Home movers often discard their identity along with their old home according to a new research. Leaving personal documents in your old home is a risk of identity theft and one that over one in ten home movers take.

Even more people, some 24%, leave themselves open to identity theft when they move home simply by failing to re-direct their post, according to the research released by identity protection service CreditExpert.co.uk from Experian.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK and Experian has identified moving home as one of the key events that put people at risk. Almost half (43%) of identity theft cases in the UK have occurred at a previous address.

Despite this, the CreditExpert research shows a significant number of people leave behind key personal information when they move, which can be used to commit identity fraud. These include mail order catalogues addressed to them (11%), personal mail / letters (9%) and even bank statements and utility bills (2%).

The research also found that 70% of new residents report receiving post addressed to the previous occupier. And 40% of new residents report receiving at least one letter addressed to a previous occupier every month. Some 24% of people receive post addressed to several previous occupiers. This post often includes documents containing valuable personal information that a fraudster can use to obtain credit in someone else's name, putting their ability to obtain a mortgage, loan or other financial product in jeopardy.

Students appear to be the worst culprits with some 36% of 17-25 year olds receiving post addressed to previous occupiers once a week or more, a common problem in rented student accommodation. Meanwhile, 8% have received important personal documents belonging to the previous occupier, such as a passport or cheque book.

To forestall any potential problems down the line a few common sense measures implemented now can save you grief later:

• Re-direct your post as soon as you move, thereby ensuring your mail won't go to your previous address and cannot be intercepted.
• Buy a shredder for your personal documents and shred everything that is rubbished at the old address.
• Inform your credit card companies, bank and other financial organisations you have a relationship with that you have moved.
• Register with the Mailing Preference Service at your old address.
• CreditExpert.co.uk currently offers a free 30-day trial using a credit monitoring service to keep tabs on your credit report. And if anyone fraudulently applies for credit using your identity the red flags will immediately go up