I’m a big fan of shredders. I love the things. Besides the obvious benefit of keeping my personal information away from prying eyes, I find it quite therapeutic. There’s nothing like coming home from a long day at the office and shredding the day’s unimpressive credit card offers. If I had a really stressful day, I’ll find a credit card to put through the special credit card slot on my shredder just to release some tension.
Apparently my brother-in-law is not a shredder aficionado like me. I say this because as I was going to throw away something in the kitchen, I see my brother-in-law’s Chase credit card statement staring up at me. Yikes! My obsessive-compulsive personality couldn’t take it – I went and shredded it myself. If the immigrant guy who comes around each week and steals the aluminum cans out of the trash wanted he could have my brother-in-law’s name, billing address, full card number, and credit limit information. I didn’t look to see if there were the cash advance checks on the second page of the statement (there usually are), but think of the damage that could be done with those things, especially knowing what the credit limit on the account is! Most places now also require your expiration date and security code to process a transaction, but it is still rather scary.
So the question to my readers – what’s in your trash can? If you are just throwing those statements and other personal papers in the trash, it isn’t a question of if but when someone uses that information for a shopping spree. One of the best investments you can make is a good cross-cut shredder. Make sure the annoyance of bad preapproved credit offers and those cash advance checks that each of the major issuers send out on a nearly daily basis doesn’t become someone else’s quick score!
Today’s Update: Today would have been a good day to be an identify thief! Thrown in the garbage today unshredded were two pre-approved credit card offers, two credit card statements, and an IRS notice with social security number noted in three places. Is it perhaps time for an intervention like you would have for an alcoholic or crackhead?
Billy, just get it over with and steal my identity already! I’ve made it so easy!
I didn’t, but your mother and sister did. They said the twins deserved nice things for their arrival, and they deserved a few things themselves. At least she won’t be harassing me for a “push prize” anymore! =)