Legal Niches

You probably get several offers for credit cards every month. One every two weeks, maybe, posted into your mailbox? Multiply that number up by the houses in your street, the apartments in your town and that's a lot of people's personal information floating about. All manna to an identity thief.

In these modern days of technology, PCs and the Internet, most people believe that identity theft is conducted along electronic wires, but research has demonstrated that in fact that is the safest place for your personal information. Think of that junk mail again . containing so much personal information. That is the risky area.

There is a straightforward and effective way to start protecting yourself. You can return first class credit mail, and stop getting sent those offers. You need to score through the bar code and address, draw a circle round the first class postage, write on the envelope refused; return to sender's and mail it back to the sender. Simple.

But what if you really do want a credit card? The best thing to do is to go to a website giving credit card comparisons and sign up for it in a protected Internet environment. This also saves time and wasted paper, so with the reduced risk of identity theft it's a three-time winner.

If everybody were to follow these simple steps, identity theft would be reduced at a stroke, and it would help credit card companies understand what a waste of money and resources such junk mail advertising really is. Sending out our personal details in such vast quantities every day puts so much material in the path of identity thieves.

We all need to stop using the mail for credit card applications and begin to make applications online. It will cut down identity theft and make a positive contribution toe the environment at the same time. With these simple rules, save yourself and the earth.