When was the last time you checked your child's credit report? Never, right? Not much reason to check a credit report for someone who doesn't have credit.
But that's exactly the reason kids are such easy targets for identity thieves. ID thieves know children are an easy target because they likely won't check their credit reports until they're adults and need to apply for credit.
Here are a few tips how to protect your child's ID:
Guard his or her Social Security number. Don't carry your child's Social Security card in your wallet. Don't give out your child's number on the phone unless you trust the recipient and NEVER send the number in an e-mail.
Be careful about posting information about your child. If you want to let your Facebook friends or Twitter followers know that it's your child's birthday, don't tell them the child's age. ID thieves can use that information to figure out what year the child was born.
Be careful with the birth certificate. More and more sports teams are asking parents to present a birth certificate for proof of a child's age. Don't hand over an original.
Check your childs's credit report. Go to annualcreditreport.com which lets you get a free report from each of the three credit bureaus once a year. If you enter your child's information and no report comes back, you will know that no credit has been taken out in your child's name.
Signs that your child's ID has been stolen
-Your child receives unsolicited credit offers.
-Your child receives letters from debt collectors.
-The IRS send you a letter stating that the Social Security number listed for your child on your tax return is a duplicate number.
-The bank tells you, when you go in for the first time to open an account for your child, that an account with your child's Social Security number already has been opened.
-Your health insurer says it won't cover a procedure for your child because it covered that procedure before (even though your child never had that procedure).
