop a professional identity thief who singles you out as a victim. The most you can do is make it more difficult by following common sense in protecting personal information.
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Be proactive
Here’s a little trick that will make life a bit easier if you ever find yourself in that position: Take everything that contains personal information out of your wallet or purse now—driver’s license, credit cards, everything. Then make a photocopy of both sides of each item. Put the copies away in a secure place so you’ll have phone numbers and addresses of the people and agencies that you need to notify in the event of trouble. Modern technology, the Internet, and our ability to gather and store huge amounts of personal data on individuals have all contributed to the evolution of identity theft. Several people interviewed for this article report receiving e-mails designed to look like messages from legitimate companies and government agencies. Using a ploy such as “updating our records,” e-mail predators usually ask for
sensitive information such as Social Security number, credit card numbers, even your mother’s maiden name. You should remember that no legitimate company or agency will ever ask you to send that kind of personal information to them in an e-mail. If you respond to such a request, you almost surely will be targeted as an identity theft victim. The best solution: hit the delete key or forward the message to the Federal Trade Commission. Take the most important step needed to keep you out of trouble. Get in the habit of protecting your Social Security number and other personal information as if your financial life depends on it. It does.
Threemajorcredit bureaus Equifax P.O. Box 740241 Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 Order credit report: (800) 6851111 Report fraud: (800) 525-6285 Experian P.O. Box 2104 Allen, TX 75013 Order credit report: (888) 3973742 Report fraud: (888) 397-3742 Trans Union 760 Sproul Road P.O. Box 390 Springfield, PA 19064-0390 Order credit report: (800) 9168800 Report fraud: (800) 680-7289
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Fabricator n March-April 2004