Columbia BBB Offers Free Document Shredding As Part of 'Secure Your ID' Day May 3

COLUMBIA, SC – April 25, 2008 – The Better Business Bureau of Central South Carolina and Charleston will be offering free document shredding for individuals and small businesses this Saturday, May 3rd at Staples Office Supply at 4464 Devine Street, Columbia. As partners nationally with Equifax, the BBB is spreading the message that the first step in identity protection is simple: If you don’t need it, dispose of it…responsibly. Secure shredding services on the day of the event will be provided by Shred360, a member of the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID), the industry’s trade organization.

Citizens are invited to bring up to three boxes or bags of documents to be shredded. Documents to be shredded should be removed from binders. Along with this free community service, experts will be on hand to provide advice and resources for protecting personal information from ID thieves.

“Shredding sensitive paper documents is an important first step, but it doesn’t end there,” said Jim Camp, CEO of the local BBB. “That’s why BBB experts will also be distributing important advice and simple steps everyone can take to prevent ID theft in their daily lives, both online and off.”

Last year, 8.1 million Americans became victims of ID theft, resulting in the loss of $45 billion, according to a 2008 report from Javelin Strategy and Research. The report notes that 56 percent of ID theft occurs when the thief had direct contact with the victim’s personal information, through a stolen or lost wallet, rifling through a personal mailbox or trash can, or even lifting documents from inside a home or business.

“This is largely a crime of access,” Camp said. “Our goal is to make the information less accessible to criminals and to empower people to be their own first line of defense against identity theft. With community-based BBBs across North America collaborating for the very first time for an event like this, we’ll have a tremendous coast-to-coast presence that will reach a lot of people and, hopefully, stop a lot of theft.”

BBB Secure Your ID Day Details

Who: Better Business Bureau Serving Central SC and Charleston with national partners Equifax and the National Association for Information Destruction and local partners Shred360 and Staples Office Supply on Devine Street.

What: Free on-the-spot document shredding and prescriptive advice for protecting your identity from ID thieves

When: May 3, 2008 …. 10:00 am until 1:00 pm

Where: Staples Office Supply 4464 Devine Street at Jackson Blvd.

About BBB

BBB is an unbiased non-profit organization that sets and upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. Businesses that earn BBB accreditation contractually agree and adhere to the organization’s high standards of ethical business behavior. BBB provides objective advice, free business BBB Reliability ReportsTM and charity BBB Wise Giving ReportsTM, and educational information on topics affecting marketplace trust. To further promote trust, BBB also offers complaint and dispute resolution support for consumers and businesses when there is difference in viewpoints. The first BBB was founded in 1912. Today, 127 BBBs serve communities across the U.S. and Canada, evaluating and monitoring more than 3 million local and national businesses and charities. Please visit www.bbb.org for more information about BBB.

About Equifax (www.equifax.com)

Equifax empowers businesses and consumers with information they can trust. A global leader in information solutions, we leverage one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data, along with advanced analytics and proprietary technology, to create customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers. Customers have trusted Equifax for over 100 years to deliver innovative solutions with the highest integrity and reliability. Businesses – large and small – rely on us for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, marketing tools, and much more. We empower individual consumers to manage their personal credit information, protect their identity, and maximize their financial well-being. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax Inc. employs approximately 7,000 people in 14 countries through North America, Latin America and Europe. Equifax is a member of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500® Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX. About NAID The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) is the nonprofit trade organization of the secure destruction industry. With over 1,200 member locations, NAID members provide secure destruction services to business and government across North America. www.naidonline.org.