Protect Yourself

[Thrif-t]

I froze mine and my husbands credit with all 3 credit reporting agencies. No one can open a new loan in our names while our credit is frozen. I review my credit card accounts on line almost daily. I'm no longer worried about identity theft.

[FLA]

I worked with a younger woman who was the first person I ever met who really got hit hard by this. They did catch the people who stole her identity but by then they had decimated it. It was when she wrote tuition checks, her info was taken by the workers who likely had all of her private info on record. It took years to fix and kept her from buying a small condo even though she made $150k. That's how she found the problem years later, when her mortgage was declined.

So you hear those stories but what can you do in a case like that? Who would think writing tuition checks is risky? You can't plan for all of it.

[disneysteve]

I pretty much never use those cards except for Discover so there is no statement

That's how I knew when something fraudulent happened on my card - I got a bill. I knew right away something was wrong because I knew I hadn't used the card.

It was no problem and only took one quick phone call to fix. I think they also mailed me an affidavit to sign.

When my Chase card got hacked last month, I got an email alert about suspicious activity. I called, said the charge was phony, they cancelled my card and sent a new one. It was a very minor inconvenience.

I think people get a little too freaked out about this stuff.

[FLA]

I'm afraid of what happened to you.

When I went on disability, one cc company somehow knew and wanted to decrease my limit, I complained, they upped it. Then I had all my back up cards get higher limits. So far has not changed FICO, so Discover upped me today. But I pretty much never use those cards except for Discover so there is no statement and I never set up online anything. I guess I had better. A year or more could go by without me using one of those cards. I should leave them home.

glad the purse was down to twelve bucks from like $70 something, lol

a license can't be taken with those scanners, can they?

[disneysteve]

my ATM debit card that I only used every other month to take out cash, never used the debit part, twice got charges from someone in NYC, the company caught it and reversed everything. Now I only have an ATM card from them. I don't know how it happened, I only used it at that bank.

I've got one even better. A credit card I have never used, that has never even left my house, got hit with a fraudulent charge. If a criminal wants your data, he can get it. A fancy purse won't protect you.

The best advice is to closely monitor your accounts. Balance your checkbook each month. Review your credit card statements each month. Make sure that there are no unrecognized transactions.

[FLA]

my ATM debit card that I only used every other month to take out cash, never used the debit part, twice got charges from someone in NYC, the company caught it and reversed everything. Now I only have an ATM card from them. I don't know how it happened, I only used it at that bank. So I bought a $12 purse on super clearance that protects RFID. But you have to shove all your credit cards in one pocket. Whatev. They have those sleeves and wallets you can buy but if someone hooked a reader up to where you are sliding your cc, that's not protected by all that stuff.

[ronb]

Having your identity stolen and becoming a victim of fraud can wipe out years of savings and assets and threaten your future security. How do you protect yourself from such people?