Buying a New Home? Be Sure to Follow These Tips to Protect Your Identity!

Buying a new home is a big milestone in a person’s life.  Not only is it exciting, but it can be also overwhelming.  A lot of personal information is required and can leave a home buyer feeling vulnerable if he or she does not take the appropriate measures to keep his or her identity safe.  Well, I’m here to tell you that it is possible to keep your identity safe when buying a new home!  Check out these five tips:

– TIP 1:  When cleaning out your old house, what should you do with papers you plan to discard if they include personal information?  Should you throw them in the trash, never throw them away, or shred them?  It is safe to throw away these papers as long as you shred them first.  Dumpster diving is a proven method thieves use to gain access to your personal information.

– TIP 2:  Is there a way to make sure your movers are reputable?  You can always check with the Better Business Bureau before allowing any movers into your home.  The Better Business Bureau can be a source to find out if the movers or any business have complaints against them.

– TIP 3:  What will a legitimate mortgage company use when evaluating your mortgage loan approval?  A legitimate mortgage company will review your credit report, employment, income, assets & property information when evaluating your mortgage loan approval.  This is why it’s especially important to get a credit check to make sure nobody has stolen your identity.

– TIP 4:  Before moving, you should always make a list of the regular mail you receive, so you can ensure that when you do move all those businesses will have your updated address.  Sometimes it is difficult to remember all the business mail you receive.  If you make a list ahead of time, you will ensure that they will always have your new address.

– TIP 5:  Before moving into your new home, you should pick out a secure zone that is off-limits to movers or whoever may be helping you.  You should pre-determine a secure zone so you can safely store your computer items, check data files, balance your checkbook and process other sensitive information.

PLAY THE LIFELOCK FOR LIFE GAME THROUGH MARCH 3rd!!

Through March 3rd, 2013, you can play the LifeLock for Life Game on Facebook!  Playing is simple.  You just answer the multiple choice/true-false questions and enter to win!  Each week you’ll have the opportunity to answer 10 questions, for a chance to win the week’s prize, and be entered into the Grand Prize Drawing.  Don’t worry if you miss a question because you’ll have another chance to answer correctly.   Have you entered yet?

This is a compensated post as part of the LifeLock Ambassador Program.
All opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine.