Guarding your Social Security Number is vital in terms of minimizing your risk of identity theft. With your Social Security Number, an identity thief can obtain various kinds of personal information about you. Many times they will use your Social Security Number to apply for credit in your name – and they have no intentions [...]
If you no longer wish to receive pre-approved credit card applications and other unsolicited commercial mail or receive telemarketing calls, you can opt-out by contacting the following: Credit Bureaus Call 1-888-567-8688 (1-888-5-OPTOUT) to have yourself removed from the list to receive pre-approved credit offers. You will need to provide your home telephone number, your name [...]
Identity theft is quickly becoming one of the most organized and costly crimes of our time. Reduce the chance of your personal ID theft by using a paper shredder to destroy all documents and files before discarding them. It has been determined that criminals are indeed taking their victims trash to sort through and find [...]
Before submitting personal information on a website, look for the yellow padlock secure symbol on the bottom of your browser window to ensure you are in secure mode. Example shown here: Be aware of scam emails, even if the sender email address looks legit. Online financial institutions will never email you asking for your credit [...]
When you realize you’ve lost your wallet or that your purse has been stolen containing all your credit cards and personal identification, what is your reaction? You panic. Time is of the essence in terms of reporting your lost or stolen credit cards, checkbooks, etc. And trying to put together all of your account numbers, [...]
Identity theft occurs when someone uses your name, Social Security Number, credit card numbers, or other personal information without your knowledge to commit fraud and/or other crimes. If you are a victim of Identity Theft, this can affect your job and education opportunities, credit history and credit/loan opportunities. There have also been cases of people [...]
By monitoring your credit report, you can see and verify when an identity thief is opening new credit accounts in your name as this will likely show up on your credit report. While monitoring your report you may find some errors. This does not automatically indicate that someone has stolen your identity, it could simply [...]