Don’t Give Someone Else the Credit

Last year I took an Inside Passage cruise through Southeast Alaska. During the trip I shopped on the ship’s stores and at the ports, and pretty much didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

Imagine my surprise a week later to check my debit card online and see a series of $75 cashed off my debit account at various gas stations in Massachusetts.

Last year I took an Inside Passage cruise through Southeast Alaska. During the trip I shopped on the ship’s stores and at the ports, and pretty much didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

Imagine my surprise a week later to check my debit card online and see a series of $75 cashed off my debit account at various gas stations in Massachusetts. Being a Floridian, I knew exactly what had happened: At some point during the cruise when I used my debit card, someone obtained one of my charge receipts and watched closely as I pushed the four-number pin on a debit terminal.

Yes, my bank credited me the charges that totaled about $750, but it involved a bit of stress and a hassle. More than that, despite all the warnings over the years about being aware of identity theft, it greatly annoyed me that I let my guard down and was dumb enough to allow someone to rip me off by stealing my credit identity.

Since then I’ve enrolled in a program that automatically checks my credit to alert me of any charges that come through and even inquiries into my credit. Identity theft insurance – obscure only a few years ago – provides policies that help reclaim your financial identity before it gets too far.

Some homeowners or renters insurance policies provide this coverage and you might have it and not even know it – contact your company and find out. If you don’t, you can often get up to $25,000 or more in such theft protection added to your policy for only $25 a year.

An individual policy can cost between about $60 to $180 per year based on options and the limit of losses they’ll cover.

Although most credit card companies limit your exposure to $50 – my aforementioned company charged me nothing – the problem is the time-consuming process of finding out someone’s getting cash or merchandise with your credit and then setting everything straight without hurting your credit.

If the facts I found online are true, the average identity theft victim spends over $8,008 on out-of-pocket expenses and 175 hours straightening out the mess. If that means taking time out from work to get it done, it becomes even more expensive. Hiring an attorney or firm that restores damaged credit means additional headaches, but those costs are often included in an insurance policy.

If you ignore the exposure for theft of your identity and act carelessly like I did, by the time you find out it could cost you being rejected for a loan or other credit. Simply use your body to block wandering eyes when entering your pin number, leave no charge slips behind, and consider obtaining Identity Theft Insurance to provide ample warning of trouble and help cover possible losses.