Avoid a festive financial hangover with our Christmas budgeting tips
With Christmas fast approaching, are you ready to splash the cash? Check out our tips for sustainable spending.
Your identity is your most valuable asset, these steps will help you protect it.
- Shred, shred, shred! Don't throw any paperwork with your name, address or other personal details away without shredding them.
- Protect your passwords and change them regularly - a good password will stop it being guessed.
- Get regular copies of your bank statements and credit report. This will enable you to monitor your credit status and spot any activity that you personally have not carried out.
- Be mindful of the information you give out over the phone - your bank and building society will never ask you to give them your password or PIN number.
- Never click on suspicious links - if you do not recognise a link or are not expecting it to appear then ignore it.
- Use secure websites when completing financial transactions. A secure website URL should begin with 'https' rather than 'http'. The 's' at the end of 'http' stands for secure and is using an SSL (secure sockets layer) connection.
- Redirect your mail quickly after moving house - your mail often has a significant amount of personal and financial information. You don't want this falling into the hands of s stranger.
- Think about the information that you share on social media - over-sharing information online could assist fraudsters in gaining all the information they need about you.
- Keep your anti-virus software up to date - additional protection on your computer may stop a virus.
- If you are concerned that you have been a victim of identity fraud, act quickly - contact your bank or building society who will try and help you.
