How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft
Way to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft
In today’s digital world your identity is everywhere. Banks, doctors, credit bureaus, insurance agencies, etc, all have access to your personal information. Here are some ways you can help to protect yourself from identity theft.
Check Your Credit
If you’ve never checked your credit before today is a great time to start. Once per year you can get a FREE copy of your credit report from each of the three major reporting bureaus from AnnualCreditReport.com.
Be Proactive With Credit Monitoring
While checking your credit once a year is a great start you should also take steps to actively monitor your credit so you can catch and resolve identity theft issues quickly! When our identity was stolen we found a number of hard credit inquiries on one credit report that weren’t listed on the other two.
Act Fast if You Suspect Suspicious: Activity
Time is of the essence if you suspect that your identity is being used to open fraudulent accounts. Here are our recommendations for what to do to protect your finances if your identity is stolen.
Place A Fraud Alert
Each of the three credit monitoring bureaus have options to place fraud alerts and credit freezes on your account. Placing a fraud alert means that businesses must verify your identity before opening any new accounts in your name.
When you get to the fraud department tell them that an account has been opened using your identity or fraudulent charges have been made on your account and you would like to report it as fraud. At the end of the call, ask them to send a letter confirming that the fraudulent charges and/or accounts were removed.
Contact All Financial Institutions Listed on Your Credit Report
Final Thoughts
It sucks knowing there is still someone out there with all of my personal information and I’m not sure that feeling will ever go away. Luckily it seems that we have been able to avoid serious financial damage and hope that this can help anyone.
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