Why Parents Should be Concerned About Child Identity Theft When you have kids, you know that you have a lot of things to be concerned about as far as protecting your child. One thing that you may not necessarily think about right away but that is very important is protecting your kids from child identity theft. Child identity theft is something that can happen to any child, as kids are at risk of having their personal identities stolen just as adults are. When it occurs, child ID theft can be a very big problem for the kids who are affected. Your Child Could Have his Credit Ruined One of the biggest reasons why parents need to be concerned about child identity theft is that it could have a serious impact on your child’s financial future. Identity thieves steal people’s personal information and use it to their own advantage. This usually means they use it to their financial advantage and they act by taking on credit and spending a lot of money that they don’t pay back. When this happens, your child can get a string of maxed out credit cards and non-payments reported on his or her credit report. This can destroy your child’s credit score. You will have to undo the problem by getting all of the incorrect information taken off. Your child may even get court judgments against her if creditors sue when the debt doesn’t get paid. You’ll have to fix all of these issues and show that your child didn’t make the charges so your son or daughter isn’t held financially responsible for any of the losses. While you can eventually fix your child’s credit, the process is time consuming and difficult. Child Identity Theft Often Is Not Discovered for a Long Time Another important reason to be concerned about child identity theft is that the problem often is not discovered for a really long time. Kids, unlike adults, don’t usually apply for car loans or credit cards or mortgages. They also don’t typically check their credit reports. As such, they may not know they have bad credit or that people are taking out debt in their name since they never get a loan denial that lets them know something is fishy. The longer it takes to find out about identity theft, the harder it is to undo all the damage that has been done and the more time the thief has to destroy your child’s credit. This is why it is so important to take active steps to protect your son or daughter from child ID theft. How to Protect Your Child

If you want to protect your child, you should be proactive about working against child identity theft. One thing you can do is to make use of a program called kID SureSM or Identity Guard® which will give you the tools to keep better track of what is going on with your child’s information. These programs can help you to find out when certain red flags occur that indicate your child’s identity has been stolen. You can then take action quickly before a little problem because a big problem.