jmood

I was putting together my removal of conditions file and it suddenly struck me that our files have EVERYTHING in them that would be the treasure trove for a potential ID thief. There are several bank account statements that show the account number, there are credit card statements that show the CC number, they have our SS numbers, our birth dates, our addresses of the last 5 years and they even have my husband's mother's maiden name!

I know our application is supposed to be secure but...
Any thoughts?

Is it OK to black out the numbers of the bank accounts and credit card accounts?

Noorah101

Yes, it's OK to do that. I did the same thing. The only thing USCIS is really looking for is that you have joint names on things, and your joint life together. They don't care what the account numbers are, or your SSN's, so you can black those out.

Rene

Rete

This has been a concern for many people, myself included when we started with USCIS over 13 years ago.

Black it out. It is permitted.

Chrissie85

Even though Im not at this stage just yet, im glad you asked!!

Its for sure good to know info!!

jmood

OK, then, how about this:

If you're printing out your bank & credit card statements from on-line, you may not be able to cover the numbers with a marker pen. I went over them 3-4 times with a really heavy marker pen, then also with a felt tip pen. And no, you could still see through. I tried marking both the front and back of those spots - no still could see through. So then, genius as I am, I thought I'll tipex them and then put black marker on top. After the tipex dried (sorry, that's white-out fluids for you Americans) I went over with the marker and lo and behold, the numbers now became visible under the white!!!
So tomorrow will be another day at Staples for me making yet more copies. I suspect if those sheets were photocopies the black marker may have been enough. My printer is a laser printer, dunno if it would have been different for an ink-jet.

And needless to say, I have a HUGE mess of papers on the floor, and it's not only those bank and credit card statements, turns out there's more stuff that's missing. Trying to make sure I have 2 copies of each, one for me, one to file, and that everything is in the order I list on the cover "attachments"list.

Spent most of yesterday and today with this stuff. Always takes longer than you think. Sighhhhhhh....

I wonder if lawyers assistants pay as much attention when they're organising this stuff. OK, rhetorical question. I think I know the answer.

Rant over!