Preventing Fraud and Identity Theft
Preventing fraud and identity theft
Here are some simple ways you can significantly reduce your chances of becoming a fraud victim:
- Do not carry your extra credit cards, Social Security card, birth certificate, or passport in your wallet or purse except when necessary. This practice minimizes the amount of information a thief can steal.
- Install a lockable mailbox at your residence to reduce mail theft.
- Take credit card receipts with you. Never toss them in a public trash container.
- Never leave your purse or wallet unattended at work or in church, restaurants, health fitness clubs, parties, or shopping carts. Never leave your purse or wallet in open view in your car, even when your car is locked.
- Destroy all checks immediately after you close a checking account. Destroy or keep in a secure place any courtesy checks that your bank or credit card company sends to you.
- Do not have your bank send your new checks to your home address. Tell the bank that you prefer to pick them up.
- Reconcile your check and credit card statements in a timely fashion. Immediately challenge any purchases you did not make.
- Limit the number of credit cards you have and cancel any inactive accounts.
- Never give any credit card, bank, or Social Security information to anyone by telephone, even if you made the call, unless you can positively verify that the call is legitimate.
- Minimize exposure of your Social Security and credit card numbers. If the numbers are requested for check-cashing purposes, ask if the business has alternative options such as a check-cashing card.
- Do not allow your financial institution to print your Social Security number on your personal checks.
- Safeguard your credit, debit, and ATM card receipts. Shred them before discarding.
- Scrutinize your utility and subscription bills to make sure the charges are yours.
- Memorize your passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs) so you do not have to write them down. Be aware of your surroundings to make sure no one is watching you enter your PIN.
- Keep a list of all your credit accounts and bank accounts in a secure place so you can quickly call the issuers to inform them about missing or stolen cards. Include account numbers, expiration dates and telephone numbers of customer service and fraud departments.
- Do not toss pre-approved credit offers in your trash or recycling bin without first tearing them into small pieces or shredding them. Dumpster divers can use these offers to order credit cards in your name and mail them to their address. Always do the same with other sensitive information like credit card receipts and phone bills.
- Avoid credit repair scams. If you are tempted to contact a credit repair company for help, use considerable caution. The FTC and a number of state attorneys general have sued credit repair companies for falsely promising to remove bad information from credit reports. Only inaccurate information may be removed from your credit report; negative information that is accurate (such as a bankruptcy filing or a defaulted loan) will stay on your credit report as long as governing laws allow.
Under Federal law, if you believe any item on your credit report is inaccurate or incomplete, and you notify us, we will re-verify the information at absolutely no cost to you. Please note that we do not accept disputes from third parties unless accompanied by a notarized power of attorney that authorizes a licensed attorney or a family member to represent you, or if the power of attorney is unlimited and irrevocable.
This Free Credit Tip is brought to you by
Ohio Credit Express
visit us at
email us at
Car loans Fast and Easy
*The info above is not legal advice . For all legal advice use the services of an attorney.
Comments
Looking for check cashing locations? Do you need a 24 hour check cashing service or a no credit payday loan? Use this directory to find a check cashing service in your area.http://checkcasher.info
Posted by: Checkcashing | May 21, 2010 01:42 AM
WOw I like the site, this kind of stuff is right up my alley!
Posted by: AttorneySEO | May 24, 2010 03:24 PM
Somehow, between my husband and me, we have managed to accumulate $13,000 in credit card debt. We can't seem to find a way out. We have tried to budget, we have done research, and we have even cut out alot of fun stuff in our lives. I think it's time for me to get a full time job. If we can't pull this off, we may have to declare backruptcy.
Posted by: Autumn Segraves | May 29, 2010 08:51 PM
Hey this is a great post. I'm going to email this to my buddies. I stumbled on this while searching on bing I'll be sure to come back. thanks for sharing.
Posted by: greenville sc bankruptcy | June 5, 2010 01:32 PM
What is captcha code?, pls provide me captcha code codes or plugin, Thanks in advance.
Posted by: used car loan | June 18, 2010 02:44 PM
Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also...
Posted by: used car loan | June 19, 2010 12:38 AM
Brilliant post. Just found it on AOL. tks 4 the useful information. Keep up the nice work :)
Posted by: Bernardo Gazda | June 19, 2010 05:36 PM