This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. All opinions are 100% mine.
I just recently heard a statistic that was quite shocking as a parent: In the past year, over 50,000 children in the state of Florida have become victims of identity theft. And more than $100 million has been stolen with those identities. Isn’t that mind blowing? I always hear about adults being victims of identity theft, and take proper cautions to prevent it myself– but I had no idea that I needed to protect my child as well.
Thankfully, the state of Florida has passed a new law to help parents easily set up credit records for their children and freeze them. This effectively blocks identity thieves from using your child’s personal information to open credit cards, mortgages, loans or other types of financial accounts.
To create a credit report for your child and freeze it, contact the following credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Details on the documents these agencies will need and sample letters are available at www.FreshFromFlorida.com/ProtectYourChild.
The fee to freeze your child’s credit is a low, one-time fee of $10 per agency, or waived if your child is already a victim of identity theft. Any parent or legal guardian of minors up to 16-years-old may sign up their child. The freeze lasts until the parent contacts the credit bureau to remove the freeze, or until the child reaches adulthood and asks for the freeze to be removed.
You may want to check your child’s credit report before hand to make sure it’s not being misused. If you notice anything suspicious, take immediate action. Sensitive info is often passed through schools and on other forms from organizations which many parents freely give because they’re not aware of a threat. Sadly, with clean credit histories, children are easy targets for this kind of theft.
It’s time for Florida parents to stand up to identity thieves– Protect Your Child’s Identity by freezing their credit report now!
