The Risks You Are Taking by Ignoring These Money Safety Steps
A new MoneyLion survey of 998 adults aged 18 and older from across the country found that a large percentage of Americans are disregarding several primary financial safeguards that could expose them to fraud and theft.
The good news is that many others are taking the necessary precautions, and those who aren’t can follow a few simple steps to shore up their dollar defenses. When reading, note that percentages don’t equal 100% because respondents were allowed to select more than one answer.
Compare your own fiscal vigilance to these common reckless behaviors to see how riskily you're neglecting your finances.
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Failing To Check Your Credit Report for Fraudulent Activity
It’s a good idea to keep tabs on your credit report to see how your score has changed, ensure old accounts have fallen off and confirm that new ones have been recorded, but sinister forces make it even more important to check in regularly.
According to Cornell University, your credit report is the best early indicator that identity thieves have targeted you. The 28% of the study’s respondents who have never checked their credit report for suspicious activity are more at risk of becoming victims. Your report is the first place you’ll see attempts to open new accounts and other unauthorized activity and those who tune out won’t catch the problem early when it’s still manageable.
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Not Setting Up Account Alerts
Another 27% have never set up alerts on their financial accounts to inform them of large or unusual transactions.
State Department Federal Credit Union notes that failing to set account alerts puts you at risk for fraud that might not involve identity theft and can bypass your credit report.
A simple alert for a substantial purchase on your checking account, for example, could give you the opportunity to reject a large fraudulent transaction that you might not have been able to reverse once it was made.
Not Investigating Whether a Breach Threatened Your Data
The study found that 31% of people have never checked whether their data was exposed in a breach, and inaction's hazards are evident in an FTC alert to businesses outlining how damaging data breaches can be to their customers.
Potential outcomes include identity theft, targeted phishing attacks and financial fraud.
Businesses must do their part, but individuals have the responsibility to be vigilant, too. Free resources such as F‑Secure Identity Theft Checker and DataBreach.com can show you if your data has been compromised.
Not Initiating Credit Freezes
Also called security freezes, credit freezes are a proactive measure that people can take to prevent fraud and make it harder for scammers and identity thieves to open accounts or borrow money in their name.
By restricting access to your credit reports, credit freezes make it nearly impossible to open accounts because card issuers and lenders can’t run your credit. According to the FTC, they’re legally mandated and anyone can initiate one at any time and for any reason and then unfreeze their credit only when they’re ready to apply for a loan or open a new account.
They are among the simplest and most reliable proactive financial protection tools available, but the study found that 43% of those polled have never taken advantage of them.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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