http://blogs.centre.edu/muzyka Just another Centre Blogs weblog Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:53:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 http://blogs.centre.edu/muzyka/2008/12/03/identity-theft/ http://blogs.centre.edu/muzyka/2008/12/03/identity-theft/#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:39:26 +0000 muzyka http://blogs.centre.edu/muzyka/2008/12/03/identity-theft/ Yesterday I learned that somebody close to me is a victim of identity theft.  I’m sad about the hassles she’ll be enduring while she deals with the mess, because nobody needs extra stress.  At the same time, I’m taking steps to minimize the chances it might happen to me.  Step one was to enroll with Opt-out Prescreen, which stops those annoying pre-authorized credit card offers.  Identity thieves who manage to swipe one of these from your mail can easily sign you up for another credit card.  Step two is to freeze the credit reports.  State Security Freeze Laws describes the state laws governing freezes on individual credit reports.  If you’re not the victim of identity theft, you’ll probably have to pay in order to have your credit report frozen.  But with a frozen credit report, it will be tougher for somebody to sign up for a new credit card in your name.  I think the cost is worth it.  In order to freeze your credit report, you’ll have to send letters to the three big credit reporting agencies.  Again, I think the effort is worth it for the additional peace of mind.

]]> http://blogs.centre.edu/muzyka/2008/12/03/identity-theft/feed/ 5