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Home » Consumer Information » Personal Privacy

Credit Protection

To combat credit card theft, it is a good idea to pull your credit reports. Follow these ten steps to a safer credit report:

1. Use as few credit cards as possible.

Carry no more than two credit cards in your wallet at all times. If you have any unused accounts, you should probably cancel them. Even the numbers of those cards not in use will appear on the credit report, acting as a prime target for identity theft. Beware that reducing the total number of open accounts may actually lower your credit score because a fraction of it is calculated by the number of credit and installment loans and making prompt payments. For more information on how a credit score is determined, visit www.myfico.com.

2. Keep a list or photocopy of all credit cards and other financial accounts.

At the very least, construct a list that includes all account numbers, expiration dates, and phone numbers for the customer service and fraud departments of each unique company. Then, store this in a safe place that no one else has knowledge of. If your credit cards or other account information has been stolen, you will have these numbers readily available to quickly mend the situation.

3. Don’t ever give out your social security number, credit card number, or any other personal information unless you absolutely trust the other party.

No matter what medium you are using, whether it’s by phone, Internet, or mail, it is not a safe environment to provide anyone with this sort of information unless you have a prior relationship built upon trust. Oftentimes, identity thieves will concoct a bogus story in which they claim you are a grand prize winner and need to supply them with your social security and credit card numbers, along with the expiration dates, in order to claim your prize. Never follow these instructions because if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

4. Be careful what you do with receipts.

Never dispose of credit card receipts in a public trash receptacle. Place receipts in your wallet or purse instead of keeping them in shopping bags too.

5. 5. Don’t allow anyone to write your credit card number on a check.

Some retail stores ask that if paying my check, you also give them your credit card number to be transcribed onto the check for verification purposes. However, in many states this is against the law and increases the risk of fraud.

6. Keep your eyes peeled for any new credit cards by mail.

If the card never arrives, there could be a problem, and the card may have been illegally intercepted.

7. Stay up to date with credit reports.

Request a credit report at least once a year from the three major credit bureaus. Getting biannual reports is even better. These reports will display any errors or fraudulent activity. The cost of three credit reports per year totals to below $30

8. You don’t need to fall victim to identity theft to place a “fraud alert” on each credit report.

To file “fraud alert” status, put in a request for credit issuers to contact you by phone prior to issuing a line of credit. This means that if someone tries to open an account under your name, you will receive a call before this account is activated. However, credit grantors do not always acknowledge fraud alerts, so this tactic does not guarantee complete prevention of identity theft. Initially, fraud alerts placed by phone only warrant a few months on the list. However, if you wish to extend it to a seven-year alert fraud alert, you must send a letter to all three credit bureaus.

9. “Freeze” your credit report if it is an available option.

In some states, residents are allowed to freeze their credit reports, which is an even better alternative to a fraud alert. Freezes prohibit anyone else from accessing an individual’s credit files, thus keeping crooks from starting new accounts. Freezes are of free of cost to identity theft victims and available for a yearly fee for non-victims.

10. Credit monitoring is an unnecessary luxury.

For an annual fee between $50 and $120, the three credit bureaus and a number of other companies will monitor your credit. This means that you will be alerted when there is some kind of activity on your credit report that turn out to be fraud. We do not sanction credit monitoring because it is not fair that consumers must pay a fee to obtain the status of their credit. People should be granted three free credit reports per year, or one from each bureau. In fact, this is the law in six states, including Vermont, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Georgia, and Colorado.