Feds Warn Idaho Residents of the One Thing They Should Never Carry in a Wallet

One of my coworkers recently lost her phone and wallet. She immediately canceled all her cards to keep a stranger from using them, but if she had the card in her wallet that the Feds are saying you should never carry in your wallet, she would have been in a much worse situation.

Idaho Residents Need to Take this Out of Their Wallet ASAP

The card that the US government is saying you should not carry in your wallet or purse is your Social Security card. There are few things that will give a bad person access to your personal information and make it easy to steal your identity like having a card with your Social Security Number on it. The SSA website says you don’t even need your Social Security card to get a Real ID card in Idaho and rarely need the actual card. Just knowing the number is usually enough or having evidence of your number on another valid document. BUT, the website for Idaho makes it seem like a Social Security card is something you need to provide but the Star Card checklist clarifies that you only need to provide the number.

You should be very careful about who knows or has access to your number. On the government website for Social Security Matters, they have suggestions on how to ‘Guard Your Card’ and information on the importance of keeping your number safe and secret. The SSA website has a simple graphic to help you know when sharing your SSN is appropriate and whether you need to have the actual card or just the number.

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If your card is ever stolen or lost, you can report it or request a new one easily through the Social Security Administration website. The process can even be a free service if you aren’t making any changes to the information on the card.

I don’t know anyone who carries their Social Security Card in their wallet, but I don’t know what everyone keeps in theirs. That’s why it’s important to make sure the people you care about know that they should not have their SSN card in their wallet.