Do you lock your house?
Freezing your child's credit is the financial equivalent of locking your house while on vacation
Going without freezing your kids' credit is much like leaving your house unlocked when you're out of town. Only, it's worse. What if anyone who cared to know could easily determine that your house is unlocked, and that you are gone? What if your house was actually on a list of unlocked, un-monitored homes that thieves could easily purchase online?
Your house would probably get broken into eventually, and it'd be hard to feel sorry for you.
This is pretty much the case with your kids' credit reports. More and more financial services are moving online, and stolen social security numbers have become readily available. Those that end up getting taken are those that don't take the simple precaution of freezing their kid's credit file. Thieves will take the easiest opportunity presented. Don't be the easiest.
If you don't believe us, here are 11 reputable sources that all basically say the same thing. Parents MUST freeze their kids' credit. It's simply too risky not to.
- NBC News - "More than 1 million children were victims of ID theft last year"
- The US Federal Trade Commission - "Child Identity Theft"
- California State Attorney General - How to "Freeze" Your Child’s Credit Files
- New York Times - "You Should Freeze Your Child’s Credit..."
- Wall Street Journal - New on Parents’ To-Do List: Checking Children’s Credit History
- USA Today - ID theft: Use credit freezes to keep your kids, elderly safe from this financial scam
- Forbes - 3 Reasons Why You Should Freeze Your Child's Credit
- CNN Money - How to Protect Your Kids from Identity Theft
- Huffington Post - How To Prevent Child Identity Theft By Freezing Your Kid's Credit
- Nerd Wallet - How to Protect Your Child From Identity Theft
- Nolo - Should I Freeze My Child's Credit Report?
Ready to get started?
Yes, Let's go get it done