Why freeze a child's credit

When you freeze a child’s credit, you prevent new credit accounts from being opened in their name.

This process — just like for adults ↗ — protects against identity theft. Identity thieves won’t be able to use information about you or your kid (which they most likely already have) to open fradulent accounts and ruin credit histories.

More of a podcast person?

Check out this episode of the Online Fraudcast ↗. It has a reformed cybercriminal talking through how he would get information and what he would use it for.

Problem scope

Some studies estimate that approximately 10% of children ↗ get their identities stolen.

Child identity theft can go on for years. Unlike adults, who might notice something wrong, children and parents don’t normally have reasons to pay attention to their credit or new accounts.

The best defense against child identity theft is freezing their credit.