Were you one of the 10 million Americans who were a victim of identity theft in 2007? If not, you’re really lucky, because the personal loss figure is estimated at a minimum of $5 billion. Eve Abbott, renowned author, tells you exactly what personal identity theft will cost you, and how to safeguard your identity for the future.
Secret Service case reviews find that the median actual loss for individual victims is $31,356.00. U.S. businesses and financial institutions lost at least 50 billion dollars to fraud and identity theft last year alone. ID Theft is the most exponentially growing crime worldwide.
I guarantee if you take advantage of the following “2008 Simplify Your Life Checklist,” that you will not only be more productive, you will enjoy an improved quality of life as well.
• To opt out of several mailing lists at once, contact: the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service at PO Box 643, Carmel NY 10512 or fill out their online form here: http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html
• For severe junk mail infestation contact: http://www.41pounds.org/ and sign up for 5 years of protection for just $41.00. They donate more than 1/3 of your fee to environmental or community organizations of your choice.
• “Do Not Call” Listing: Register your phones at https://www.donotcall.gov or by calling (888) 382-1222.
• Social Security: Review your Earnings and Benefits Statement carefully for errors once a year. Order a free copy by calling (800) 772-1213. You will also spot if someone else is using your SSN—a favorite step by undocumented foreign nationals.
• Credit Ratings and Credit Fraud: Reduce the number of pre-approved credit offers you get by requesting these three bureaus remove your name from their lists: Experian (800) 353-0809 Equifax (800) 219-1251 TransUnion (800) 241-2858.
• Every quarter, carefully check your free credit report from one of the three credit bureaus by contacting the only authorized source at www.annualcreditreport.com OR by calling (877) 322-8228.
• Opt Out of ‘Prescreened’ Credit Offers: Go to www.optoutprescreen.com or call (888) 567-8688 to protect yourself, elderly family members, and college-aged kids from solicitations of creditors. This improves your credit rating, too!
• Government Agencies: Birth, Marriage, Home Purchase, & Death: Public records of all our major life events are sold to advertisers. Call the largest dealer, Acxiom, at their Consumer Advocate Hotline (877) 774-2094. OR go to www.acxiom.com and hit the ‘Contact Us’ link to request an opt-out form.
If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build, end up building us.
