Protection From Identity Theft
Have you ever fallen victim to identity theft? Have you ever lost your wallet or purse? Has your wallet or purse ever been stolen? If you answered yes to any of those questions then you understand the hassle that any of those thing can cause and the money that you can lose because of them. Protection from identity theft is becoming as common as car or health insurance and until the government finds it to be a priority it is up to us to protect ourselves from identity theft.
Here is a true story for you......
Travis was a friend of mine that liked to eat out on a regular basis. He really enjoyed the atmosphere of a restaurant and since he was a bachelor he often took his dates out to the new and trendy restaurants. He almost always paid with a credit card and never would have thought that he was at risk.
Travis was having some car troubles and decided it was time to get a new car. He started shopping around online and at a few local dealerships, and eventually settled on one specific car. He went to the dealership figuring he would drive it home that day. He was sure he had great credit and had plenty of money on his credit card for the down payment.
Travis was not surprised to find out that he qualified for the car, but was surprised to find out that he only qualified if he put 30% of the price down. He was told that his credit was poor at best and was shocked. Travis decided that since he had a high limit on his credit card he would go ahead and put the money down that they were asking and drive the car home, but was shocked once again when his card was declined for a little over $4,000. He had a $25,000 limit and had always paid his card off every month.
After looking into his credit he found that there were three outstanding car loans in his name, 6 credit cards with high limits, a boat loan, and a personal loan that were not his. His identity had been stolen and it happened at one of the restaurants he went to. Since he always wrote "See ID" on his credit cards one of his servers had taken his name, address, social security number, credit card number, and birth date right off his Id and credit card. The server, then sold the information to a third party who was able to get a fake id, credit cards, and loans in Travis' name. This is what the company he hired to look into his situation told him had most likely happened. The thieves were never caught and Travis ended up having to file bankruptcy to clear his name.
Could you imagine having to go through bankruptcy while someone else is driving a car, partying on a boat, and running up credit cards in your name? Protection from identity theft is a must anymore and without it you could be the one out of four that gets your identity stolen.
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