Because of the threat of identity theft, your business should ensure that they’re on top of their document shredding. Document management companies often have a document shredding service, wherein they’re willing to shred your documents within 24 hours, under surveillance, and keep a record of which documents you’ve given to them to destroy.
Any documents that come from financial transactions could potentially be used to steal another person’s identity, so these documents, in particular, should be the first on your company’s list of documents that need to be taken care of. It should be noted that you only must keep copies of bank and credit card statements for a maximum of three years, anything older than this is simply taking up unnecessary space.
Documents that contain other personal information are also a target, and so, paperwork that includes a client’s date of birth, national insurance number, or address, should also be gathered together to be shredded.
Particularly for companies with accounts, information held about those accounts is usually sensitive information. Account numbers, user names, passwords, security answers; these are all pieces of information that client accounts carry, and most businesses keep a record of them on paper.
You should shred any documents that includes information regarding personal property, credit cards, tax statements, company mail, bills, and utility accounts. The safest way to manage your company’s documents is this: if it’s over three years old, shred it, and ensure that you use a document management company to shred it for you.