Identity theft.

Anyone is vulnerable.  It very well can happen to you.  I recently experienced a scary situation regarding personal information.  I own stock in a large company.  A well-known bank was the company’s transfer-agent, and both have great reputations. Several months ago, the bank was transferring boxes of investor information (name, SS#, address, etc.) from one location to another.  The box containing my information never reached its destination, yet it was confirmed it was no longer at its original destination, along with 4 million other people’s personal info.

I received a letter explaining the situation, offering me many options to protect my identity.  I was able to sign up for free credit monitoring through Triple Advantage and given a decent amount of coverage through identity theft insurance.

The situation was really handled well.  I especially like being updated through email with credit monitoring.  I was even notified when my student loan company did a credit check.  I may still be at a greater risk for identity theft, but I’m doing my best to fight it.

Don’t let a situation like this keep you from investing.  My best advice is to go through a brokerage firm.  This way, your name (or other info) doesn’t appear on individual shares. Instead, the brokerage firm’s name and contact information is used.

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