Tips To Protect Your Identity
With all the recent cyber breaches (Target, Michaels, Neiman Marcus etc.), we are all becoming more interested in protecting our identity. We want to provide a few tips to help you protect yourself against identity theft.
If your identity is stolen, on average you will spend over 40 hours and over $1,500 to recover and restore your information. We can add identity theft protection to your personal insurance program.
Some clues that your identity has been stolen:
- Errors or charges that are not yours on credit card statements.
- Billing statements are missing or don’t show up.
- New accounts are opened in your name.
- Debt collectors call about debts that are not yours.
- Calls or mail about accounts in your minor child’s name.
Prevention tips:
- Order a credit report annually.
- Some credit cards now offer credit information on every statement.
- Carefully read all statements.
- Pay your bills online using a secure site if that service is available.
- Check and verify all charges on credit card statements.
- Don’t put outgoing mail, especially bill payments, in personal curbside mail boxes.
- Keep important documents in a safe.
- Don’t travel with all your credit cards, only take what you need.
- Buy a shredder and use it.
- Create passwords or PIN numbers out of a random mix of letters and numbers.
- Limit information on social media.
- Don’t open emails from people you don’t know.
- Keep your computer’s operating system, browser, and security up to date.
- Use anti-virus software, anti-spyware software, and a firewall.
Call us today for a free identity theft insurance quote. Identity theft insurance can provide valuable coverage and resources when you need the most. At Allen & Furr Insurance & Wealth Management, our personal insurance products provide our customers with protection for their homes, automobiles and personal possessions, along with personal liability coverages.