With the continuing emergence of new ways to steal your identity, ID theft insurance offers a lot of comfort to those who choose to add it to their insurance portfolio. Better still, would be to never have to use the many benefits that ID theft insurance offers you. Using the following easy steps as a supplement to your ID theft insurance policy is a great way to reduce the likelihood of encountering the frustrating, and damaging, event of identity theft.
- Use only secured internet connections to ensure that identity thieves can’t get your sensitive information. Entering sensitive information only into sites with secured connections, represented by the HTTPS in the address bar. An unsecured connection will simply show HTTP prior to the web address.
- Manually enter web addresses of all sensitive sites. If you get an email from your bank or other financial institution urging you to click an in-email link to clarify your sensitive data, do not click the link. This could be a phishing email meant to look as though it’s from your financial institution when it is really sent by a third party. As soon as you click through the link, the third party will direct you to an address that stores your data for thieves. Instead, always type in the web address for your bank and other financial sites.
- Shred all of your statements. Your statements reveal many items of information about you that an identity thief could use. Shred those and all other documents with sensitive information, including bills and medical documents which could contain your social security number.
- If possible, don’t carry credit cards. Stolen credit cards can lead to identity theft. Only carry a credit card when you know that you need to use it that day. Minimizing how often you carry these cards reduces the likelihood that they will be stolen. On vacation, opt for travelers cheques instead of always using your credit card. You may not be able to re-coop the loss if the cheques are stolen, but it costs you far less than losing your identity.
- Close unused credit accounts. If you no longer use a credit account, and you don’t need to keep it open to help your FICO score, then close it and destroy the card.
