32 Documents to Shred to Prevent Identity Theft

Last Updated on July 22, 2022 by Cheryl Moreo

Identity theft is in the news regularly. Did you know that the most common source of providing would-be thieves your personal information comes into your home almost daily? It is mail! Yes, it arrives in your mailbox and you bring it into your home and toss it into your wastebasket.

Types of Identity Theft

• Financial
• Medical
• Driver’s License
• Synthetic
• Insurance
• Criminal
• Social Security
• Child

To learn more about the various theft types, I recommend reading, “The Many Different Types of Identity Theft” by Jake Stroup.

Certainly, I am guilty of going out and getting the mail out of the box. I bring it into the house, stand over the wastebasket, and toss the junk mail. Probably most of the time, I don’t even open the envelopes. For that reason, I researched just what should be shredded.

Above all, any mail with personally identifying information on it, whether you asked for it or not, should be shredded before it is tossed. Most important personal information includes signature, account number, social security number, or medical or legal information (plus credit offers).

What should you shred?

1. Address labels from junk mail and magazines (because the barcode may contain identifying information)
2. ATM receipts
3. Bank statements
4. Birth certificate copies
5. Canceled and voided checks
6. Credit and charge card bills, carbon copies, summaries and receipts
7. Credit reports and histories
8. Children’s mail containing your authorization for school field trips, school applications,  and report cards
9. Papers including the maiden name (used by credit card companies for security reasons)
10. Documents containing names, addresses, phone numbers or e-mail addresses
11. Statements relating to investments
12. Papers containing passwords or PIN’s
13. Driver’s licenses or items with a driver’s license number
14. Employee pay stubs
15. Employment records
16. Expired passports and visas
17. Unlaminated identification cards (college IDs, state IDs, employee ID badges, military IDs)
18. Legal documents
19. Investment, stock and property transactions
20. Items with a signature (leases, contracts, letters)
21. Luggage tags
22. Medical and dental records
23. Papers with a Social Security number
24. Pre-approved credit card applications
25. Receipts with checking account numbers
26. Report cards
27. Resumés or curriculum vitae
28. Tax forms and related receipts (after the prescribed retention period has expired)
29. Transcripts
30. Travel itineraries
31. Used airline tickets
32. Utility bills (telephone, gas, electric, water, cable TV, Internet)

Don’t become an identity theft victim!

Maybe you think that you should keep everything, just in case, remember those identity thieves can’t find documents you have destroyed. Therefore, destroying documents with your personal information reduces the likelihood of becoming a victim. SHRED!

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Paper shredders to consider:

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