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" A child&amp;#039;s financial identity is a completely\u00A0clean slate (without the\u00A0missed payments, student loans, or high balances\u00A0that can plague adults) \u2014\u00A0and that&amp;#039;s why thieves love it so much. Even scarier? Because it will likely be years before a child tries to obtain their own line of credit, it could be a long time before\u00A0theft is detected.\u00A0And we mean a long time:\u00A0A couple years ago, a\u00A0three week-old baby in Washington had his name and identity stolen. All it takes is your child&amp;#039;s\u00A0social security number to open credit cards\u00A0or even\u00A0rent a home. And unless you receive a bill in the mail or happen to check your kid&amp;#039;s credit report, you have no way of knowing if a theft occurred. A minor will not have a credit report unless they have credit in their name (perhaps\u00A0you\u00A0made them a registered user on your card, for example) or they have been victimized by a thief. Agencies like Experian say that not having a credit history is actually your child&amp;#039;s best defense against\u00A0fraud because if someone tries to open an account with their SSN, it will be flagged as belonging to a minor and the fraud department will be alerted.\u00A0 But there&amp;#039;s a way to totally beat\u00A0thieves to the punch: Freeze your child&amp;#039;s credit. Then, if a theft should occur,\u00A0any credit\u00A0request will simply be denied or the application marked incomplete. Some states require that all three credit bureaus offer this service (for instance,\u00A0starting January 1, 2016, a\u00A0North Carolina law will kick in\u00A0that gives parents this option). But Bankrate.com reports that Equifax will allow parents from any state to set up a freeze for a minor.\u00A0The only way to unfreeze the credit\u00A0is with a guardian&amp;#039;s\u00A0permission. &amp;quot;The children have to fill out social security numbers for camps, for various school activities and so little by little their social security number and private information gets out to the public,&amp;quot; said Caroline Farmer, an attorney with the North Carolina attorney general&amp;#039;s office. &amp;quot;This is something you can do in advance.&amp;quot; [h/t WFMY] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/money/a36164/child-identity-theft/>