I have heard that it is a good idea to put a security freeze on a child's credit, so that no crook can hijack a child's credit history while the child is young (and the child is not applying for credit and no one is monitoring his credit).
Has anyone here done that for a young child?
Would you have any guidance or tips?
Thanks.
S.
Thanks, folks.
I appreciate the responses. Now to decide what to do...
I've recently heard of doing that. You should be able to get a free report every year. It's a good idea anyway. My brother found a mix-up on his when he was an adult and it took awhile to fix. Apparently some banks will let nine year olds take out mortgages. :)
We run a credit report against our son's number every year.
We've not done it for our daughter but we do have a freeze on ours due to potential fraud when some sensitive information was leaked.
I love it. If someone tries to get credit, the companies call us directly and ask. We are not looking for credit, we have the best scores you can get and we plan to keep it that way.
I personally think it is a good idea.
My kids are grown but yes this is a good idea. I have heard of cases where the kids go to apply for student loans only to find their credit has been trashed by an identity theif. Then they can't go to school until it's cleared up.
Many years ago I found out by accident that there is someone else with my son's name in our town. We do not know this person and he is several years older than my son. I found out because his records were mixed with my son's at his ped's office. My son said, 'Ya and his credit stinks every now and then something that is the other guys bill goes on my son's credit report.
I have not done so, but it's not a bad idea as a child doesn't need to turn 18 and fight fraud. In cases where you have reason to believe someone (like a family member) might use the child's SSN, you can buy monitoring and at the very least I'd run their report every year.
Not a bad idea. In Maryland, another woman and my sister had the exact same name with the exact same birthday. It did get my sister in trouble a time or two. Never with credit (thank God the other woman didn't have credit), but with the police.
We don't have a freeze, but we have a credit-monitoring company monitoring both our children's credit. They will inform us if there is any activity.
I recently sent in the paperwork for my children. I found the instructions by googling it and then looking at the individual websites for the credit bureaus. You have to do it separate for each. I think it is 5 yr max, so if yuor child is 6, it will not automatically last until he/she is 18. I had to send in a copy of my drivers' license to show I am the parent.
What about Life Lock? It seems like a great, inexpensive service to monitor your credit, etc.
Haven't heard of it but I think it's a great idea! I'll look into it myself.
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/why-its-not-eas...
May not be easy, though it is allowed in Oregon. Agree with B ... Just run the child's report every year. If there's no report, no need to worry. If there's a report, contact the credit agency and get it reversed.
