If you watch the news at all, you know that the risks of identity theft are everywhere. Regular reports of identities being stolen en masse are not uncommon. And that’s to say nothing of the number of times each day that individual identities are stolen.
On any given day you can hear stories about government agencies that lose a laptop which contains hundreds of thousands of personal records or a corporate data breach where criminals hack into a database and steal all of the personal records stored there. Colleges fall victim. Even the medical facilities that so many of us trust without a second thought are at risk.
Protecting Your Identity
The number of identity scams that users face is astounding. And the most frightening part is that many of those scams and thefts aren’t even reported until months after they happen. By then, victims are already suffering the losses that come with identity theft.So, what can you do to ensure that your personal information is safe?
The best strategies for protection start with monitoring your credit report. In the US, your personal credit is monitored by three major agencies, called credit bureaus. Credit bureaus keep track of a host of information about your financial identity:
- What companies grant you a line of credit.
- What companies offer you a line of credit.
- What companies have reviewed your credit.
- What companies you’ve had lines of credit with in the past.
- How well you’ve maintained those lines of credit.
- Where you’ve lived for the last 10 years or longer.
- What jobs you’ve held for the last 10 years or longer.
Guidelines for Monitoring Your Credit
One of the best ways to spot identity theft is to keep track of your credit report and what appears on it. By regularly reviewing your report you can see who you have open accounts with and who has reviewed your credit as part of either offering you credit or granting you credit.To be effective, however, there are some guidelines for monitoring your credit that you should keep in mind:
- Check all three reports: Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian all collect information about your financial dealings. Information can show up on one report but not on another, so checking all three reports is essential. All it takes to get a copy of your credit report is a call to the credit reporting agency or a visit to its website. The credit reporting agencies are:
Equifax: www.equifax.com, 800-685-1111
TransUnion: www.transunion.com, 800-888-4213
Experian: www.experian.com, 888-397-3742 - Monitor credit reports quarterly: You’ve probably heard that you should check your credit report yearly. Don’t be lulled into complacency. Checking once a year isn’t frequent enough to catch damage while it’s still minor enough to repair. If a criminal gets hold of your identity and you don’t catch it for months, the financial damage can be astounding and the emotional damage even worse. You’ll have to pay $5-$15 for a copy of each of the three credit reports each quarter, but it will be worth it to prevent the kind of havoc an identity thief wreak on your life.
- Look for suspicious activity: An ordinary credit report contains information about your financial activity, including information on the accounts that you hold and the creditors that extend you credit. When you review your credit report, look for credit inquiries from companies you don’t do business with, accounts that you haven’t opened, and unauthorized activity on existing accounts.