Don't Let Crooks Steal Your Identity: How to Protect Yourself and Your Credit Rating - Assignment Example

The paper "Don't Let Crooks Steal Your Identity: How to Protect Yourself and Your Credit Rating" is a great example of an assignment on finance and accounting.
What are several methods that crooks use to steal your identity?
Some of the most basic methods that crooks could implement to steal my identity is stealing my driver's license or passport. They can easily steal my credit card and use it to make purchases (Montague, 2004). They can access my personal information by taking discarded bank statements and pre-approved credit card applications from my trash. A more elaborate method involves the crooks finding out my name, birth date, and Social Security number, and then using the information to take over my current bank accounts or to create new ones.

How do you discover that someone has stolen your identity?
The most noticeable sign that someone has stolen my identity would be unauthorized activity in my bank account. Checks can start to bounce and there will be a significantly less amount of money - and an equally increased amount of activity - in the bank account (Pope, 2006). Furthermore, collection agencies can begin to call when they discover that purchases have been made via credit cards, but the credit cards are not being paid off. Finally, my credit score will be greatly affected due to the bad marks against it

What steps can you take to thwart identity thieves?
To thwart identity thieves, I can begin by making my personal information less accessible to others. Instead of throwing out documents with my information on it, like financial records or pre-approved credit card applications, I can shred them first. I will memorize my Social Security number so that I can leave the card locked up in a secure place. I can also ignore e-mail requests asking for my personal information, and only give out my Social Security number when it is necessary and I am guaranteed of the validity of the company obtaining it

What actions might you take to ensure that your credit cards and other financial information are secure?
To make sure that my credit cards and other financial information are secure, I can regularly check my credit report to ensure that nothing seems out of the ordinary. To make my information harder for someone else to steal, I can also have my name removed from junk mailing lists and telemarketing directories. Finally, at the first sign of inconsistency with any of my financial data, I will immediately report it to the necessary authorities to avoid it from doing any further damage to my credit rating and my financial well-being (Hoffman, 2010). Read More