Effective steps you can take to protect yourself from Identity Theft
By Simon Chobod
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Stop others from selling your credit information Stop potential perpetrators from legally gaining credit information about you.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Credit bureaus can sell your credit information to any applicant,
who is "legitimate" and has "permissible purpose" to access your credit report.
For example: anyone, who claims that he wishes to create a pre-approved "instant credit" or insurance offer for you, has "permissible purpose".
Such offers are usually sent to you by regular mail.
There is a good chance that someone can pick it up from your mail box
(or even from your garbage after you threw it away).
A potential perpetrator can change your address to his and send the letter back with agreement.
"Instant credit" will be created in your name, but not for you.
One way you can stop the Credit bureaus from selling your information, is by expressing disagreement.
Call 1-888-567-8688 and ask to opt out of credit offers.
Ask to opt out for life. (Don't use the two years option, since you will most probably forget to renew it).
But this is not all. The Financial Services Modernization Act from 2001,
grants banks and other institutions the same rights as credit bureaus
to share your information with other businesses with "permissible purpose".
You should contact every financial institution, with which you have done business in the past
(banks, insurance companies, investments firms, credit card companies, etc.),
individually and ask them to block your credit files from any information sharing.
Make it hard to empty your bank account If you live in California, you should also place a security freeze
on all your credit files. That means creating an additional password or PIN for your credit files,
so even people, who attempt to access them with your Social Security number and your Date of Birth,
will be unable to do so. You have the right to do that according to section 1785.11.2 of the California Civil Code.
If you don't live in California, you should still attempt to put up a PIN or password block on all your credit report files.
It will probably prevent you from gaining "instant credit",
but it will also prevent other people from opening "instant credit" in your name.
Call each of the three big Credit Report agencies and ask for their direct line numbers in your area.
In order to put up a PIN or password block, you will need to speak with a live operator there.
All 800 numbers are totally automated with no way to get a live operator.
Once you get an operator, they are usually less than enthusiastic about your request,
since it generates an additional workload for them. Be persistent.
While we are at that, it might also be a good idea to put passwords on your bank account, investments accounts,
and any other money accounts you have. Make them different passwords, so even if one is compromised,
the rest will still hold. Don't use names or easily discovered personal information for making the passwords. Make them long.
You will be asked to provide those passwords each time you want to access the accounts,
but this is a very small inconvenience comparing to fighting identity theft.
Never disclose those passwords to anyone over the phone, regardless of who they claim to be.
Your regular personal signature is on too many documents, so it can be easily falsified. Try to use a different form of signature for your banking transactions.
Stop throwing away your crucial information Make it hard to collect information about you.
Stop throwing away slips of paper with financial information.
Make it a rule. Adhere to it religiously. If you fill the gas, and the machine dispenses you a slip
with the payment's details, take it with you.
Do the same with any purchase records. If you don't have a shredding machine,
assemble those slips together with all papers containing any financial or personal information.
This includes your junk mail, cancelled checks, paid bills, etc. Burn them at your convenience.
Secure your mail box. Incoming letters can be a treasure to an identity thief.
If your mail box can't be secured at the place you live, consider an option of collecting your mail
at the Post Office from a locking mailbox.
Cut down on the use of your credit cards, especially for small purchases.
Consider paying cash in small stores. Most merchants use the old type credit card scanners
to scan your credit information. Such scanners emit electronic signals carrying your credit card
information in the vicinity of the store.
If a thief sits in a parking lot next to such a store and uses an electronic interception equipment
(such things are available on the market), he can easily collect credit information
for hundreds of credit cards. Usually he sells the lists of those stolen numbers to someone else.
Keep checking your credit report and bills Order a free credit report once a year even if you don't need it.
Be careful from whom you are ordering the report.
Monitor every item appearing in the credit report. Be alert to any new information appearing there.
Check where it is coming from.
Monitor all your bills and financial statements. Follow up all bills and statements that didn't arrive on time.
A missing bill might be a sign that a thief had changed your address to his,
and the bills are now sent to him in order to cover his tracks.
See also Prevent Identity Theft.
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