Shredding Credit Card Offers Could Save Your Identity

You get them in the mail, daily. Offers to open a new credit card with some sort of amazing deal attached. But what do you do with the gobs of credit card offers that you receive each and every time you open your mailbox?
With the abundance of credit card offers the average American receives regularly, it’s not secret that if they get into the wrong hands, your identity could be compromised. Identity thieves can easily use the information provided in the offer and open a credit card account under your name.

Proper shredding of these documents could make such mishap easily avoidable. In addition to credit card offers, any records that include social security numbers, sensitive account information, PIN numbers, passwords, and even signatures could put you at risk.

At Mobile Record Shredders we know the risks. Your confidentiality is the most important concern we have. We have a system in place to help you privately and securely dispose of these documents. Contact us today for more information about how we can help keep you safe and your documents secure.

Top 8 Reasons to Shred your Documents

Paper shredding and document destruction is very important this day and age. There are serious dangers to not properly disposing of your documents in a secure fashion. The following is a list of reasons why you should shred your confidential documents.

1. Identity Theft:
According to a recent article written by MSN, identity theft affects 11 million people a year, at a cost of $54 billion. In order to avoid becoming a statistic shredding is imperative, and hiring a shredding service, like Mobile Record Shredders will help you dispose of your confidential documents safely and securely.

2. Old Tax Returns:
Most people save their tax returns in the chance that they get audited. After three years of returns you are free to throw them away. Tax information has confidential information included on it and after three years can be adequately disposed of.

3. Old Photo IDs:
If you like to save your IDs, such as college IDs, security badges from old employers or even old state IDs, consider using a document destruction service to shred them. While photo IDs alone aren’t enough to steal your identity, the information included on the ID could be used against you in a larger scheme.

4. Bank Statements:
Any documents that include bank account numbers should be properly disposed of and shredded. This includes paper bank statements, old bank statements, and anything with your personal or company banking information included on it.

5. Credit Card Offers:
When you receive generic bank offers in the mail, including credit card offers, or new account offers, and you are not planning to take the bank up on their offer, you should dispose of the offers right away. The priority is to make sure identity thieves do not open new cards in your name.

6. Canceled or Void Checks:
Even if you write “void” on a check, it doesn’t mean the information on cannot be used against you. The bank routing number and account numbers listed on the check are just as easy to steal even if it says void. Make sure to shred all void or canceled checks upon cancelation to avoid any problems with identity thieves.

7. Pay Stubs:
At first glance, pay stubs seem harmless, but they do contain critical information that can be used by an identity thief. Some pay stubs include financial institution information and account information, Make sure to dispose of them properly.

8. Convenience Checks:
Have you ever received one of those blank checks from your credit card company, which you can use to borrow against your credit line? Thos are called convenience checks. If these checks end up in the wrong hands you could obviously be in trouble. Make sure to properly dispose of these checks so the information stays safe against identity thieves.

Shredding documents is not only for large companies with something to hide, average people have documents at home that include information that identity thefts pray on, including documents that include social security numbers and bank information. Make sure these documents are shredded properly. Mobile Record Shredders is here to help. Visit our website, for more information about document destruction with Mobile Record Shredders.

The Purpose of a NAID Certification

 

NAID, the National Association for Information Destruction is a voluntary program, allowing shredding service providers to become AAA certified and fall into an elite category of document destruction services. With this certification, NAID members will be subject to both scheduled and unannounced audits, to ensure they are using best practices in document destruction including “mobile and/or plant-based operations in paper or printed media, micro media, computer hard drive destruction, and/or computer hard drive sanitization.”

The rigorous process helps companies around the world to set the standard on document destruction and abide by laws and regulations protecting the proper disposal of confidential information

Each NAID member must operate under the strict guidelines offered and pass the audit with flying colors to become certified. Make sure your document destruction and professional shredding service are NAID certified. For more information on the NAID Certification, click here.

Always know, Mobile Record Shredders have a AAA NAID Certification. Your documents are in good hands with us.

Identity Theft – Don’t Fall Victim

Identity Theft is more common than you think. And unfortunately, until it happens to you, you will never know the extent of damage it can cause. But luckily, it is easier than you think to protect yourself from falling victim to this horrible crime.

Proper disposal of your documents is the easiest and most affordable way to protect yourself. By hiring a shredding company to dispose of your documents, it is easier than you think to keep your documents safe.

All paperwork that has personal information, such as tax documents, bank statements, credit card offers and more can be shred and destroyed. At Mobile Record Shredders you can choose how often you have your documents shred and what needs to be shred. You don’t need to remove all of the staples and it is much more time efficient and cost-effective than doing it yourself.

To learn more about how Mobile Record Shredders can protect your documents and hard drives, please contact us to get a free quote and security risk assessment.

Stay Compliant With The Law

Legal requirements such as HIPPA, FACTA, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley all require companies to properly destroy personal information when it is discarded. At Mobile Record Shredders, we take document destruction seriously and ensure your documents are properly destroyed up to standard with these legal requirements. We are a member of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) and have an AAA+ Certification, which means we follow standards and procedures outlined by NAID to destroy your documents and keep your company at the highest legal regard. We follow standards and procedures outlined by NAID to continue our certification and make sure your document destruction needs are compliant with not only national document destruction laws, but are up to NAID standards.

If you have questions about how we can keep you compliant, let us know. Or visit the NAID certification requirements and find out what makes us so compliant.

Why Home Depot is Paying Nearly $28 million in a Civil Settlement Involving Discarded Customer Records and Hazardous Materials – Mobile Record Shredders

Home Depot's parent organization was ordered to pay $27.8 million to the province of California and a few other southern California governments in a civil agreement for issues with hazardous waste disposal practices and customer records that were not discarded correctly.

The Riverside “Environmental Protection Team” of the County Prosecutor and regulators all through the state-led an assessment of 45 waste compactors belonging to 32 Home Depot stores in the time frame of 2013 and 2015.

They discovered the waste was discarded improperly, including pesticides, solvents, batteries and other poisonous materials. The 45 compactors also contained customer records that had names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. The records had not been shredded or disposed of properly, as per a statement from the prosecuting attorneys’ office.

Home Depot has made strides towards compliance with environmentally friendly waste disposal practices and appropriate disposal of customer documents.

The case was documented a month ago in Alameda County, and the agreement includes $1.8 million in fines and civil costs; $2.5 million to back eco-friendly protection projects, and a cost of in any event $6.8 million from Home Depot to meet natural principles that surpass consistence prerequisites.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Call us today at 1-866-544-5460 or fill out our form online for more information on shredding services available near you, and we will get you several quoted options for free.

Why Hire a Shredding Service?

For businesses, shredding documents has become part of the normal routine. Shredding allows you to keep important documents confidential and abide by strict US Government rules and procedures that mandate documents are properly destroyed and to eliminate the opportunity of identity theft.

As a business grows, it increases the number of confidential documents that need to be disposed of in order to keep your employee and customer information safe. Shredding in-house can take too much time and resources to properly destroy documents. By hiring a shredding service, you are creating a cost-effective solution to the burden of shredding.

Rather than going through the expensive and time-consuming process of owning and maintaining your shredding equipment, a shredding service uses it’s own equipment and eliminates the time and effort taken to shred materials under your supervision. Plus, shredding services are affordable. Whether it’s having us pick up your documents or bringing them to one of our shredding facilities, the cost and time associated with using our services far outweigh that of doing it in-house.

Dozens of Medical Records Found in Dumpster

Piles of health documents were tossed in a public dumpster for anyone to get their hands on and the Connecticut Country Branch of health is investigating.

Multiple stacks of health information had been discovered buried in a dumpster in the back of Allied Medical Associates in Waterbury on Tuesday. The documents contain private and sensitive health information.

“I’m afraid that my medical information may be there and that’s not a good thing,” Yasmeen Burgos, of Waterbury, told NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters.

Burgos was treated by Allied Medical Associates’ primary medical doctor Dr. Stephen P. Harris a couple years ago and is concerned her records could be compromised.

Harris informed NBC Connecticut that the clinical office closed down two days after Christmas because the bills were not paid.

“I can’t treat my patients and also stand over people watching what’s going on, so suddenly, I found out we have been deeply in debt due to the fact that a lot of bills hadn’t been paid,” Harris said.

A note on the front door of Allied Medical Associates said the office is permanently closed and for patients to contact their legal attorney.

A state health worker showed up a short time after the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters to analyze the information inside the Waterbury dumpster on Tuesday.

Harris revealed to the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters that his house and car have been packed with patient information saved from his practice; however, he admits the others that were discovered in the dumpster had been approved to go in the garbage.

“There have been containers of files that were categorized or I thought categorized 2010 and there’s only a seven-year duration you need to keep the documents, so we placed them in the dumpster. I’m liable for it; I have talked to the state. We’re going to retrieve those ones and shred them but it was not deliberate- it was a terrible choice, however, it was a decision made because we had so little time to get out,” Harris said.

NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters asked Harris why the files weren’t destroyed the first time.

“I understand they needed to be shredded, however, I felt that you know, once the dumpster people got here and placed them in a dump covered up and chewed them up, there wouldn’t be anybody crawling through there to get those,” Harris said. “We had our own shredder and it takes forever to shred those and we didn’t have time to do it.”
State health officers secured the information on Tuesday afternoon. They said they cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, but they supplied NBC Connecticut an outline of the state’s law regarding medical records.

According to state statute 19a-14-44 Discontinuance of Practice, patients must be informed.

“This must be done by placing a notice in a daily local newspaper published in the community, which is the prime focus of the practice. The notice shall appear twice, seven days apart. In addition, an individual letter is to be sent to each patient seen within the three years preceding the date of discontinuance of the practice. Medical records of all patients must be retained for at least sixty days following both the public and private notice to patients,” the law reads in part.

Read the full article here.

A Breakdown of Our Services

At Mobile Record Shredders, we do not tread lightly on the topic of confidentiality. We have tailored our service offerings to make it easy for you to take part in our document destruction offerings and keep your information confidential. Below is a breakdown of what we can offer you:

One-Time: Bulk Clean-out Shredding Services

On-Going: Regularly Scheduled Shredding Services

Shred Drop Off Locations:

We offer drop off locations in Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Monument, Canon City, Lamar, and La Junta for those that have smaller document destruction needs.

Call us or chat with an online representative today about your shredding needs.

Avoid Identity Theft - Hire Shredding Professionals

Identity theft is an extremely scary crime and continues to grow in popularity among thieves. It not only robs its victims their credit information but can rob you of your name. As scary as it is, it is easier to protect yourself than you think - Shred!

All paperwork that has personal information, whether it is personal bank statements or HR specific documents, documents of a certain age or confidentiality level should be shredded. You can choose how often a professional shredding service is needed and can be as little as yearly, or as much as daily shredding. Our service is available, as you need it. Any documents with identifying data, including CDs, zip drives, computer hard drives and more should be properly disposed of. At Mobile Record Shredders we offer electronic document destruction services as well.

The safest, easiest and more often times than not, most affordable way to protect yourself from having your identity stolen, is through shredding your documents. By hiring a confidential shredding company, it can be easy to dispose of the documents identity thieves are looking for when preying on their victims. The task of shredding documents on your own can be cumbersome and time consuming, but hiring a confidential shredding service is a great alternative for both businesses and individuals alike.

Contact us today to help with your shredding needs!