Here are 8 ways to stop identity theft before it ever happens…

• If paper checks are what you use to access funds in a checking account, don’t allow home delivery, get them sent to where you can collect them like your financial institution or a Post Office box.

• Make sure there are no added bits of information on your checks like home phone number, driver’s license number, social security number, or your date of birth. Better still, if you do have a Post Office box (and it’s highly recommended), use that rather than your home address.

• Only use your initials beside your last name when you order checks, however sign your checks and bank signature card with the full version of your name. This small alteration can alert your bank to any activity that might raise flags as suspicious.

• With ATM debit cards, make a request that your bank please change it to an ATM only card, requiring a pin number to be used only for money withdrawals from an ATM machine. If ever compromised, banks will limit how much money may be withdrawn from ATMs in any one day, thus reducing your liability should your card be lost or stolen.

• If paying a credit card bill by check, you need only write the final four digits of your account number on the check memo line, which can prevent the credit card number getting into the wrong hands.

• Finally, don’t ever sign the back of a credit or debit card. Instead, have ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED FOR USE’ written into the signature space so that when merchants take the card for verification, they need to request your photo ID in order to complete the transaction.

• Keep the list of your (memorized!) credit card numbers as well as the contact numbers for credit card companies safe in your safety deposit box. Should your card be lost or stolen, this information will be needed for cancellation of the account.

• Join an ID theft protection service to stop identity theft. You will pay a small monthly fee, but many of them offer a huge ID theft protection guarantee where they will pay as much as one million dollars to fix your credit and restore your identity if it is breached during the time you are using their identity theft protection service.

Just paying attention to those 8 little things can help secure your life and stop identity theft before it ever happens to you.

Read 6 more ways to stop identity theft  >>