It’s here – the busiest shopping time of the year.  Even if you aren’t waiting in lines before daylight for special bargains, you may be doing some in store or online shopping, too.  The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse offers 10 Holiday Tips to protect your finances and identity.  We offer these additional credit building tips.

1) Always keep your credit card in sight when checking out of a store or restaurant.
Skimming machines and cellphone cameras make it easy for your card’s information to be captured for possible fraudulent use.  Read more here.

2) Do not carry your Social Security card with you.  Period.
It should be locked in a safe place at home.  If you need it for proof of ID for a one-time occasion, carry it with caution and lock it back up immediately after the use.  This number is the best key identity thieves can get to unlock your personal and financial information.  Protect it.

3) Do not carry all of your credit cards with you.
Rarely will you need to shop at 5 different stores and use all 4 of your Visa, Discover, MasterCard and American Express accounts.  Keep them locked up, NOT in your wallet.  Speaking of your wallet, you should copy everything in your wallet, front and back, and keep that paper locked up in the same safe place as your Social Security card and other documents.  In the event your wallet is lost or stolen, you have all of the information of what was in it.  Click here for a printable sheet on what to do if you lose your wallet.

4) Keep credit card balances under 25% of the account credit limit.
The second largest part of your FICO score is Amounts Owed.  This is your debt-to-available-credit ratio.  When your account balances are over half, 50%, of the credit limit, credit scores typically go down.  The closer you get to maxed out, they really tank.  Keeping your account balances under 25% of the credit limit usually helps your scores.  This goes for retail store and fuel accounts, too.

5) Check your credit reports after the holidays.
Monitoring your own credit is an important part of identity theft prevention and keeping your good credit.  You can do this yourself at no cost or you can get your reports and FICO scores for a small fee.  Either way, look for unknown accounts, balances on accounts you haven’t used recently, and addresses of places you have never lived in.   Click here for info on getting your own credit reports.

Protect your credit and your financial future by taking some simple precautions this holiday season.

.