Your identity will never be stolen – until it does. And once your thing is out there, it’s a mess.
You thought you cleaned it up and then it pops up again. Millions fall victim to identity theft. You don’t want to be them.
And we can get insurance against identity theft using precautionary measures below. All for free.
Checking your credit profile often
There are three bureaus who track your data – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You can check your credit files for free at each one of these sites as many times as you want. I do it once a quarter. I think that’s plenty.
There are also apps like CreditKarma that give you real-time access to your credit files. For free again.
Freezing your credit files
Freezing access to your files is the best defense against identity theft. It takes a bit of work but freezing your files is easy. You’ll have to do it at all three bureaus though. And it should be free. If you get asked for money, you are looking at the wrong thing.
But once your credit files are frozen, you are done. No new credit can be taken out without you thawing your files. You can then freeze your files again.
Credit bureaus don’t like it when you freeze your files, but the system has left you with no choice.
And the next time anyone wants to run your credit, find out which bureau they use and thaw your file there. And then freeze it again.
Don’t leave a trace
I shred everything. I’ll buy a good cross-cut shredder and keep it running.
That’s all for today.
Thank you for your time.
Cover image credit – Ave Calvar Martinez, Pexels