What to Save and What to Shred

Identity theft is a danger when tossing sensitive documents.

Better Business Bureau

When you start cleaning out household papers that have accumulated over the months (or years), keep in mind that failure to shred sensitive materials puts you at risk for ID theft.

You have decided it’s time to get rid of household paperwork that is stashed away in various places. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns that, when it comes to reviewing and cleaning out financial records, failing to shred sensitive documents can put everyone at risk of ID theft.

Last year alone, 8.1 million Americans became victims of ID theft resulting in the loss of $45 billion. Contrary to popular belief, only 12 percent of ID theft is perpetrated online. The vast majority of ID theft occurs when the thief has direct contact with the victim’s personal information such as through a stolen or lost wallet, or by rifling through the victim’s mailbox or trash.

When people think of ID theft, they almost immediately focus on hackers and online security, the BBB noted. However, most ID theft happens when people have failed to secure or properly destroy important financial information including paper documents, IDs, and credit cards.

Properly destroying sensitive personal and financial documents is a key step in ID theft prevention and the BBB offers the following guidelines on when to shred the following documents:

Canceled checks
Canceled checks with no long-term significance for tax or other purposes can be destroyed after one year. However, canceled checks that support tax returns, such as charitable contributions or tax payments, should be held for at least seven years – long enough to cover the six-year tax assessment period. The BBB advises that consumers should indefinitely keep any canceled checks and related receipts or documents for a home purchase or sale, renovations or other improvements to owned property, and non-deductible contributions to an Individual Retirement Account.

Deposit, ATM, credit card and debit card receipts
Consumers should save credit, debit, and ATM receipts until the transaction appears on their statement and they have verified that the information is accurate.

Credit card and bank account statements
Credit card and bank account statements with no tax or other long-term significance can be discarded after a year; remaining statements should be kept for up to seven years. If a consumer receives a detailed annual statement, they should keep it and shred the corresponding monthly statements.

Credit card contracts and other loan agreements
Credit card contracts and loan agreements should be kept for as long as the account is active in case the consumer has a dispute with their lender over the terms of the contract.

Documentation of a purchase or sale of stocks, bonds and other investments
Investors should retain documentation of a purchase or sale for as long as they own the investment and then seven years beyond that time. Monthly or quarterly retirement investment account statements can be shredded annually after being reconciled with the year-end statement.

Paycheck stubs
Paycheck stubs can be shredded yearly after the income has been reconciled with a W-2 or other tax forms.

Utility or monthly bills
Monthly bills should be shredded the year after being received by the consumer. This way, if it’s a power bill, for example, consumers can compare the current bill to the bill for the same month last year for any major changes before shredding it.

Shred-it Checklist - Don’t just toss it, shred it!

• Documents that include Social Security numbers, birthdates, PIN numbers or passwords
• Banking documents and other financial information
• Leases, contracts or letters that include signatures
• Pre-approved credit card applications
• Medical or dental bills
• Travel itineraries
• Used airline tickets

For more advice from the BBB on preventing ID theft and for guidance on what to do if your identity is stolen, go to www.bbb.org.

NEA Member Benefits now offers NEA ID Theft Protection, with both individual and family coverage. Get details at www.neamb.com/idfraud.

This article, and hundreds more, can be found in the “Member Library” section on the NEA Member Benefits Web Site at www.neamb.com.