Your Security

Dear Consumer Ed:  Is it legal for pharmacies and doctors’ offices to require me to provide them with my date of birth? I’m told they can’t look up my file without it, but it seems like I’m giving out my DOB on a daily basis and I worry about identity theft. 

Dear Consumer Ed:  Since the front of my personal checks show my bank’s routing number and my bank account number, what’s to stop someone from using that information to have their bills paid through an automatic draft from my account?

Dear Consumer Ed:  I have frozen my credit with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to help reduce my risk of identity theft. I just heard that I could be at risk of cell phone fraud because there is another credit reporting agency that keeps data on telecommunications and utilities accounts.