When I was a kid, my brother would join the mail order record clubs regularly in order to get the two free records that came when you signed up for new membership. He then got the bright idea to sign up for a second membership under a fake name in order to get more free records.  He of course paid the bills, doing this just to get the records. The names stuck and we started to get mail for magazines, book of the month clubs and pre approved credit cards. Always, grabbing a chuckle we would throw them out and talk about getting credit cards in the dog’s name or our three year old cousin’s name. To this day, we still get mail in those names.

 

When my nephew was born he got a few music memberships in his name, now for CD’s, of course. Again, we joked getting a credit card in his name. All we needed was name, address, date of birth, social security number and the card was ours! Okay, we didn’t do it, but if we had I bet 90% chance we would have gotten it.

 

So, as we all hear about, Identity Theft is becoming one of the biggest crimes and on a Global scale!  It is easy to get someone else’s ID and apply for a credit card these days. It is even easier to get a child’s ID and apply for credit, which is why it is becoming such a problem.

 

The top reason for stealing a child’s ID is that the discovery of the crime can go undetected for years. Until actual credit is applied for, you might not even know that credit exists. There are telltale signs to look for. Things such as those preapproved credit card offers being received by your 8 year old, magazine subscriptions or offers for vacation homes in the Bahamas. If you ever open up a bank account for a minor, ask the bank if the run a credit report. If they run one and credit already exists, you know you have a problem.  If you have concerns go to one of the credit bureau web sites and run a free credit report. (You are allowed to obtain one free credit report per year.) 

 

If anything is wrong, it will show up and you can begin the process of taking care of it. You will have to file reports and monitor the account, but it is better than your kid discovering it when you need a college loan.

 

Dale Siegel