Tips to Preventing Identity Theft

As your big day approaches, it is easy to forget that someone could want to steal your identity and, ultimately, your funds. After all, you are giving your personal information and credit cards to vendors on a weekly or daily basis with all that goes into every aspect of wedding planning.Meagan Ellis, Account Manager at Keland Partners gave us these great tips from Identity Truth, and we wanted to share them with all our readers:- Definitively make the decision to either keep your maiden name or assume your spouse’s name – using both leaves room for error, as it would be difficult to keep track of where you’re using one versus the other.- Keep marriage license and other personal documents locked in a safe and secure place. Make sure your SSN does not appear on the marriage license.- Do not give out your social security number when planning a wedding, unless you’re securing a government document, e.g. passport, social security card. Give only the “minimum” amount of personal information to vendors.- When applying for a new driver’s license request that something other than your SSN be used as a unique identifier.- When changing the address on existing credit cards, speak with the credit card issuer, as some will presume this is fraud and automatically cancel the card.- Closely monitor your credit report for new incidents/events perpetrated by somebody using your maiden name.- Fill out a National Change of Address Form (NCOA) to have your mail forwarded to your new address.- Decide how you will be filing for taxes (jointly or separately) and file early with the correct name- Consider being proactive and signing-up for an identity protection service.Your wedding and marriage should be the happiest time of your life. Keep these tips in mind so that identity theft can’t spoil your wedding!