A Parkville-based credit union will offer its members and the public a chance to safely dispose of unused documents containing sensitive information later this month.

A document shredding day will be held at Destinations Credit Union, 8767 Satyr Hill Road, on Oct. 27 from 1-4 p.m.

The event is intended to highlight the importance of keeping your person information secured, according to a press release from the company.

"Identity theft continues to be a serious problem.” wrote Brian Vittek, CEO of Destinations, in a statement.  “Education about how identity thieves work is a consumer’s best protection.  As our way of helping those in our community, we provide this free shred day annually, in addition to ongoing education and fraud alerts."

A report from the United States Department of Justice shows that in 2010, 7 percent of American households were the victims of some sort of identity theft.

Will you take your documents to be shredded during this free event? Is shredding old documents something you do regularly to protect yourself? Tell us in the comments.