Posted by Mike Smith :: July 20, 2007 @ 7:12 am

Having your identity stolen can be a very scary experience. Aside from the feeling of helplessness that can arise from identity theft, your credit history can suffer significant damage in an incredibly short period of time. Consider taking the following steps to protect your identity.

Never throw out anything containing your personal information without shredding it.
The practice of "dumpster diving," or going through other people’s trash, is a favorite method of information gathering for identity thieves. In particular, be sure to shred pre-screened credit card offers and other documents containing or referring to your financial information.

Protect your incoming and outgoing snail mail.
In addition to promptly retrieving your mail when it arrives, be careful when sending mail as well. A raised flag on your mail box will alert the mail carrier that you have outgoing mail. It can also alert an identity thief to a potential gold mine of information in outgoing bills, etc. If you are typically away from home when the mail carrier arrives, consider using a post office box or other secure drop location.

Guard your Social Security number at all costs.
It's amazing how often your Social Security number is requested. You are commonly required to provide it when conducting business with financial institutions, the government, and matters which include insurance. In all other cases, you should exercise your right to withhold your Social Security number unless the requester can provide sound reasoning for requesting it. Just because there's a place on a form for it, you don’t necessarily have to disclose it.

Protect your personal information while you are online.
Be especially leery of providing personal information of any kind while you are online, unless the transaction justifies it. If you are making a purchase, make certain that the site uses encryption and be sure to read its privacy policy. In some instances, making a purchase also entitles a company to share your information with third parties. Such disclosures must be made in the privacy policy.

Check your credit report on a regular basis. One way to keep on top of potential identity theft is to stay on top of your credit data. A credit monitoring service is a great way to keep track of your entire credit profile. Such services were outlined in more detail in a recent post.

Lending Club takes your privacy very seriously. While we know that the above steps may not prevent all forms of identity theft, they are positive actions that you can take to make yourself a less desirable victim. Identity thieves are going to go after the easiest targets. By protecting your identity, thieves are likely to move on to someone else.