Identity Theft

Identity theft can happen to anyone these days. It can happen by an uninformed consumer giving their personal or financial information to a fraudulent web site or it can happen by an employer of a large company losing his or her laptop exposing millions of people’s most personal information. If you would like to protect yourself from identity theft, here are a few tips.

One of the best ways to stop identity thefts is to request a credit report from the big three credit bureaus each year or even every six months. The three credit bureaus include Trans Union, Expedia and Experian. Looking at your credit report regularly will easily help you to determine if a new credit card was issued or a new loan taken out. If you did not enroll for these lending products, you can contact the lending institution and credit bureau immediately, hopefully heading off any damage done by identity thieves.

If you surf the internet, it is important to note that you should never give out any personal information through an email link. If you receive an email that looks legitimate from a bank, lending institution or anywhere for that matter that asks you to click on a link to enter personal information, refrain from doing so. Close the email, open up your browser with a new web page and visit the web site directly. Practically all websites will have personal notices that you can access on the main site. If you want to protect yourself from identity theft, check out the above tips.

Prevent Credit Card Fraud

If you want to preserve your good credit and avoid potential problems with credit fraud, here are some common sense tips.

Credit card fraud is rampant, especially online. If you want to make sure that your credit cards are not stolen or your identity used to open fraudulent loans, there are a few tips that can help you out.

Make sure you check your credit report every six months. Checking your credit report will tell you immediately if you have opened any loans or taken out any new credit cards recently. If you see a card or loan that you are unaware of, you can contact the credit card company and loan company immediately to head off possible fraudulent charges and cover yourself against bad credit.

Make sure you are savvy when using credit cards online. If possible, stick to one card for online purchases and check your statement each month for irregular charges. Beware of phishing scams online. Never reveal any personal or financial information to others or click any hyperlinks in your email. If you think that your credit card company contacted you , close the email, open up a new page in your browser and visit the website directly. Following these simple common sense tips will help protect you from credit card fraud.