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Protecting Your Credit Score


If you have good credit you want to keep it that way. Protecting your credit score is vital to your financial life and lifestyle. If you use the Internet and conduct business online such as banking, purchases with a credit card, or other services you are relatively safe because legitimate websites have security measure in place to protect your information, but they are not fool-proof. Identity thieves abound on the Internet and in everyday life so you must take precautions to protect your information.

One way to protect your credit and other financial information is to guard your social security number. This number is the primary source that identity thieves target. Do not give out your social security number to anyone unless you have established contact with them and they have a legitimate reason for needing it. Also, if your social security number is included on any paper documents make sure that you shred them before throwing them away. Identity thieves often search through the trash for information they can use.

If you conduct business online make sure that you are connected to a secure site before providing any information. A secure site will have a small lock with a security certificate. Make sure that you check the sites security certificate to make sure that it is up to date. Also, on newer browsers, the address bar will highlight green in the box to let you know you are on a secure site. If the address bar highlights red, do not provide any information to that website as it is not secure and could potentially be a ‘phishing’ website.

Identity thieves love to use email to ‘phish’ for information from unwary consumers. Be careful of any email that asks you to provide your personal information and do not click on any links in the email. A legitimate company will not ask you to provide any information through email to them. Your credit score depends on your being careful and on guard at all times.

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