Keeping Your Identity Safe

Keeping your identity safe means using common sense.  In every scenario you should always be protective of personal information.  Of course that doesn’t mean refusing to trust everyone around you.  But rather, being safe with your information as a personal practice.  Being safe is much better than being sorry.  Especially if it’s the difference in having a good, or very bad credit rating.

So one of the common practices is to make sure you never have someone looking over your shoulder.  This means guarding the view to the keypad when entering your pin number at an ATM.  Or if you’re filling out a form at the DMV, or anywhere else, cover your personal information as you proceed.  You can’t be sure of who’s lurking around, waiting for any opportunity to steal your identity.

Telemarking has essentially become a thing of the past.  Or at least has become an untrusted way to make purchases.  There’s always a legitimate company that still employs telemarketing as a strategy.  But now that has become a favorite tactic of ID theives.  So be careful about giving out personal information over the phone to a stranger.

Try to avoid carrying your social security card in your wallet or purse.  You rarely need the card itself to prove your identity.  Any situation where you will need the card is usually revealed to you beforehand.  Having your SSN in your wallet is just begging for it to be lost or stolen.  In either case it can end up in the hands of an identity thief.

All sensitive documents need to be shredded.  So really, it’s a good idea for every home to invest in a document shredder.  Once a piece of paper goes into the trash, you can’t be sure where the page will find itself.  Shredding the document ensures any information contained therein will be entirely useless to a thief.

Finally, if you haven’t been applying for credit cards and you get notices of rejection, be suspicious.  That’s a sign somebody else could be using your name to apply for credit cards.  If that’s the case, contact the credit card company that sent you the notification.  Make them aware of the situation.  Also check your credit reports to make sure there hasn’t been any damage already done.