Few things are as scary as the idea that someone might steal your identity. With just a few numbers and words, a criminal can take over your online and financial life, leaving you with debts you didn't make and ruining your credit. It can take a long time and a lot of money to get everything in order, and once you do, you'll never feel as safe again because you'll know how bad things can get if you're not careful.
People try to keep their financial information safe because this is a strong reason to do so. You know that you shouldn't give out your financial information over the phone or to anyone unless you can be sure you're talking to someone from a real business. You also know that you shouldn't give it to people you don't know. But are you throwing away your sense of who you are?
People often don't realise that the papers they throw away can have a lot of sensitive personal and financial information on them. Whether it's just junk mail you want to get rid of or you're going through your files and throwing away any records you don't think you need anymore, you could be giving an identity thief enough information to steal your identity.
Consider it. If you throw away a birthday card and a bank statement in the same week, you've given anyone who goes through your trash almost all the information they need to use your good credit history. Just a little bit of carelessness can make a big difference in how secure your future is.
Keeping track of your personal and financial documents to protect your identity might seem like a big job, but it doesn't take much to stay safe. You don't have to be on the lookout all the time. Usually, all you need is a shredder. With a document shredder, any papers you throw away are useless to anyone who wants to look at them, so you can clean off your desk without worry.
Even if someone has a shredder, they don't always use it enough because they don't know which documents need to be shredded. The truth is that it's always better to be safe than sorry. To avoid risk, you should shred any paper that has any personal information on it before throwing it away. It doesn't take much work—all you have to do is put the papers in the shredder, and it will do the rest. And it's not like you'll shred something important by accident. You were going to throw it away anyway, so why bother?
Shredders can be a very cheap way to solve a problem that could be very expensive. There are other quick and easy ways to keep your money information safe. Identity thieves don't have to go through your trash to get what they want. Your mailbox is just as appealing to them. To be as safe as possible, it's best to keep your financial mail in a locked post office box. So, credit card companies won't be able to send you offers that could end up in the wrong hands, and your mail won't be left out for people to look through. If you take care of your papers well, you don't have to worry about your identity being stolen. Take care of things yourself so you never have to think twice about your trash.
