Monday, March 2, 2009

Looking to Secure Your Identity? Here Are 5 Tips

By Harvey Warmuth

As you live your daily life, you need to be aware of the steps that you can take to not become identity thefts next victim. There are several common sense steps that you can take to minimize the risk to your identity. Only you truly care about the security of your personal information, so make sure you do what you can to ensure its safety.

The 5 tips outlined below are a great starting point to making sure that your identity is secure. You have to take the necessary precautions to ensure your identities security, so read the below suggestions.

1. Security of your mail: You probably receive a lot of mail that contains personal information that can be very useful to someone who want to steal your identity. Consider receiving bank statements online and opting out of receiving credit card applications to make it that much harder to steal your identity.

2. Debit card used as a credit card: Using your debit card as a credit card to make purchases places you at risk of having your card number stolen. Since the money from a debit card purchase comes directly out of your bank account, your money could be gone in a hurry. If you use a normal credit card, you are better protected in case your card number is stolen.

3. Stop using checks: A check contains both your account and bank routing number, which can easily be used by a criminal to drain your bank account. There is no reason to use checks to make purchases with when you should really be using a credit card, which offers greater protection.

4. Virtual credit cards: A lot of banks and financial institutions are offering virtual credit cards. You are issued a one-time use credit card number that you can use to make purchases online. This keeps your real credit card numbers out of the hands of thieves.

5. Personal information kit: You need to keep track of all of your account numbers associated with all of your bank accounts. You also need to make copies of important documents including your social security card and passport. You will need this information should you ever become a victim of identity theft, so now is the time to organize your financial life.

If you follow the above suggestions, then you are well on your way to protecting your identity. Another step you should consider is to subscribe to a stolen identity protection solution. This will assist in securing your identity so that you never become a victim of identity theft.

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