Also see , at the bottom of the page, protecting your child from internet predators and your child's innocence while on the internet.
Did you know that identity theft protection for children has become just as important to think about as it is for adults? The identities of children are now being stolen by the thousands! They are easy targets because parents don't normally think about their children being victimized in this way, therefore nothing is done to apply any kind of identity theft protection for children.
A common misconception is that, since children do not have credit cards, loans, or other financial items as adults, their identities are safe.Not so!
In fact, children can grow up and graduate from High School, only to discover that when they apply for a job or for a student loan to go to college, they are denied because of bad credit due to identity theft that no one ever knew had happened. And by that time, the identity thieves have been using their identities for years, ruining the child's good name and credit worthiness before they have even had an opportunity to get started in life, which is hard enough by itself, let alone after identity theft has been going on behind the scenes for years! Identity Theft protection for children has now become a serious concern.
In the following video, a man who was a victim of child identity theft speaks out about the 3 million dollars his estranged father spent and how to prevent it from happening.
What can you do to protect your child's identity? To begin with, you can check your child's credit report annually. You may say, "But my child should not have a credit report." Correct! When you request your child's credit report, you should get a reply that informs you that a credit report for your child does not exist. That is good news!
However, if a credit report does exist, then identity theft has likely occured and you should have that report flagged, follow up on it, and begin the process of cleaning up the mess before it gets any worse.
For any child under the age of 13, you will have to request the credit report by mail by filling out a
request form
and mailing it to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
**NOTE: Be sure to use the above request form link to download the official form that is authorized by Central Source, the official site that helps consumers obtain their free credit report from each of the three national credit bureaus. Only Central Source and its members--Equifax, Experian, and Transunion--have been authorized by law and the United States Government to provide free credit reports. To use any other source could put your security at risk.
A Great Partner In Identity Theft Prevention and Protection for Children is LifeLock,
the premier Identity Theft Prevention, Reimbursement, and Recovery Company in America today, which offers identity theft protection for children. Those under the age of 16 can be covered for $25 per year, as long as at least one adult in the home is an annually paying client. Click here to get a discount for the entire family, with each child costing only $20 per year.
LIFELOCK is one of the few identity theft protection companies in America that makes sure children are protected from identity theft.
LIFELOCK's service comes with a $1 million service guarantee and also includes these services:
Checking credit reports every 6 months to ensure that there is no activity.
If a credit report does exist, LifeLock will place fraud alerts on the credit
reports, stating that this is a minor child and that no activity should occur.
Checking for work history and any misuse of the Social Security number.
Repeating this process regularly to ensure that all is well.
LIFELOCK simplies the process of identity theft protection for children, with a very affordable rate that amounts to less than 6 cents a day for a child, with the discount, and comes with a $1 million service guarantee!
Identity theft protection for children is something worth seriously considering. For me, the protection and peace of mind is well worth $20 a year for my child!
College students can be susceptible to having their identities stolen. Often, young college students do not think about identity theft and can be careless with their personal information.
College students often share housing with others they do not know, or know very well, which could provide easy opportunities for their information to get stolen and used in fraudulent ways.
Some colleges and universities still use a student number for identification purposes, likely requiring the student to carry an ID card that may have their photo and social security number on it. Your student needs to ask for a different number if at all possible.
Students should be careful about acquiring and using a credit card, and should be especially careful when using any PIN number or bank account passwords, even among friends.
Warn them about giving out their personal information and stress to them the importance of keeping their personal information private and well protected.
There are many scams that lurk on college campuses to find easy targets to victimize.
