Protecting Your Financial Information
In this day and age, a major concern of most people is avoiding
identity theft... the stealing of your personal and financial
information by someone who wants to use it to either steal the
money that you have in bank accounts, max out your credit cards,
or establish new lines of credit in your name and then use them
with no intention of repaying the balances. This can cause major
problems, because in addition to stealing your money the thieves
can ruin your credit rating... and that can cost you loans,
credit lines, and even some jobs.
There are steps that you can take to help avoid identity theft
and the theft of your financial information, however; for the
most part it's simply a matter of being careful with your
information and using a little bit of common sense.
Watch Your Mail
One of the easiest ways for thieves to get their hands on your
financial information is to go through the things that you get
in the mail and throw away. Bank statements, duplicate receipts
from online purchases, and stock reports can all come in the
mail and may contain information that you don't want thieves to
get their hands on.
Even credit card solicitations can cause trouble if you simply
throw them away. Instead of trashing these items, invest in a
shredder and make it harder for them to be used for ill means.
Be Careful with Records
Just like your mail, old financial records can contain
identifying information that you don't want thieves to have
access to. Use your shredder to destroy the records once they've
outlived their relevancy instead of simply throwing them away...
even if they're not up to date, resourceful thieves can use them
to mimic your financial history in order to establish new lines
of credit in your name.
Take Caution with Suspicious E-mail Phishing, or the sending of
fake e-mails that seem to be from legitimate financial sources,
is a modern way that thieves can get their hands on sensitive
financial information. If an e-mail looks suspicious, don't
click on any links contained within; instead, type in the URL of
the site the letter claims to be from manually and report the
e-mail to the site's fraud investigation department to confirm
whether or not it's a spoof.
Check Your Statements
It's important to check the accuracy of your financial
statements when they arrive... this is an easy yet effective way
to tell whether someone has been tampering with your accounts
and may save you both time and money if you catch them early.
Look for charges or cheques that you don't remember authorizing,
or any other activity that you can't recall initiating.
Using online account access is another way to stay on top of
potential account tampering; check your account periodically in
between statements to keep an eye out for unauthorized activity.
Keep an Eye on Your Credit
Periodically obtaining a copy of your credit report or
subscribing to a credit monitoring service can help you avoid
others establishing fake lines of credit in your name. If you
check your credit report and notice any reports that don't seem
like they belong, contact the credit issuer directly to inquire
about them.
You may be able to catch an identity thief in the act, stopping
them before they do damage to your credit and keeping them from
taking advantage of others down the line.
Credit monitoring services can do this for you, alerting you
each time a new report is established so that you know whether
it's legitimate or not.
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