Don't Just Tear Up Those Credit Card Applications

I was reading an amusing blog about how a guy applied and received a credit card, using an application that had been ripped up. He even tested it by asking the credit card company to use a different address and a new cell phone number. You want to guess what happened? Yup, he received his shiny new credit card anyway.

The lesson here is to do more than rip up and throw away sensitive documents. Invest in a shredder. Any documents with bank account, credit card, social security or other sensitive info, should be shredded into tiny pieces and mixed up with other shredded documents.

Also do more than just cut up and throw away your old credit cards that have expired or you don't want any more. If you are paranoid like me, cut them up into 3 pieces vertically, then dispose of each section in a different place.