Protect Your Identity by Attending a Community Shred Event

Minster Bank employees with shred-it truck

With identity thieves lurking, it can be stressful worrying over the security of your identity. A major way to cut down on the risk of identity theft is to shred any unnecessary personal documents you don’t need, such as tax returns, pay stubs and old bank records.

At Minster Bank, we’re here to help protect you against identity theft with our free Community Shred events.

Shred Important Documents to Prevent Identity Theft

Minster Bank hosts Community Shred events several times a year, allowing residents to shred up to five bags of documents free of charge. You don’t have to be a Minster Bank customer to participate.

Your documents are destroyed on-site by a Shred-It truck. The Shred-It truck can hold over 9,000 pounds of documents, according to Rhonda Keister, who manages Minster Bank’s Sidney office.

“The documents are shredded before they leave the parking lot,” Keister says. “In my opinion, the least amount of paper that our customers maintain would help reduce their risk of identity theft.”

(As a bonus, less paperwork = less clutter around your home!)

Check out more details on our upcoming Community Shred events >>

Reduce Your Risk of Identity Theft: Enroll in Online Banking

Another way to cut down on your paper trail is to enroll in online or mobile banking.

“When our customers enroll in online banking, bill pay or mobile banking, they limit exposing their confidential information, which will reduce the risk of identity theft,” Keister explains.

Customers enrolled in online and mobile banking can check their accounts regularly, enabling them to identify suspicious activity sooner rather than later.

“The sooner we can thwart the bad guys getting their information, the less damage they can do to our customers financially,” adds Keister.

Worried about the difficulty of managing your account online? Minster Bank can help you navigate.

“If customers want to come into the office, we can show them how to use online and mobile banking,” Keister says. “With identifying information, customers can also enroll themselves into our online programs.”

Are You a Victim of Identity Theft?

If you suspect you are a victim of identity theft, check out these steps on how to report identity theft or fraudulent activity on your account.

One way to monitor for identity theft or fraud is to check your credit report. You’re entitled to a free credit report once per year by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com, the only authorized source under federal law. 

Protect Yourself for Free at Our Community Shred Events

Destroy confidential documents you no longer need and decrease your risk of those documents getting into the wrong hands, all without having to pull out your wallet at our Community Shred events.

At those events in the last 10 years, we have shredded more than 149,550 pounds of paper – or 75.2 tons of confidential documents. And all that paper has been put to good use as recycled material, saving more than 1,000 trees.

Join us at our next event to get the peace of mind you need when protecting your identity.

This blog was originally published by Minster Bank in May 2022 and has been updated in July 2023.

 

>> See Upcoming Dates <<

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