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Card Consolidation Credit Debt Identity Theft's Young Victims: How to Protect Your Children's Identities

Unused credit cards are putting millions of Brits at greater risk of falling victim to identity theft, according to a specialist credit history firm.

Credit Union 11/23/05

prompting creditors to obtain authorization for new lines of credit or credit file changes that could lead to identity theft. financial identity theft. LifeLock backs its restoration services with a unique $1 million service guarantee that will recover 100 percent of a victim's related losses. In addition, approved credit card offers, viewed as one of the most common sources of information theft. LifeLock provides the nation's only identity theft prevention program for children.

Merchant Credit Guide Co By: Howard Goff

By keeping an eye on your statements and regularly monitoring your credit, you will be taking measures to protect your credit against the extensive damage of Identity Theft.

Apply Online For Credit Card When we think of identity theft, children are probably not the first victims we might imagine. Unfortunately, more and more kids are being targeted for this crime, and the culprits may not be who you think. Right now, approximately 4% of all identity theft cases involve children, which means roughly 400,000 kids a year are having their futures ruined without their knowledge. *

Much like a credit report, an identity theft report contains your personal and financial history. Companies like Privacy Matters offer an identity theft report as part of their core benefits, designed to protect your personal information and your peace of mind. Staying proactive is a key to preventing identity theft, and an identity theft report, along with identity theft and credit monitoring, offers you several different weapons to stay in the fight.

By Card Credit Debt Debt Guide In an article on MSNBC.com, a 24-year old man explained that by the age of 10, his identity had been used to accumulate almost $250,000 in debt and to commit a felony. Another victim, a 9-year old boy, received a collection notice for a $2,000 debt.

When confronted with the identity restoration process, identity theft victims are told not to panic, and that acting fast is the best way to a quick recovery. But can you blame them for panicking Even with identity theft numbers currently on the decline, studies indicate that U.S. consumers spend some 297 million hours on identity restoration annually, and there have still been over 27 million separate ID theft incidents in the last five years.¹ And those are just the ones that were actually recorded — only about one half of all identity theft victims ever even know that their identity has been taken.

Credit Repair Unlike most identity theft victims, however, these two individuals know exactly who was responsible for committing this crime: their fathers. According to the article, almost two-thirds of all child-related identity theft cases are committed by family members.

Active Credit Credit Guide A child becomes a victim, in most cases, because someone else uses their social security number and name to open a credit card or to have utilities turned on. While the information can be used in other ways, those are two of the most common. And, because children aren't interested in their credit history until they turn 18 or older, most never even realize the crime has been committed until years after the theft started.

Credit Score There are some ways to protect your child against potential identity theft:

• Keep their social security number locked up in a secure location - If criminals don't have access to your child's social security number, they can't steal it. Never carry their card in your purse or wallet where it could easily be lost or stolen. Never share the number with another family member or anyone else who does not have a professional need to know.
  
• Ask to not have their SSN listed on insurance cards - Many insurance companies list social security numbers on their cards. If yours does, then contact them and ask to use a different number.
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• Do not allow your child to know his or her SSN until its necessary - Young children have no reason to know their social security numbers or to have access to their SSN card. Keep those documents safe and private until your child needs them. Children are often tempted to reveal more than they should to friends, family members, even strangers.
  
• Check their credit report - While a yearly check of their report may not be necessary unless you suspect a problem, it's a good idea to periodically check your child's credit reports for activity. Your child shouldn't have anything listed at all, but if anything does show up contact the credit bureau and the listed creditors immediately.

Bad Car Credit Guide Loan Additionally, if you are a parent you should NEVER use your child's social security number fraudulently. Not only are you committing a crime, but you are also making your child's life more difficult. Furthermore, if you know or suspect that someone is wrongly using their child's personal information, then you should contact the authorities. Don't sit idly by while they ruin that child's future.

Bad Credit Loan If you want more information on preventing, detecting, or rectifying identity theft problems for children and adults, then you need to read Identity Theft: A Resource Guide from PCSecurityNews.com. The ebook is available at http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/identity_theft.html

Credit Definition Derivative * Novotny, Monica. "Robbing the Cradle." Countdown with Keith Olberman. MSNBC.com

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