prevent identity theft before it happens

Preventing Identity Theft Before It Happens
By Dennis R

It's a lot easier to prevent identity theft than it is to clean up the mess once you've been made a victim which may then require credit repair. Developing a few simple habits will go a long way toward protecting yourself and making it difficult for criminals to get their hands on your personal information.

Reviewed Best Antivirus Software to ensure Adequate Cybersecurity+Cybersafety: Here !

You need to proactively protect yourself against identity theft, the fastest growing crime in the United States. TrustedID is dedicated to delivering the most comprehensive protection and the best value and offers a 14 day free trial. TrustedID's IDEssentials delivers both an award winning Identity Theft Protection plus Three-Bureau Credit Reports, Scores and Daily Monitoring. TrustedID delivers this service to the entire family with the only Family Protection Plan on the market.

Treat your Social Security number like gold, and only give it out when it is absolutely necessary.

While your adherence to certain guidelines will help in protecting you against identity theft, it's important to realize that some things will continue to be out of your hands. The agencies, banks and other places of business that you deal with have your information on file and could be vulnerable to theft themselves, whether at the hands of employees from within or hackers from the outside. While you may only be able to ask about the security practices of these places of business, there are a few things you can do to safeguard your private information:

Keep your Social Security card out of your wallet and in a safe place, such as a safety deposit box or home safe. Treat your Social Security number like gold, and only give it out when it is absolutely necessary.

Guard your wallet and/or purse by keeping it close and safe. Criminals will sometimes overpower their victims in order to get to their wallets or purses, but most choose to do it discreetly so as not to draw attention to themselves. Rather than leaving your purse on the seat next to you, tuck it up against your body. Keeping credit cards and the like in a second zippered compartment within your purse can guard against thieves who would steal its contents by cutting a hole it its bottom or quickly rifling through it. Men can protect themselves by keeping their wallets in their front pockets, where pickpockets are much less likely to get to them.

Photocopy your credit cards, driver's license, bank account numbers and any other important information that you usually carry with you. This way, if something were to happen, you would be able to tell exactly what items were stolen from you and would have the phone and account numbers necessary to file an accurate, detailed police report and stop your accounts immediately.

Ordering new checks? Instead of having your home phone number printed on them, use your work number or no number at all. If you can, use a post office box number instead of your home address. You should never put you Social Security number on your checks. It's also a good idea to use only your initials and last name instead of having your first name printed on your checks. This way, if someone were to obtain your checkbook, they wouldn't know your gender or how you normally sign your checks.

Make it a habit to acquire your credit reports annually and verify by checking them carefully that nothing suspicious has been reported.

Avoid giving your full credit card number out whenever you can. When mailing in a check to your credit card company, write only the last four digits of your account number on your check.

If anyone will be accessing your home while you're not there (a babysitter, for example), be sure to lock up all of your personal data to ensure that it stays safe despite your absence.

Buy and use one of the new "cross-cut" shredders often. Anything you want to toss that has any identifying information on it (that includes envelopes) should be shredded. "Cross-cut" shredders shred into much smaller pieces than ordinary shredders do, making it virtually impossible for a criminal to glue or tape your shredded papers back together.

Keep up-to-date firewalls, antivirus protection and anti-spyware programs on your computer. There are good free versions of these available, so not having enough money is no excuse not to have them.

Don't be sucked in by "phishing" scams. These scams work by sending you an official looking email that asks you to click on a link (which takes you to an official looking site) and submit your personal information (usually for verification purposes). If you get one of these emails, delete it. Legitimate companies will never solicit personal information via email. If you think the email may be legitimate, call the company-using a phone number from one of your statements, not one supplied by the email-and ask.

Prevent anyone from seeing your debit card number as you punch it in at the cash register. The same goes for calling card numbers at public telephones.

If possible, use a post office box instead of your home mailbox. If you don't have or don't want a post office box, mail your bills from the post office or a drop box instead of from your home. If you're not home to collect your mail, ask a friend or neighbor to pick it up for you.

Reviewed Best Antivirus Software to ensure Adequate Cybersecurity+Cybersafety: Here !

This is a long list, but most of these guidelines can be easily followed without a great deal of effort. Your privacy is priceless, and if your personal information is stolen, it can create all kinds of trouble for you immediately and, through the damage done to your credit score requiring credit repair, far into the future. Don't make yourself an easy target for potential thieves.

For more information visit:

credit repair [http://www.how-to-credit-repair.org] - Credit repair can be done. Learn how.

credit score [http://www.how-to-credit-repair.org
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Preventing-Identity-Theft-Before-It-Happens&id=6537395] Preventing Identity Theft Before It Happens

credit repair,credit score,bad credit,repair your credit,identity theft

how you can prevent identity theft and be safe online

Find Out How To Prevent Identity Theft
By Jon Arnold

Read How to Prevent Identity Theft by Discovering the hackers behind Phishing e-mails and phone calls.

If you haven't done so recently, you should invest a minor bit of time and effort into getting yourself a copy of your credit report.  It is free once a year in most states, and you need to get a separate copy of it from each of the "big three" credit reporting bureaus, which are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.  Some creditors report to only one of them, some report to a couple of them, and some even report to all three of them.  The key point is that the data maintained by each one is not necessarily the same, and in fact, is probably vastly different.

Why is the data different?  With the hundreds of millions of credit reports that these companies need to maintain, errors are almost inevitable.  Interestingly enough, studies have shown that the MAJORITY of consumers have at least one or more inaccurate or erroneous piece of information in their credit report.  The scary part is that, contrary to popular belief, the errors will NOT be corrected automatically.  In fact, if you don't alert the credit bureau of the errors, then the errors will be carried forward with your record, year after year.

Please be aware that while identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes of this century so far, it is not limited to just online activities.  Granted, with the advent of the ease of shopping online and being able to purchase something at a great price with just a couple of mouse clicks is attractive for many, there are steps you should take to ensure that you have done everything responsible that you can do to avoid your information from getting into the wrong hands.  One of the first places to start is to get yourself a copy of your credit report, and look especially for accounts that you are not aware of, which is the first sign that you may be a victim of identity theft.

Online identity theft is a serious crime that can clean out your life savings and leave you with a damaged credit history that may take years to repair. Unless you're familiar with the person with whom you're dealing, or are filling out an official form for a legitimate personal or business purpose, information such as a social security number, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and other types of data that might have a bearing on your individuality should never be divulged. If you've ever used a credit card to order take-out food over the phone, you're leaving yourself wide open to identity theft.

Congress passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act several years ago in an attempt to smooth out some problems in the credit reporting industry. The presence of this alert requires any creditor to verify the identity of the borrower prior to granting credit in his or her name. If your credit report shows that you have a low score, lower than what you deserve, that can negatively impact a huge number of areas of your life.  You may want to visit [http://www.credit-help-center.com]Raise Your Credit Score for tips on how to improve your credit score.

When you travel, regardless of how you book your reservations, your personal information will still end up on the company's computer and stored in their databases. Many companies, including some large major corporations, do not protect your personal data the way they should.

Many people ignore the importance of protecting their personal and financial information against identity theft until they become a victim of it. The amount of goods and services purchased with fraudulently obtained personal identity was more than $50 billion dollars last year.

If you purchase merchandise online frequently, you may want to use a separate credit card that you obtain just for that purpose.  Always use ONLY that credit card.  For the junk mail that you receive regularly saying you are approved for a new credit card or mortgage loan, don't just simply throw it in the trash.  Instead, invest in a shredder and take the time to shred those letters.  Many cases of identity theft occur because the thief has gone "dumpster diving" to find those pre-approval letters, and opens an account in your name.

Jon is a computer engineer who maintains web sites on a variety of topics based on his knowledge and experience. You can read more at his web site at Preventing Identity Theft and Protecting Against Identity Theft [http://www.identity-theft-info.com].

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Find-Out-How-To-Prevent-Identity-Theft&id=424373] Find Out How To Prevent Identity Theft

identity theft, prevent identity theft, credit report, credit score, identity theft protection