The Impact of Identity Theft and How to Protect Yourself
You can fall victim to the most common crime in the country and not even realize it.
December is National Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month and every year 1 in 20 Americans are the victims of identity theft which not only compromises the person’s identity but in many cases it also leaves them with lingering costs for the foreseeable future.
A new debt.com poll shows that for intent of identity theft victims credit scores are negatively impacted. Consequently, this raises an individual’s future expenses until they can bring their scores back up. The immediate cost of identity theft isn’t easy on the wallet either. When it comes to money lost and money spent fixing the problem 22 percent lost between $50 to $500, 21% lost $500 to $1,000 and 11% reported losing the most between $2,500 and $5,500.
If you don’t have that kind of cash lying around then like many who were surveyed, identity theft can force you to take on debt. 17% took up to $250 in debt, another 17% took on between $250 to $500 in debt and 14% took on $500 or more. Experts say catching identity theft early before it gets out of hand is best and most Americans seem to agree. Over half of Americans reported having a suspicious activity tracker in place. 64% said they use a credit monitoring service either free or paid which will alert them if anything unusual is going on with their credit. When it comes to the most common form of identity theft, 46% reported falling victim through credit cards. Check out debt.com for tips on how to recognize the signs of identity theft learn how to protect yourself from becoming a victim and what steps to take to recover
