Need To Destroy Important Papers? 3 Reasons Document Shredding Is A Must

Do you have important papers that you no longer need? If you were thinking about throwing them in the trash or storing them in a drawer, you may want to reconsider those decisions. Papers that have sensitive or private information on them, such as social security numbers and credit card numbers, should never get thrown in the trash until they are shredded. In fact, there are several good reasons to use a document shredder.

Keep Your Privacy Protected: Avoid Identity Theft

More than 9 million cases of identity theft occur each year in the United States. Becoming a victim of identity theft is frustrating and difficult to overcome. Victims often deal with the consequences caused by someone else who decided to steal their private information and used it to their own advantage to take out loans and credit cards.

If your social security number is attached to any of those important papers and someone happens to dig them right out of the trash, they could easily steal your identity and cause huge problems for you. Some of those problems include:

  • Debt with credit card companies
  • Debt with personal loan companies
  • Utility bills in your name that do not belong to you

If shredding documents allows you to avoid this problem that has affected millions of people, it is worth taking a few extra minutes to get it done.

Keep Your Clients Personal Information Private Too

If the documents you need to get rid of contain private information about one or more of the clients you work with, shredding is just as important. Not only does it prevent others from being able to steal the identities of your clients, but it also keeps them from finding out personal information that the clients may not want anyone else to know about, especially if it is business-related and could potentially ruin their reputation.

Prevent Clutter: Keep Your Office Organized

You may never need to use these papers again, but believe it is safer to just shove them in a drawer instead of throwing them out. However, placing your important documents inside of a drawer will only contribute to the clutter around your personal space, which may be where you attempt to get your work completed.

If you shred the documents and place them in the recycle bin, you can keep your space organized while doing something positive for the environment. Most people do not realize it is still possible to recycle shredded paper. Now that you know the benefits of shredding, you may never want to quickly trash your documents or throw them in a drawer ever again.

To learn more about document shredding, contact a company like Vital Records Control


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