Many newbies to the internet fear using their cards afraid of crooks getting the card but most credit cards have built in fraud protection so that is the least of your worries, the poor merchants eat it on credit card fraud. Where the real trouble comes into play is when people get a hold of your social security number. It has happened often where institutions like colleges use your social as a username or some part of your ID and they get hacked all the time. Every company that has ever been given your social security number holds a risk for you!
It is a real nightmare when a crook gets your social security number and uses it to establish loans and credit cards in your name. It can end up costing you thousands and thousands of dollars and take years to clear up. I have a friend this happened to and even something like getting insurance costs him a fortune because after 3 years he still hasn't completely ended his identity theft nightmare.
Thankfully legislators are finally starting to back us up by requiring ways to protect your identity. There are companies out there that guarantee to protect your identity by basically managing access to your credit but you can do this on your own.
38 states passed laws requiring the 3 major credit companies (equifax, experian and transunion) to create a way for you to lockdown your credit and they listened and made it available to all states law or not. I'll explain a bit.
You can now "Lock" your credit line. You have to do it at all 3 companies listed above and what it does is stop new lines of credit being opened in your name unless you unlock or unfreeze it temporarily or permanently. After going to all three companies and setting this up you get a PIN that is the only way to open new credit is to have that PIN.
With a freeze on, even if a crook gets your soc he won't be able to do squat because a flag is set stopping any new companies from accessing your credit report. He won't be able to get a credit card, loan or anything that requires a credit check because of that freeze flag on your credit. Now there is a small con to this.
With the freeze on to get it off temp or permanently will require a little planning on your part. Example, you want a new car. You start the process at all 3 carriers to put a temporary "thaw" on it (not my term I swear :)) then you go and get your car. It really isn't that much trouble to protect yourself from identity theft.
As for costs it varies by state. Check out the 3 links below it will take you right to the spot on the experian, equifax and transunion sites to get more info on getting this set up for you. For the $10 or so (you have to each) to freeze the credit to start and then down the line it costs another $10 per carrier (so 3 total) to put a thaw on.
This is worth every dime I swear it. Think about it, how often do you need to get a loan, credit card, vehicle, insurance? Usually it is once and then not again for years so this will cost you next to nothing to protect yourself and is HIGHLY worth at least considering. Check out all three links below and read more about this service and consider whether the risk of not doing it is worth it to you.
I would love to get 10 minutes alone with nothing but a steel baton and one of these identity thieves and show em how much I appreciate all the hassle we have to go through to protect our identities. Scumbags!
Keep your eyes open!
Chuck Dougherty Jr. is a self defense instructor, writer and one of the owners of
Total Security - Self Defense & Surveillance Products. You may find
more helpful free information on women's, child, home safety &
crime prevention at their websites here www.GetSelfprotection.com & www.GoHiddenCamera.com
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