National Protect Your Identity Week was October 19 – 25. Last year, 8.4 million Americans were victims of identity theft, the fastest growing crime in the nation! Whether you are writing a check, using a credit card, or an ATM, you are putting yourself at risk. Last fall I wrote about my own adventure with credit card fraud. My credit card company phoned one day asking if we had charged gasoline three times in Detroit on the same day? We were not even close to Detroit so they explained that ID thieves "test" counterfeit cards at "pay at the pump" fueling installations. They cancelled our card and re-issued a new one with no further problems.

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling sponsors this week to create awareness of identity theft. They have a web site dedicated to ID theft protection, www.ProtectYourIDNow.org. You can find important tips like:

• Shred everything
• Never carry your Social Security card
• Do not keep charge receipts in your car
• Photocopy both sides of all credit cards
• Do not put bills out for the mailman at home
• Do not have new checks mailed to your home
• Put as little information as you can on your checks
• Remove any card from your wallet that you do not use
• Immediately report lost or stolen cards: this limits your liability
• Never provide personal information over the phone unless you initiated the call

One step to preventing identity theft is to obtain your credit reports yearly and look for any discrepancies. You are entitled to one free credit report from the three credit reporting firms via the web, phone, or mail. Contact our office for a fact sheet and Annual Credit Report Request Form to mail in, visit www.annualcreditreport.com, or phone 877-322-8228. I was able to visit the site and print off all three reports (Equifax, Experian, & Transunion) in less than 45 minutes.

To learn more about your credit history, U of I Extension Champaign County is offering a Lunch & Learn teleconference on Thursday, November 6 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at our office at 801 N. Country Fair Drive, C. Susan Taylor and Evelyn Prasse, consumer and family economics educators, will present the teleconference titled "What's Your Credit History and Score?". An informative handout will be provided. Bring your sack lunch. Please pre-register online or call 217-333-7672 by November 4. The program fee is $5.