To be in compliance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), every business needs to properly destroy the personal and sensitive data of their customers. Hiring a professional document shredding service boils down to two choices: mobile document shredding or off-site document shredding. Knowing which one to choose has caused many a headache for business owners. But don't be confused by the industry jargon. Both provide you with compliance with privacy laws and recycle the paper. The basic difference is where the shredding physically takes place. A quick definition of each is:

• Mobile Professional Document Shredding. A service where specially outfitted truck is brought to your place of business and the shredding generally occurs in your parking lot. These trucks shred five thousand pounds an hour.

• Off-Site Professional Document Shredding is when your documents are boxed up and hauled to a firm's secure location and shredded. These industrial shredders can shred over twenty thousand pounds an hour.

Now that you have a general definition of each, how do you choose? The following information should give you a clearer idea of which direction your business should go in:

1. All shredders are not the same. Some shredders will produce pieces large enough that information could be recovered off of them, and even reconstructed to partial documents. While in most cases, off-site shredding will have shredders built to destroy documents more effectively than mobile shredders, this isn't always true. Your best bet? Ask to see a sample of shredded material to gauge the level of destruction yourself.

2. How difficult to destroy is your media? If you only have paper products that need destroying, either mobile or off-site should work just fine for you. On the other hand, some types of media are just more difficult to destroy – such as CDs, DVDs, plastic, microfiche, etc. If you have this type of media to destroy, be absolutely positive that you ascertain the shredder can destroy them. In most cases, off-site shredding can handle this type of media easier than mobile shredding.

3. The more sensitive the documents, the more important it is to have it destroyed in a tightly controlled environment. This is one of the areas that the decision is subjective. If you're more comfortable having the shredding occur onsite, where you can monitor it yourself, then you'll be more comfortable with a mobile shredding company. If, however, you dislike this idea, you'll probably want to use an off-site shredding company.

4. Cost. Every purchasing decision a business makes must include cost. Mobile shredding is the more expensive option. The larger the job the more this will impact the total cost of your document destruction program.

Additionally, before making a final decision, pay a visit to the off-site shredding companies you're considering, as well as the local offices for the mobile sites. Find out everything you can about their equipment and what happens to the destroyed documents. Who are their current clients? Typically, this information, combined with the above steps, will give you the answer you need in choosing a mobile or off-site shredding company for your business.