DIY Identity Theft Protection

Identity theft protection is something you can do yourself.

Here’s what to do:

• Buy a quality shredder that turns paper into little pieces ($50+)
• Shred all credit offers
  • Credit Cards
  • Mortgage offers
  • Home Equity credit offers
• Shred Life Insurance offers
• Shred all paperwork with personal financial info
  • Bank Statement
  • Utility bills
  • Deposit slips
  • Expired credit cards
  • Expired Driver’s License
• Don’t carry your social security card
• Don’t write your PIN on your debit card
• Put paid bills into USPS locked mailboxes - not your home mailbox
• Monitor your Credit Report every month from all 3 Credit Agencies
• Purchase Identity Theft Insurance - $25 and up per year
• Place fraud alerts with credit reporting agencies - need to renew every 90 days
• Opt out of unsolicited credit offers - 1-888-567-8688. Renew every 5 years.
• Carefully check your credit card statements each month as soon you get them
  • If you see a discrepancy, call your credit card bank and the credit reporting agencies

As you can see, anyone can do their own Identity Theft Protection. It will take you probably several hours a month to do this. Personally, I’m a bit lazy and forget to do things. I’ll especially be all gung-ho in the beginning and 6 months later, I start to slack off and procrastinate and forget.

Find out why I would rather pay a professional to guard my identity - Click here.