How to Avoid Identity Theft

 The incidence of identity theft is growing at an alarming rate. According to a report issued by the Federal Trade Commission in November 2007, "approximately 8.3 million U.S. adults discovered that they were victims of some form of ID theft in 2005."

 During that calendar year (the latest for which data is available), it's estimated that 3.2 million Americans had problems with an existing credit card, 3.3 million Americans had problems with another type of account, such as a checking account, and 1.8 million Americans had personal information, such as their social security numbers, stolen and used to open new accounts.

 These numbers are staggering, as are the amounts of money that the thieves were able to obtain using stolen identities. According to the FTC report, some of the criminals who opened new accounts were able to get $30,000 or more worth of goods and services.

 This led some victims to incur expenses of over $5,000 and spend over 130 hours of time trying to stop the identity theft and resolve problems relating to their identities being stolen.

Unpleasant Surprises

 There's little doubt that few people expect to be victimized by identity theft. Perhaps that's why, in the FTC survey, only a quarter of the respondents discovered they were victims of identity theft through monitoring their accounts, while another 11 percent found out through a credit monitoring and protection service.

 The majority had the unpleasant experience of being called by a debt collector, receiving a bill or notification from a company, or discovering the problem during the course of applying for a job, credit, or benefits.

How to Prevent Identity Theft

 The easiest way to stop identity theft is through prevention. Essentially, you have to provide a "lifelock" for your identity. The best way to do that is to first ask each of the three major credit bureaus to set fraud alerts on your information.

 When you do this, you will be contacted if you or someone else tries to open an account, raise a credit limit, and so forth. You have the opportunity to verify that you do, indeed, want that action to be taken. The fraud alert lasts for 90 days, so you need to make the request every three months.

 Next, you should ask that you no longer receive pre-approved credit card offers, and have your name removed from marketing lists. Then, you should order and check your credit reports (which you can obtain once a year for free) to ensure that your identity hasn't already been hijacked. Finally, if you lose your wallet or misplace credit cards, your checkbook, or other items related to identity theft, you should immediately report it to the relevant financial institutions.

Vigilance is The Key

 The key to successfully preventing identity theft is vigilance. It doesn't do any good, for example, to set fraud alerts with the credit bureaus once; you must conscientiously repeat it every 90 days. If you don't, your safety net goes out the window.

 There are services available that will regularly set fraud alerts, remove your name from junk mail lists and resubmit your name as the requests expire, and order your free credit reports for you. The best services also provide specialists who will take care of problems associated with losing your wallet or having it stolen.

 If you decide to go with this hassle-free method to stop identity theft before it happens, make sure to sign up with a company that will stand beside you in the event your identity is stolen. This means providing you with investigators, lawyers, accountants, and so forth, and refund any out-of-pocket expenses you incur as a result of the identity theft.

 If the service is good, it's a small price to pay to enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your identity is secure.