To Shred Or Not To Shred

By Author: Steve Schlake
Total Articles: 4762
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As the threat of identity theft grows, it's become more common for the average citizen to encounter advice about "shredding sensitive documents." While shredding sensitive documents can be a great first wave of defense against identity theft, how do you determine what kind of documents qualify as sensitive? And more importantly, what documents should you retain for your records rather than destroy?

First of all, as a general guideline, when it comes to identity theft, "sensitive documents" refers to anything containing data that an identity thief could utilize in an effort to impersonate you and/or use to access additional data or assets. This includes obvious things like account numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), social security numbers, and of course, passwords for anything from email to bank accounts.

But you might also want to consider anything containing more basic information such as your middle name or date of birth-information that a skilled identity thief can employ to gather even more of your personal data. While you're at it, it's not a bad idea to shred any documents containing less-sensitive ...
... information like your address, email address, and even phone number. Again, this information can sometimes be used to access further, more useful information.

Next up is junk mail. If an item of junk mail is addressed directly to you, it's best to shred it. An identity thief can pull a credit card offer from your garbage, send it back to the company with a change of address form, and wind up with a credit card in your name.
However, if you, like most citizens, regularly receive a bundle of mail simply addressed to "occupant," you needn't bother shredding it; it won't contain any sensitive information.

When it comes to credit card receipts, it's best to keep them until you receive your statement. At that point, once you've checked the statement against the bill for errors, you should be free to shred. But it's an even better idea to eliminate the paper trail completely by signing up for online billing from your credit card company. This way you can easily manage your account without leaving anything behind for an identity thief to pull out of the trash.

I've heard you should keep them for 45 days but to be honest I pretty much shred them after I've checked for errors and paid the bill. Plus, I think it's time to sign up for online billing if you can. They can't steal your mail or find a bill in the trash if there's no paper bill in the first place.

While you can shred your credit card receipts almost right away, you'll want to hang onto several other kinds of sensitive documents, for a while at least. When it comes to tax documents, the general consensus is to keep them for at least seven years. Then, provided you've kept up with your returns, it's time to shred away. The same holds true for mortgage documents, as well as any records of home improvements-except you'll need to keep them for six years after selling the property.

With other kinds of sensitive documents, it's best to keep them for about a year before shredding. This includes things like pay stubs which you should keep until tax time in order to make sure they match your W-2; then it's time to shred. Medical records are usually also kept for a year before shredding and the same holds true for bank statements. However, just like with credit card accounts, the best bet for bank statements is to switch to online record-keeping and completely do-away with any sensitive documents.

When dealing with other types of sensitive information, the time to wait before shredding can vary based on the type of document. For example, insurance policies should be kept for the duration of the policy plus five additional years before shredding. Utility bills are another variable. In most cases, it's advisable to shred them after paying the bill. However, if your utility bills include tax-deductible expenses, the rules of other tax-related documents still apply before shredding.

So there you have it-a few ground rules when it comes to paper-shredding. While some of them may just seem like common sense, it's important to stay on top of your personal information and make sure that none of your sensitive data ever makes it out to the curb.
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Most people who choose a paper shredding new york city company are not aware that there are major differences between companies in terms of information security, price and customer service. At American Security Shredding, we protect businesses and their customers by providing highly secure, on-site and off-site shredding, to help them comply with HIPAA, GLB and FACTA, as well as all other federal information destruction laws.