How Can You Protect Your Financial Identity?

Financial identity theft is recorded to be one of the fastest growing crimes around the world

. This crime might have serious long term cost in your financial health. Additionally it might also take you years to clean up all the negative or false information from your credit report although if it is there without your fault. However the good thing is that protecting yourself from financial identity theft can actually eliminate this need.

This financial identity theft mainly takes place when a criminal uses your personal information such as your date of birth, address, name and social security number for committing fraud activities. Some thieves might get hold of your sensitive information through which they can wash off all your bank accounts within a few hours and even get qualified for thousands of dollars in your credit. They might also get a job through your social security number and name.

How to spot identity theft

There are different ways you can easily spot identity theft. Luckily the sooner you find out the better it would be to rectify the issue. The most common sign would be a transaction on any of your accounts which you do not recognize. It might also be a loan that you never applied or a credit card charge for no such charges. The other common sign is the mistakes found on your credit report.

Therefore it is important that you check your reports every year by requesting a free copy. In case you are receiving mails at your residence which is not addressed for you or for your previous tenants then it could be another sign of financial identity theft. The criminals often use your address to apply for stuffs such as credit cards and loans.

How financial identity theft takes place

There can be different ways for criminals to rob your identity. One of the easiest method is stealing your wallet or they might just teal your mail directly from the mailbox. In case there is a letter from the bank then it might contain a lot of financial and persona information which you might not want to risk.

Additionally the criminals might also dig through your garbage just to find bits of unshredded documents or financial papers. However if you opt for online banking methods then viruses might rob your information. This all ultimately leads to financial identity theft.

How to react

In case you spot any of these financial identity theft signs then the first thing to do would be contacting your lenders, banks, the credit card providers and everyone who has financial accounts with you. They would instantly freeze your accounts in an attempt to stop thieves from stealing your money. The bank would also help by issuing a new bank account number with check book and credit cards.

In case of financial identity theft you must also contact any one of the credit reporting bureaus so that they can place a fraud alert on your credit. You should know that financial identity theft can have really serious consequences and so you should act immediately when you suspect your identity has been compromised.

by: John Goldman

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