"Stealing Your Life" by the infamous Frank Abagnale.

It is a pretty good book, and has a lot of good tips. Let me share a couple, all of which I follow:

Invest in a shredder.

Guard your mail from theft, perhaps with a private mail box.

Avoid Sketchy ATMs. Those small ones in odd locations.

Put real passwords on your accounts. Alpha / character / numeric.

Place fraud alert tags on your credit reports.

Originally posted in thread: 279

Yes, thanks for the info. I have also heard that freezing your credit is a good deterrent.

Freezing your credit is a powerful way to control losses from someone opening a new  (and of course unauthorized) account.  It would not stop anyone from possibly diverting your mail, and effectively gaining access to the account. It comes as a cost, which is that it significantly slows the process of gaining approval for new credit.  I am rusty on the process, but it effectively requires you to unfreeze the account, then apply...then refreeze most likely.

I decided not to do this.  Bu that is because I weighed the benefit of potentially easy / emergency access to credit, against potential intrusion...and decided on the former.

But if you are someone that really has no plans to borrow, then this is a powerful tool.

I decided to compromise by locking out the account from solicitation inquiries, and the other measures above. 

Please do take some measures.  Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the US, and it is a disaster when it occurs. 
 

 

[quote user="Alex..."]

 

I decided not to do this.  Bu that is because I weighed the benefit of potentially easy / emergency access to credit, against potential intrusion...and decided on the former. 

 

[/quote]

I would strongly urge you to re-consider.  You can still access your E-Fund and an existing credit card.  Unfreezing is easy if necessary.  I think you need to re-calibrate your scale :o)

Best of Luck

Brian

If someone steels your identity, you are not responsible for any of the credit they have extended in your name. It is the credit issuers responsibility to verify who they are extending credit to, and if the mess up, they are on the hook.

If someone steels your identity, you are not responsible for any of the credit they have extended in your name. It is the credit issuers responsibility to verify who they are extending credit to, and if the mess up, they are on the hook.

Perhaps once you jump through hoops to eventually prove to the satisfaction of all your creditors that it wasn't you, but in the meantime you may find your credit accounts blocked or your interest rates being raised.

C;mon Johnny,

Thats almost like not worrying about getting smashed by that car at the next red light, because it will be his fault.  The lawsuit will pay handsomely for your family after all the litigation, but wont do much good for you.........because your DEAD!

The stories I have read, make it sound like a living hell!  One I dont want to live through, I dont care who ends up being "on the hook" for the losses.

Imagine being afraid to get your mail, because you never know when the next bill or collection notice is coming.  And this is after you think you have cleared your name, it just keeps coming, unless they catch the scumbag.

Brian

 

hello

 freezing in my opinion generally poses more of a problem because now the credit reporting agencies (we know who they are) are always looking for ways to snooker a buck from people and will force you to have a password, i think equivfax does that, god help you if you lose it, they don't state it very closely, and you have to pay their fee to get your password -- if you need quick credit forget it.

  i just had more problems though i think i am very careful about the identity theft which i know there are always a kabillion people trying to hack into something. all the other tips i do. add to that limit online purchases to those companies you know who they are.

 well, just mho.

gina