The hustle and bustle of holiday shopping is over, but in January the credit card bills start rolling in. Now is the time of the year to be most diligent in reviewing your account statements to ensure you have not become a victim of Identity Theft. Here are some things to look for when reviewing your statements:
- Read over the transactions listed on each statement and verify that you made those purchases.
- Keep an eye out for small dollar amount purchases that you don’t recognize. Lots of times Identity Thieves will make small dollar purchases that fall under the radar of credit monitoring programs to see if they can get away with using your credit. If the small purchases clear, larger ones usually follow.
In addition to reviewing your statements, make sure any statements that you receive via the mail don’t sit in your mailbox for extended periods of time, inviting mail theft. If you receive your statements electronically, January is a good time to reset the passwords for all your online accounts to help prevent unauthorized access. By using numbers, capitalizations, and symbols you create a complex but memorable password for your online portals.
Lastly, any financial statements or bills that you have which are no longer needed should be properly disposed of. Shredding these unwanted documents makes it difficult for any potential criminals to discover your personal information. In digital records, ensure any unwanted files are destroyed through a specified program to ensure complete deletion from a system.
If you do find a discrepancy on one of your credit card statements, you should have a customer help line phone number that you can call to help get the issue resolved. And as always, Peoples Bank & Trust is here to help you by doing what we can to keep your financial information safe and secure. For more information on identity theft protection, visit our website or call us today at (636) 528-7001.
Peoples Bank & Trust Co.
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