Protect your credit cards

When you get a new credit card sign it immediately. When you make a purchase keep an eye on the cashier that he swipes the card through the reader only once. Shred the copies of your credit cards. Your credit bills, receipts, statements must not be left unattended.

Prevent phishing and internet scams

During internet surfing, you might happen to end up at a site through a popup or emails that need your credit card information for verification etc. Likewise, there can be a very official email from eBay that require your information for verification. Don't respond to such messages. Companies that already have your credit card information will never need to verify it. These sites are only to steal your information. Such a scam is known as phishing scam.



When you are making a purchase on an online store, fan- out if it uses SSL for data encryption. If yes then your information remains secure during the transaction.



Install a firewall to keep the hackers away. Hackers use viruses to acquire information from your personal computer.

Protect your mail

People place their mail in the mail boxes for a mailman to collect. This is known as mail theft. Before he does the collection thieves steal it and take the personal information. These thieves then chemical wash any check and write their own amount of money and address. You should take your bills and documents to the post office and post them directly. Ask the post office to stop placing your mail in the home mailbox when you are out of town.

Save your account information

Make a list of all credit accounts you have. Save any other information like, expiration dates, telephones etc. in case your credit card is stolen you will be able to cancel it quickly.

Review your credit report and monthly bills

You receive a free credit report
every year plus if you are a victim of identity theft
you can receive a free copy too. Review your report by matching the list of
accounts you have with the ones in the report to find out any unknown credit
accounts and inquiries. You should also review your monthly bills by matching
them with the statements to ensure that you don't get any extra money to pay
for a product that you didn't purchase.

Remember your billing cycle

You must remember the billing cycle of each account you hold. If you don't receive a bill on the expected date you should immediately call the company to check on its status. A missing or late bill means that someone has taken it to steal your personal information.

Switch to electronic payment methods

You can switch to electronic mode of bill payments. By this you will be able to stop banks from sending you signed paper bills, checks and statements to you mail. Remember to monitor your account activity on the website.

Address changes

You should tell your creditors that any address change should not be made without your authentication.

Subscribe with credit monitoring services

To keep a check on your accounts you can subscribe with a credit monitoring service. Their work is to keep you informed about any suspicious change.

Unsubscribe form credit bureaus mailing lists

In case you don't want any pre-approved credit card offers you can send a written
letter to the three
credit bureaus to remove you from their telemarketing mailing lists for
two years. You can also contact Direct Marketing Association's mail preference
service and can get your name removed from several other telemarketing lists.