Protecting your credit

Protecting your credit is as important as building it. It takes many years of discipline to raise your credit score to higher levels, yet it can be destroyed in days.

Here are a few tips on protecting your credit:

• Invest in security tools. Invest in a paper shredder. Make sure you destroy all documents that can give away your personal information. If you do Internet shopping, install reliable security software. Average annual subscription is around $60, but the software will protect your credit by keeping your information safe. The software will also protect your computer from viruses, spyware, and malware.  
• Subscribe to credit monitoring. Stay informed about changes in your credit report. Make sure that that company that you subscribe to monitors your report from all three credit bureaus. Watch what affects your credit score and adjust your behavior in accordance. In case there are any negative changes that affect your score, you will be notified by an email and can take actions right away.
• Subscribe to credit protection. A new trend in credit protection is using companies (like LifeLock) that specialize in protecting your credit. These companies not only monitor your score, they monitor any illegal activities that are done using your name and personal information. For a monthly subscription of $10-15 credit protection companies will monitor any fraudulent credit card applications, changes of address, and similar actions. They will also help you to restore your good credit and even reimburse you in case your identity does get stolen.