Credit Freeze
If you’ve never been a victim of an information security breach or had your credit card data comprised or even paid much attention to the importance of securing and protecting your personal information, chances are you may now have a different perspective.
You and your family are at risk of suffering a severe and significant impact on your daily lives when your personal information gets into the hands of criminals who have no regard for your credibility, your good name, or the work that you have put into building your reputation.
To make matters worse, as a victim of identity theft, you are guilty until you can prove your innocence. Think about that statement. As a victim of this crime, you must prove that you were not the perpetrator of the crime before you are absolved of responsibility!
This is serious stuff and, at this point, it has negatively impacted you either directly or indirectly, in the form of higher costs of services and less convenience in your choices as a consumer.
I wish I could tell you that I have an answer that will keep your information safe no matter what and protect you and your family from the grief and damage that a future information security breach will cause you. I cannot.
Cybercrime is a crime of opportunity and, unfortunately, the bad guys will always have the advantage over the rest of us because they have a singular focus (stealing our information), while we are busy working on our careers, raising our families, and trying to make a positive contribution to our communities.
There are some things that you can do, however, to make it a little more difficult for the bad guys to achieve their objective. You may have heard one or two of these suggestions before, but they are good suggestions and worth repeating. Here are my top five:
Freeze. Freeze your credit right now. Don’t simply hire a monitoring service. Don’t just place a fraud alert on your record. Freeze it. There are three credit bureaus in the United States that collect all of your information and, amongst other things, rate you on your credit worthiness. If you apply for or currently carry any form of standard credit (i.e., mortgage, auto loan, credit card, etc.), that information is recorded at these bureaus along with personal information such as your social security number, your birth date, your address, etc.
For the complete article, please read: Freeze! (and then do a few other things).
Scott Arney
Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Patrolmen’s Federal Credit Union
Don’t forget, members of the Credit Union enjoy free and confidential Credit Counseling and Financial Planning through our Financial Planning and Education Center. We are here to assist you every step of the way.
