How to Prevent Identity Theft

How to Prevent Identity Theft How You Can Improve Your Credit Score Here ph

When a thief steals a person’s identity, he has the means to apply for a mortgage, open lines of credit and credit cards and buy for thousands of dollars in goods online long before the victim knows it has happened. With identity theft there is no gaping head wound, but the pain and devastation are just as real to the victim.

Most people wouldn’t consider leaving hundreds of dollars sitting about the home in plain sight.

Likewise, most people wouldn’t carry around large amounts of cash unless they have a specific need to do so.

Below are steps to prevent identity theft: –Review bank statements monthly. Any discrepancy should be reported immediately.

–Review credit card statements monthly. Report unknown charges immediately. The credit card company can freeze the card until the mystery is solved so no further charges can be added.

–Review the overall credit report annually. Federal law allows a person to get a free copy of credit reports from the three reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) annually and whenever credit has been denied. Do not pay for any of these reports. Each site offers some sort of deal whereby your credit will be monitored for a fee and in return for signing up for the program, the person gets a free copy of the credit report. Federal law dictates that a person get a free annual copy, so there’s no need to buy or sign up for anything.

–Report all inaccuracies in writing to each reporting company. Follow up to verify the corrections are made to the report.

Vigilant reviews of financial accounts followed by swift action mitigate damage in the event someone has stolen the cardholder’s identity.

By the Numbers Protect all personal numbers: the Social Security number, account PIN numbers as well as bank and credit card numbers. Each number is one layer in a gatekeeping process financial institutions set up specifically so to protect a person’s financial accounts. To avoid identity theft, a person must use as much care as these financial institutions.

–Social Security. Do not carry a Social Security card. Keep it in a safe along with other personal papers (i.e. birth certificate, divorce papers).

–Credit Card Numbers —–To avoid identity theft a person must use exceptional care when ordering items online. Only deal with known sites.

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—–If a telephone solicitor calls asking for a donation for a charitable cause, a person should never give out his credit card number, even if it’s a cause he normally supports.

He should ask the caller to mail the request. The person on the other end of the telephone may or may not be from a charity. It’s just a voice on the telephone.

—–When a person uses a credit card to make a purchase and the shopkeeper or waitress makes an imprint of the credit card, the card holder should request the carbon used to make the purchase. He should then rip it up immediately and carry it home for security disposal.

A Word About Passwords –To avoid identity theft, a person should change computer passwords regularly. The passwords should involve lower and uppercase letters numbers and perhaps a symbol. An identity thief may gather a person’s information in pieces then guess the person’s online passwords based on the gathered information.

Some people use birthdays, telephone numbers and easily attainable information for passwords and PIN numbers, all easy information for an identity thief to attain.

–Don’t use the same passwords for various accounts. A person should not use the same password for his bank account and Facebook accounts, for example. Banks have a much higher level of security than many computer sites, but an identity thief who cracks one password will try it on all of the accounts associated with the person being attacked.

Finally, one of the best ways to prevent identity theft is to control every piece of paper that goes out in the trash. Shred old bank statements and anything that includes information from a birth date to a bank account number.

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Do's and Dont's of the Credit Card Game Here pf Futhermore: How to Prevent Identity Theft

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