Preventing identity theft is difficult, there are ways to reduce the risk of having your identity stolen, but it is near impossible to fully prevent it. The shear amount of information that is available for anyone to look at is ridiculous. If someone had a desire to, they could easily find your social security number and find out information about you that isn’t desirable to be out in the public.

Let’s take a look at an average Saturday, you take your kids the doctor for a checkup, they scan your insurance card and drivers license and put it on file. Anyone can easily look in that file and take what they need. You drop the kids off with the babysitter and take a night out with your husband. He pays for dinner with the credit card by handing it to the waitress.

These are just activities that everyone does on a daily basis, yet each time we trust that the waitress isn’t going to write down our credit card numbers, we trust that no one is going to take a peek at the medical file. So how do we reduce our risk of identity theft? Here are three simple ways that we can prevent it.

Password Protection

Start with passwords, change them occasionally and don’t use your mother’s maiden name or anything significant to you for any password. In fact, don’t make a password anything easily guessable. Names are common to use and easy to find out, people can just look up your credit history these days. Changing your passwords will also make it more difficult to find them out. If you do not like changing you password very often, make sure you create a password that is very hard to crack…Use capital letters, numbers, and special characters. Here’s a good example… M00L@hMoo1AH1

Sensitive Info

When you are talking to people who claim they need some sensitive information, always as why they need it. Don’t hesitate to be curious, ask the teller at the bank if they really need your social security number for a transaction. If someone calls you and then asks you for credit card information, don’t give it away. Always tear up old bank account statements because they have your bank number on them.

Get Free Credit Report and Analyze It

Take advantage that you are given a free credit report per year. Make it a habit to order it and go over it. Watch for fraudulent charges or anything that you didn’t do. Look for addresses that you have never lived at, this will be a good sign that someone is using your name. Giving you a free credit report is required by federal law, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Worst Case Scenario

What do you do if someone has stolen your identity? Take immediate action, because the longer you wait the more damage they can do. Contact the fraud departments, call each of the three credit bureaus and tell them to flag your account. Next call your creditors, to cease all future purchases, and inform them of the many fraudulent charges. Finally file a report with the local police and file a complaint with the FTC.

Having your identity stolen is extremely frustrating and hard to deal with. Take as many measures as you can to prevent identity theft before it happens. Always keep your eye on your personal accounts, throw away old bank statements. Don’t leave personal information laying around and always request your free credit report.

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