A Serious Look At Identity Theft Prevention For You

Do you use identity theft prevention measures? If not, you may want to start. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century and more than 10 million people find themselves a victim of it annually. The vast majority of this is simply not being cautious with who they share their personal information with.

One of the reasons to be concerned is because if you become a victim, you should plan to spend at least $500 or more to get the problem straightened out. And this does not include the countless hours of personal time you will spend on the phone, sending letters and faxes to skeptical creditors to explain that it was not you who charged several thousand dollars on an account that appears to belong to you, complete with a significant amount of your personal information.

One of the simplest and yet most effective things you can do is to shred all mail that comes into your house. That means the credit card offers, the mortgage offers, the refinance offers, all of it that you did not request. Get a shredder with "cross-cut" shredding which makes it almost impossible for a dumpster-diving thief to piece it all back together again. Also look in magazines, since the magazine address label contains information about you, and many times magazines have pre-printed forms inside with your personal data on it, as a convenience in case you wish to order something.

Due to the large number of consumer complaints, the federal government has also implemented some things to help you with identity theft prevention. One of those things is having the credit reporting companies agree to send you a copy of your credit report for free once a year. You should request your report every year and look for signs of activity there that you did not initiate or you were not aware of.

The credit bureaus are also playing a part to help you here by allowing you to request an "opt out". What this means is that you will no longer get offers from banks and financial businesses in the mail. You will still get the ones you request, but you should no longer get the unsolicited offers.

The credit bureaus also allow you to request a "credit freeze" on your account which will completely freeze your report. What this means is that nobody can run a credit report on you without your express permission. To get permission, it is a somewhat difficult process, and most identity thieves will not bother with this since there are so many targets that are much easier.

You may also wish to consider identity theft protection services. These companies provide various levels of service, usually including a constant monitoring of your credit reports and notifying you whenever there are any changes. Such companies charge a monthly fee, but for the peace of mind and sometimes a very solid guarantee, it is much cheaper than the consequences if you are a victim.

With reports of this crime continuing to increase every year, you really need to think about what you are doing for yourself in terms of identity theft prevention. The simple safeguards that you can put in place today can save you hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours of your personal time if you become a victim.

Article Source: http://www.articlesfeed.com

For more insights and additional information about Identity Theft Prevention as well as getting free copies of your credit reports from the credit reporting agencies, please visit our web site at www.idtheftprotectiontips.com

Rate This Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated