Think you don't need a shredder?

So, how paranoid about identity theft are you? Do you have a paper shredder? Do you use it religiously? If your answers are "not very," "no," and "obviously not, dummy," then you'd better go to Cockeyed.com and read Rob's story of The Torn-Up Credit Card Application:

I get a heck of a lot of credit card applications in the mail.
A bunch for Visa, quite a few from Mastercard and tons of them from American Express.

I almost always tear them in half and throw them away.

Sometimes, if I am feeling particularly paranoid, I'll tear them into little bitty pieces.

Is that good enough? Could a determined and dexterous criminal gather all the bits, tape them together and apply for a card in my name? Would a credit card company balk when confronted with an obviously resurrected application?

A test was in order, and when the latest application arrived from Chase Mastercard, I was equal to the task.

Go read it, really. It'll only take a minute; it's 4 pages, but each is just a few short sentences and some nice pictures illustrating the task. Fascinating.

Here's the bottom line: After tearing the application into about 15-20 pieces, Rob taped them back together, filled it out, changed the pre-printed address and phone number, and sent it in. Chase sent him a credit card. At the new address he provided. And let him activate it with the cell phone number he'd provided.

Heck, someone who doesn't have a (throwaway) cell phone could probably send them a pay phone number and use that.

Those of you who already have and use a shredder are probably feeling smugly self-satisfied now. As for the rest of you -- well, this link should help.