9 Tips for Protecting Your Identity During a Move from LifeLock!

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Buying a new home is never fun. Once the excitement of the selection process wears off, there’s a TON of paperwork, too many meetings to count & then the actual process of packing up your stuff and moving. We’ve moved twice in the last four years {the first time out of our parents’ houses & into an apartment, and then into our first house a year later} and we’d be happy to never move again, despite having already outgrown our current home. It just doesn’t feel worth it- it’s tiring, it’s frustrating, and it’s very, very stressful.

But did you know that when you’re buying a house {or just have purchased a new one}, you’re an especially easy target for identity theft? Luckily, there are a few steps that you can take to protect yourself before someone takes advantage of your new purchase.

1. Always monitor your financial accounts more often when you’re buying a new home. The increase in purchases can lead to unauthorized purchases being missed among all the rest.

2. When paying bills or giving personal information to your realtor over the phone, always be sure that you are out of earshot of others. An identity thief could easily jot down your account information. Among only friends & think you’re safe? Identity theft among friends & family is so common it has it’s own name- “family friendly fraud”.

3. Whenever you cancel a credit card or bank account {like you may do if your new city doesn’t have your bank}, be sure to shred the card and close the account.

5. If you end up with a new doctor, be cautious when filling out patient forms. Make sure you don’t give them your social security number without first asking why it’s needed. Most of the time, they can get this information from your insurance company without you writing it down on a file that someone could access later.

6. While moving, store papers containing sensitive information in a safe. That way if they’re lost, left behind or put into the hands of shady movers, you will remain protected.

7. If it appears that the IRS is asking you for information on your new home via email, this is fraud. The IRS does not use email, text messages or social media to contact people.

8. Check the Better Business Bureau ratings before hiring any movers & allowing them into your home.

9. Replace the locks on your new home immediately- preferably before you even move in as the old tenants could still have keys.

If you’re buying a new home, it may seem like you don’t have time to add anything else to your to-do list, but don’t forget that your credit is never more important than when you’re trying to purchase a home. An identity thief could ruin your credit score &leave you with high interest rates or worse- without your dream home. So take these few easy steps now to keep yourself safe!

LifeLock has plenty of other great tips for safe home buying that you can learn by playing the LifeLock for Life Sweepstakes on the LifeLock Facebook page! Every month, you can play the sweepstakes to learn how to make your life a bit safer as well as enter to win great prizes. This month’s prizes include {9} 1-year memberships and a $1,000 VISA Gift Card!

Are you thinking about buying a new home?

Note: I am a LifeLock Brand Ambassador & was compensated for my work on this campaign. All opinions are my own.