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Care and Handling of Credit and Personal Information

David Piscitello, Core Competence, Inc.

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Privacy Policy

 

 

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Despite the real and present dangers Internet Identity Thefts, Phishing and email scam attacks pose, we cannot afford to overlook measures we can take to protect our identities and credit from attacks in the real (physical) world.

Financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and attorneys recommend a number of ways you can protect against credit card theft and misuse, check fraud, and unintentional disclosure of personal information that can be used by impersonators, extortionists and other malicious or malevolent persons. A short list of some of these follows:

  • Rather than sign the back of your credit cards, write the words "PHOTO ID REQUIRED" and carry two or more forms of photo identification.
  • Never write your complete credit card account number on checks or include it in written correspondence, to protect your account information from parties who handle your check along the processing channels. In most correspondence, only the last four (4) digits of your credit card are needed. This is especially true if you are communicating with your bank or a business with whom you have already provided your full credit card information in person, or via a secure (SSL) transaction.
  • Never send your complete credit card account number in electronic mail correspondence, unless you are using encrypted and authenticated email. Never include the complete account number in mail subject headers. If you absolutely must send the complete account number, send two emails containing parts of the account number separately, with at least a short time interval between transmissions. While this doesn't assure your account won't be captured, you'll force a thief to correlate emails from a potentially large number he has captured; hopefully, other lower hanging fruit than your account numbers will divert his attention.
  • Use your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone number.
  • If you have a P.O. Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.
  • Never write your social security number on a check. Be particularly cautious of web sites that ask for your social security number, or recommend that you use it as a user account or billing number.
  • Keep photocopies or scanned images of your identification and credit cards. Burn the scanned images on a CD/DVD for offline storage, then delete all copies from your hard drive so that they cannot be uploaded by spyware or other PC attack tools.
  • Carry only those credit cards that you use frequently. If your wallet is stolen, you'll have fewer cards to cancel, and you may actually be able to remember all the cards that were stolen.
  • Keep toll free numbers for all your credit cards handy so you know whom to call.
  • File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. If you don't report theft, the police can't begin an investigation. Moreover, a police report demonstrates you were diligent to creditors.
  • Call the national credit reporting organizations and Social Security fraud line immediately to place a fraud alert on your name. A fraud alert notifies any company that checks your credit that your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. The numbers are:
    1. Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
    2. Experian: 1-888-397-3742
    3. Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
    4. Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

While the final recommendation is not directly related to theft, you should routinely cancel infrequently used credit cards and resist applying for numerous cards. Many financial advisors believe having more than three credit cards (yes, three!) harms your credit rating, as mortgage and loan companies worry that you can fall into debt quickly. The total available credit across all your credit cards is a measure of how much debt you can actually run up and this can weigh heavily against you. So while you're improving your credit card and identity information security think about credit card housecleaning. The time spent now may save you days of anxiety, and may minimize your out of pocket risk. Imagine the time you will spend notifying several dozen creditors if you lost your wallet or had it stolen.