Your personal information is out there in a lot of places. Did you know that you have more than one source of your identity? There's your driver's license identity; your medical identity; your social security identity; and your financial identity. Any of these can be compromised, and used to establish credit and run up bills in your name. If you have ever applied for a loan, applied for a job, had some documents notarized, applied for a credit card, attended a university, or obtained medical insurance, you should know that your information is out there. Just over a year ago, UCLA sent me a letter notifying me that someone had compromised their student records, and that someone had obtained my personal information, including my full name, address, and social security number. They suggested that I contact the credit bureaus.
I also received a letter about a year ago from TJ Maxx, notifying me that someone had compromised their database, and that it was possible that some of my personal financial information may have been compromised. My Mom got the same letter, but she shopped there a lot; I had only shopped there once in a year.
The bottom line is that although UCLA and TJ Maxx noticed that someone had accessed their records and stolen their information on thousands of records and accounts, they were unusual because not all cases of lost or stolen personal information is even noticed by companies, let alone reported by them. These companies suggest that you get credit monitoring; however, they don't often offer to help you pay for that. To quote Barack Obama (who was talking about something else), "you're on your own".
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