I get a lot of questions about identity theft. Now that we are almost all online and our information is stored in bytes, the possibility of getting your information compromised is increased. You don’t have to look very far before you hear or see a news story or get a letter in the mail from one of your creditors/businesses saying that there was a security breach and “some” of your personal information was stolen. But what can you do? Obviously you can’t hang out in front of Mastercard and run security and body cavity checks to ensure your personal information is safe. Below I have five steps to identity theft protection that are easy and relatively cheap to do.

1. Noone is safe. Realize whatever you do, you are at risk of identity theft. But don’t let this scare you. Just recognize, accept, and move on to the following steps.
2. Buy a shredder. The easiest way for your identity to get stolen is by going through your trash. All those credit card offers and balance transfer checks can cause trouble. Pick up a shredder that cross cuts to make it even more difficult to piece back together. Amazon has the Fellowes Shredder for $42 and free shipping. This one cross cuts the paper and also does credit cards. Use this on all your sensitive paperwork.
3. Don’t go phish. Phishing scams fool people into thinking that an email or link is from a particular company. They ask for personal information, including passwords and SSN, and then wreck havoc on your life. BE SMART. Businesses do not ask for passwords or SSN’s in emails. If you get an email that says “please update your personal information” do not click it. Instead, type the company’s URL directly in your browser. If they really do need an update or changes are made, they will let you know there. Scammers are getting smart, so be smarter.
4. Freeze. If you are really nervous about your identity getting stolen, put a freeze on your credit. Call each Credit Bureau and request a freeze on your account. This will effectively not allow anyone to access or apply for your credit information. This is as close to foolproof and secure as you can get. The bad news is that you will also be locked out, so if you need to open credit, you will have to contact the bureaus and open them back up.
5. Ongoing protection. If you are paranoid and think that everyone is out to get you and that your toaster oven is speaking to you, you can get credit monitoring service. I don’t really believe in these if you follow the steps above, but I understand where some can find the value. Dave Ramsey suggests Zander, who offer more than just credit monitoring and will pay fees if your identity is in fact stolen.

That’s it. If you do these things I guarantee you’ll be able to sleep at night and remove any anxiety you have about identity theft. You’ll have to go somewhere else to deal with that talking toaster oven issue.