Steps to Protect Against Identity Theft

A lost or stolen wallet constitutes a risk to your credit rating due to the possibility of someone illegally using your credit cards and debit cards to make purchases, a practice known as identity theft. Your information may be used to open new credit accounts under your name. The Federal Trade Commission states you must act immediately after realizing your personal ID or credit cards are stolen to protect yourself against fraudulent purchases. The quicker you take action, the less likely you are to fall victim to identity theft.

Instructions

1

Call the customer service number of your current credit card companies, and cancel all open credit card accounts.

2

Contact one of the three credit reporting agencies--TransUnion, Equifax or Experian--and request to place a fraud alert on your credit report. The fraud alert requires the creditor to verify your identity prior to opening a new account with your information.

3

Prevent online identity theft by using only credit cards to shop online. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse states that credit cards are better protected from fraud than debit cards, since debit cards automatically withdraw money from your checking account.

4

Read your credit report at least once a year to check for unknown account activity. Request a free credit report from each credit reporting agency, and report any errors to the agency.