Credit Card Debt Management

The holidays are prime time for identity thieves. There are many ways for predators to seize your personal information and use it to their advantage. The hustle and bustle of the holidays only makes their quest easier. So wise up and protect yourself year round, but especially during this hectic season!

Internet shopping has increased slightly to 30 percent over the last year. It’s a convenient way to knock out the Christmas list without fighting the crowds. However, it’s also a prime way for identity thieves to snatch your info. A few questions to keep in mind when shopping over the Internet:

Does their privacy policy protect my information?

Does the company sell my information to other companies?

Did I read the fine print and understand it?

Does the company store my credit card information?

If so, where is this information stored? An online database, their own business files, or both?

When filling out credit card payment forms, what information is required?

When shopping in person, keep your personal cards on your person instead of in a purse. This will alleviate the stress that could follow a purse snatching. Perhaps you can wear a vest, pants or shirt pocket that buttons to ward off pickpockets.

When traveling for the holidays, have the post office stop your mail temporarily or ask a trusted neighbor to pick up your mail for you each day. This might prevent people from filtering through your mail and removing anything that may help them assume your identity. You may even want to have the post office hold your mail throughout the entire holiday season, if it would not be too inconvenient for you to stop by the post office and pick it up.

You may want to consider a locking garbage can. Although it can be a hefty investment, it can keep identity thieves from prowling through any credit card statements, credit offers or bank statements you may have received. Of course, a cross-cut shredder does a fine job of protecting against this as well.

Remember, you can have pristine credit, but it can take an identity thief five minutes to wreck it. It will inevitably take you at least a year to clean up the aftermath. It’s a real headache, to say the least - particularly if it comes at a time when you were about to try for a major home or vehicle loan. Be proactive instead of reactive and enjoy a peaceful (and stress-free?) holiday season.