Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft

Identity theft is when someone steals your personal information, such as your Social Security number or driver's license number, to obtain credit in your name. The consequences can be enormous – from debt for things you did not purchase to a negative impact on your credit history and credit score.

Sometimes the risk for identity theft is obvious – if your wallet was stolen or your home was burglarized. But your personal information can be stolen without you realizing it through your trash, mail, or online.

While identity theft is on the rise, there are things you can do to prevent becoming a victim:

• Never give out personal information over the phone to cold callers or individuals/organizations you do not know. If you are unsure if the call is valid, ask the specific nature of the call or hang up and call the organization's main customer service number yourself.
• Take care discarding your old credit card and bank statements, as well as other documentation with personal information, including credit card applications. Personal shredders are often inexpensive and offer good protection from "dumpster diving."
• Have a firewall installed on your home computer. Make sure you also have good anti-virus and anti-spyware software on your computer and keep them up to date.
• Protect your passwords. Do not use the same password that you use for your secure financial transactions as you do for other sites. Hackers can more easily hack non-secure sites to obtain passwords – if you use the same password for everything, your personal information is at greater risk.
• Consider a credit monitoring program that alerts you to unusual activity in your accounts.

Correcting credit problems due to identity theft can be time consuming so it’s better to take precautions upfront than to deal with the consequences later. Take the time to protect your personal information – it’s time well spent.