5 Easy Things You Can Do To Limit Your Exposure to Identity Theft
Posted by Greg Martin | Under Finance: CreditSaturdayFeb 21, 2009
Today everyone should all be worried about ID theft, so we all need to be taking the appropriate precautions to secure our identities. Only you are truly troubled with making your identity safe, so make sure you are making use of common sense to make sure you don’t become identity thefts next victim. You may also consider using an identity protection service.
Because it is up to you to make sure your identity is safe, you should consider following the following suggestions. You should also consider making use of a identity theft solutions service.
1. Personal information in mail: A lot of personal information is found in your daily mail. This includes bank statements and credit card applications which can be used to steal your identity. You should think about opting out of receiving credit card applications and start getting your bank statements online, so that you eliminate a lot of your personal information from the postal service.
2. Using a debit card: Every time your debit card is used as a charge card, you are opening yourself up to have your banking account information get into the hands of a criminal. Consider that purchases made with your debit card cause funds to come out of your bank account very quickly, so if your card number is stolen, your money could be gone very quickly. Use a regular credit card instead since the money isn’t taken directly from your savings or checking account.
3. Check writing: When you use checks to buy something, you are putting out your checking account number and routing number for anybody to see. This is sometimes all a criminal needs to steal your money. Stop writing checks and use a credit card or pay electronically.
4. Virtual credit cards: These days many banks and financial institutions are offering temporary credit card numbers. These are issued as a temporary use credit card number that is then used to make purchases like a normal credit card. Using a temporary number keeps your real credit card information away from criminals.
5. Copy records: Keep a record of all of your banking account numbers, including credit card numbers. Also, you need to keep copies of important personal documents like your drivers license and anything else of importance. You will need these copies if you ever find that any of these documents are lost, or if you ever become a victim of identity theft.
By following the above suggestions, you will have taken steps to ensure you are protecting your identity. Another step you should consider is to make use of a protect your identity solution. Doing so will help with making sure your identity is secure so that you never become a victim of identity theft.