Mountain Top Loan Services

Identity theft is a serious crime that is getting worse every day. If you are a victim you could spend months, even years, trying to fix your damaged credit. Ruined credit can hurt your chances of getting a job, loans, insurance, etc. People have been arrested for a crimes they didn’t commit because someone else had used their identity for criminal activity!

Unfortunately, some of the tactics these thugs use to steal personal information is beyond your control to prevent. Although it’s rare, store clerks have been known to use their position to collect and pass along information to identity thieves. There are things you can do, however, that will make it much more difficult for a thief to steal and use your personal information.

Destroy Documents That Contain Sensitive Personal Information

Go to your local office supply store and buy a shredder and use it to destroy paperwork that contains personal information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, phone numbers and dates of birth that you would otherwise just toss. Dumpster diving is a quick an dirty way that identity thieves use to find valuable personal information that can help them get credit in your name. Make sure the banks and financial institutions practice this as well. Think of how much personal information that they throw away each day (and it’s the law).

There is a new tool that takes identity theft prevention to an extreme called LifeLock. It’s like giving your credit is own special operations force dedicated to protect and serve it. Life Lock will do the following for you:

• Completely block your credit so only you can use it.
• Back you up with a $1 million guarantee. If your identity is ever stolen, they’ll fix the problem. No matter what it takes and reimburse up to $1,000,000 in financial losses.
• Stop pre-approved credit offers.
• Drastically reduce the amount of junk mail to your home.
• Provide free annual credit reports.
• They are the only company that prevents your children’s identities from being stolen!
• Most importantly, they put alerts on your credit reports with all major credit bureaus. These alerts ensure that if anyone tries to do anything with your credit report, get new credit, change your address, expand credit lines, open a checking account, get insurance or utilities, or whatever, you will be called directly for approval before anything happens.

If you are currently a victim of identity theft, make sure you take these crucial steps immediately:

• Contact your credit card companies, close your accounts and ask to have new cards issued to you.
• Place a fraud alert on your file with the three major credit bureaus; Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.
• File a police report. You may need it to show to creditors as proof of the crime.
• File a complaint with the FTC, which maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for their investigations.

Again, you definitely want to prevent this from happening altogether. The passing of the FACT Act a few years ago has allowed companies like LifeLock to provide innovative tools and technology to keep your personal information safe. It’s like having insurance for your credit.

Tags: lifelock, life lock, identity theft, lifelock review, life lock review