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Staples May Have Been Breached. (Should You Just Cut Up All Your Cards?)

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Staples may be the latest retailer affected by a data breach, according to recent reports. If it’s true, the company is just one more link in a chain of information thefts that has hit consumers of Target , Home Depot , Jimmy John’s, JP Morgan Chase , Michaels, and Kmart, among others. In fact, up to 6 in 10 Americans may be affected by all the pilfering of personal information, according to security experts.

In a recent survey by CreditCards.com, 45% of respondents with credit or debit cards said they would definitely or probably avoid retailers over the holidays who have experienced a recent data breach.

“I think we’re in a phase where we’re going to see something like this quite frequently,” says Beverly Harzog, a credit card expert and author of Confessions of a Credit Junkie. “So it’s never been more important to protect your information.”

Thankfully, you don't have to take the scissors to all of your plastic to defend yourself. Here’s how to stay safe:

Use credit, not debit. If you do shop at a retailer that gets targeted by data thieves, you’ll be much better off if they steal your credit card info. “You have more protections with a credit card,” says Harzog, whose debit card was hacked several months ago. “With a debit card, you might still get all of your money back, but it could get tied up for a couple of weeks. We had to wait about 10 days.”

Check your account frequently. Don’t wait for your statements to verify that all of the charges on your card are yours. Log into your account online weekly—or even a couple of times a week—to make sure all the activity is legit. “If somebody hacks your account, that’s going to show up on your online statements,” Harzog says. “That is the best way to catch fraud in the very early stages.”

Get a credit report every four months. You’re entitled to a free credit report from each of the three bureaus— Equifax , Experian, and TransUnion—annually. For year-round monitoring, pull a report from one bureau every four months, using annualcreditreport.com, and make sure all of the activity is yours.

Take the free monitoring. Some retailers, such as Target and Home Depot, have offered free identity theft protection after a breach to consumers who might have had their information stolen. Free is nice. There’s no harm in taking them up on this.

Consider a freeze. If there’s been suspicious activity on any of your accounts or you’re merely petrified of dealing with fraudulent activity, a credit freeze might be something to think about. This prevents anyone from opening any new lines of credit in your name. However, it also keeps you from getting new credit. “It’s an inconvenience for you if you think you’re going to be applying for any type of credit at all—mortgage, car loan—but it really does protect you,” Harzog says. In some states there may be a fee—generally $10 or less—to freeze your credit, and another fee to thaw it, and you may have to pay that fee to each of the three bureaus.

Ponder a new card. It might also be smart to simply get a new credit card (or cards) if you know you’ve used it at a compromised retailer. Just remember to update your information on any automatic payments or charges that hit the card.

Keep card issuers informed. Now that information theft is so common, creditors are quick to shut down an account if they detect suspicious activity—like you, charging an espresso in Rome when you live in Florida. If you plan on taking a long-distance trip, let your credit card company know where you’re going and when you’ll be there. That way you can still pay for that margarita when you hear about the next data breach.

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