Credit Freeze To Prevent Child ID Theft? It's Not Always Easy Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: September 10, 2015 Liz Weston Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Parents in 22 states have the right to freeze their children’s credit to . But that doesn’t mean credit bureaus make it easy. And in other states, protecting your child can be a real fight: Only 1 of the 3 credit bureaus, Equifax, allows parents from any state to set up a freeze for a minor child. Equifax will create a credit file if one doesn’t already exist for a child and promptly suppress it — the equivalent of the credit freeze adults can request. Experian, on the other hand, limits freezes on minors’ credit reports to the states that expressly require it and otherwise won’t freeze a file unless it finds that one has already been created. If a minor has a credit file, though, then his or her identity likely has already been stolen, since minors aren’t supposed to be given credit. TransUnion, meanwhile, will create and suppress a credit file for a minor if there’s evidence the child’s identity has been stolen, but the bureau discourages parents from asking for such freezes as a precautionary measure. Thieves can operate for years
Limits on credit freezes are a problem, because freezes are the most effective way to prevent a child’s Social Security number from being used to open new credit accounts. Otherwise, a criminal who snatches your child’s Social Security can operate for years with impunity. Your family likely won’t know an identity has been compromised until your child tries to open a bank account and gets turned down because of bad checks she didn’t write, or applies for a credit card only to be rejected for a long history of not paying bills that weren’t hers in the first place. Signs of child ID theft
You may get tipped off to problems if your child starts receiving credit card solicitations or collections calls. Or you may have no clue at all that her identity’s been stolen. Warning signs of child ID theft
Your under-18 child gets calls from collection agencies. Your child receives bills from credit card companies or medical providers. Your child receives credit card offers. Your child (or your family) is denied federal benefits because another account using that Social Security number is already receiving benefits. The Social Security Administration or IRS requests confirmation that the child is employed, even though he or she has never had a job. The IRS notifies the parent that his or her dependent child is listed on someone else’s tax return. Your child receives notice from the IRS that he or she owes taxes on income the child didn’t earn. Source: National Conference of State Legislatures You can check your own credit reports for fraud online. You can’t do that with a minor child, since children aren’t supposed to have credit reports. And if they do — because thieves have opened accounts in their names or using their Social Security numbers — you likely wouldn’t be able to answer the security questions based on those accounts that would give you access to their files. When is the last time you checked your credit report? at myBankrate. Some states act
Given the risks involved, many states have passed laws requiring bureaus to freeze a child’s credit at a parent’s request. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, those states include Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Most of those state laws require credit bureaus to create a credit file if none exists, but 3 — Illinois, Montana and Nebraska — do not, says Heather Morton, the organization’s program principal for fiscal affairs. Easier said than done
Getting a freeze for a minor, even in the states that authorize it, isn’t exactly easy. Parents have to write a letter requesting a freeze and include copies of their own driver’s licenses or other identification along with copies of the child’s birth certificate and Social Security card. (Each bureau has slightly different requirements, which are detailed on their sites.) But the differing policies and state laws have led to consumer confusion and even uncertainty among identity theft experts about whether parents should request an investigation into their child’s credit history if there’s no evidence of a problem. “We’re still a little leery of advising parents to do an inquiry,” since that alone may create a credit file, says Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “As soon as you start creating activity where none should exist, you could end up creating vulnerability.” Related Links: Survey: Do you really understand what kills your credit score? Ex has to pay our credit card bill. Should he pay interest, too? Related Articles: SHARE: Liz Weston Related Articles