How to Protect Your Child’s Identity and Credit Score
Protecting a child from harm is a parent’s number one priority. As a parent, you wouldn’t think twice about safely strapping your child into a car seat, blocking off the stairs from unwanted falls and providing guidance across a busy parking lot. But when it comes to your child’s identity and credit, are you just as cautious? In today’s age, you absolutely should be.
Your child’s Social Security number is an easy target for identity thieves. Why? A child’s Social Security number is generally not associated with any accounts with derogatory marks. This provides an easy route to establish credit, apply for government benefits and in some cases, receive medical assistance. So, how do you protect your child from identity theft?
- Protect their Social Security numbers by leaving forms blank where requested. If you have to fill in the blank per request, make sure you learn how they will be protected.
- Once you have important documents in hand, lock them away safely and securely. This includes birth certificates and Social Security cards.
- If you have unwanted copies of any important documents with sensitive information about your child’s identity, make sure you shred them securely. Learn more about secure shredding.
- Pay attention to any incoming mail with their name on it. If you see pre-approval offers from credit card companies, this is always worth investigation.
Guarding personal data isn’t the ultimate solution, but it’s what we can do now. “A Social Security number should not be used as a verifier,” says Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “We need a better way to verify identity. Ultimately, that’s the solution.”
At AccuShred, when we stress the importance of secure data destruction, it isn’t to be taken lightly. Our data destruction methods have been carefully selected over the years to ensure security. We have spent the extra money to ensure this small particle size because we feel it gives our customers (and us) the peace of mind knowing that their sensitive material has truly been thoroughly destroyed. Learn more about our data destruction services.
