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Most people don’t care much about stolen identities, but they will later realize the devastating effects when they fall victims to it. Don’t wait for this to happen, because you have the ability to prevent it. This is where credit protection becomes relevant. In a nutshell, credit protection means keeping your information safe and being careful with all your credit accounts including credit cards, ATMS, debit cards, and your identifying passwords.

But why is it necessary? Once identity thieves gain access to your credit, they can open up different credit lines using your name or accumulate charges until the credit card limit is maxed out. These things can result to serious financial troubles in the long run. Though credit protection does not absolutely prevent identity theft, it can help warn consumers about possibilities of fraudulent activities occurring in their credit files.

Here are some common ways that can increase credit protection against identity theft threats.

• Shredding/destroying of all documents containing financial and identifying information rather than directly disposing of them. This will limit the chances of id thieves searching garbage bins for any usable information against their victims.
  
  
• Locking other IDs safe at home rather than bringing them all the time to reduce your overall vulnerability to fraud acts, resulting from stolen valuables such as wallets or purses.
  
  
• Limiting what information is shared with others when making online transactions or hanging out on your favorite social media site.
  
  
• Checking of bills and statements regularly to spot for any errors or unauthorized transactions made.
  
  
• Maintaining the safety of all your account information and not disclosing them to strangers who want to do business with you or people you have just met.
  
  
• Treating your mail with care, because it’s possible that id thieves will target your home mailbox as a primary source of acquiring information about you.
  
  
• Having the right knowledge about online safety – this includes ensuring that a site is secured and encrypted before making any online transactions and not sharing credit card account information through unauthorized emails.

Identify credit card fraud and spot errors through free credit reports

Consumer credit is better guarded against fraudulent damages through monitoring of credit reports. This is an essential consumer protection technique that lets you check your credit files from the major credit reporting companies for free. Consumers are entitled for free credit reports once a year, and this is a good chance to spot any mistakes resulting from either plain errors or identity theft activities. This offer should be taken advantage of by consumers, because such errors can negatively affect your record. Keep in mind that checking credit before moving forward with your financial decisions will help lessen inconveniences and maintain the quality of your record.

Credit monitoring services – what credit protection includes

Another good way to ward off potential threats and increase consumer credit protection is through availing of credit protection services. These reliable organizations help consumers by tracking all activities on their credit lines from time to time and notifying their consumers (through alerts) if there are any changes or unusual spending patterns detected on their accounts. This does not totally stop identity theft right away, but because the consumer is notified for all activities that happen real-time, it’s a good prevention tool against criminals. You will be alerted to newly opened credit card accounts, suspicious spending activities, changes in name and billing address and new credit line applications. This means that if you haven’t conducted any of those activities, you can take remedial measures right away.

Amy is an active blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance related articles to encourage people to manage and protect their finances. She also covers topics on secured credit cards and personal loan for bad credit which might have resulted due to identity theft.