Protect personal info at all costs

WHILE MANY COLLEGE freshmen will be gettin g their first experience dealing with personal finance matters like credit cards and checking accounts, scammers targeting unsuspecting students are old hat. Michael Bruemmer, vice president of consumer protection for Experian, offers Daily News readers these tips to keep college students protected from identity theft on campus:

Leave your Social Security card and birth certificate at home, with your parents. You’ll need your Social Security number in college, so you should have it memorized. Be careful about how you use it and who you give it to; they should have a legitimate need for it. Only carry with you the ID that you actually need, like your driver’s license and student ID card. Never loan those items to anyone.

Be careful what you share on social media. Never expose personal information such as your date of birth, home address, phone number and unique information like your mother’s maiden name, which is often used for authentication.

Never complete a credit card application at a table or booth on campus. Instead, go through the credit card company’s secure website or contact your bank before you go to school.

Always keep your dorm room or apartment door locked, even when you’re home. Most identity theft still occurs in mundane, nontechnical ways, like a wallet being stolen from a drawer or a purse taken from an unlocked room.

Monitor your credit report regularly. Not only will regular monitoring help you identify possible occurrences of identity theft, it can help you better understand how the financial decisions you make affect your credit score.