Child Identity Theft: Check and Freeze Your Child’s Credit

A child can become an identity-theft victim years before they ever apply for a credit card.

Someone who obtains a child’s Social Security number and other identifying information can use it to open an account, apply for a loan, obtain government benefits, set up utility service, or commit other fraud. Because most children are not routinely checking credit reports or financial accounts, the misuse can remain undiscovered for a long time.

That makes prevention unusually valuable. A parent does not have to wait for suspicious credit activity to appear before taking action.

Child Identity Theft at a Glance

What Child Identity Theft Can Look Like

The FTC defines child identity theft as someone using a child’s sensitive personal information to obtain services or benefits or to commit fraud.

Examples identified by the FTC include using a child’s information to:

• apply for government benefits;
• open a bank or credit card account;
• apply for a loan;
• sign up for utility service; or
• rent housing.

The thief may use the child’s Social Security number together with a different name or date of birth, which can make the fraud difficult to spot through ordinary family financial activity.

Credit misuse is therefore only one form of child identity theft. A clean credit file does not prove that a child’s information has never been misused elsewhere.

Watch for Bills, Collection Calls, Tax Notices, and Benefit Problems

The FTC lists several warning signs that deserve investigation:

• someone contacts you about an overdue bill for an account you did not open for the child;
• government benefits are denied because the child’s Social Security number is already being used;
• the IRS sends a letter about unpaid income taxes for the child; or
• the child is later denied a student loan because of bad credit created through accounts opened with the child’s identity.

The CFPB also notes bills, credit card offers, and collection calls in a child’s name as possible warning signs.

If several signals appear together — for example, a collection call plus an existing credit file containing unknown accounts — the likelihood of a serious problem is much higher.

Check Whether Your Child Has a Credit Report

Children under 18 generally do not have credit reports. The CFPB identifies several exceptions:

• an identity thief obtained credit using the child’s information;
• a file was created in error because another consumer has similar identifying information;
• the child is an authorized user on an adult’s credit card; or
• the child is a joint account holder on an adult’s account.

Because Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion maintain separate files, check with all three rather than assuming one bureau’s answer applies everywhere.

The FTC recommends asking each bureau for a manual search using the child’s Social Security number.

The bureaus may require documents showing both the adult’s identity and authority to act for the child. Current FTC guidance lists examples that may include:

• the parent or guardian’s government-issued identification;
• proof of the adult’s address;
• the child’s birth certificate;
• the child’s Social Security card; and
• guardianship documentation when the requester is not the parent.

Procedures differ by bureau and can change, so use the current Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion instructions linked by the CFPB or IdentityTheft.gov rather than an old mailing address copied from another website.

An Existing Credit File Does Not Automatically Prove Fraud

If a bureau finds a file, review what is actually in it.

A child can have legitimate bureau information in limited circumstances, particularly as an authorized user or joint account holder. A file can also be created because of a matching error involving another person with a similar name.

Look closely at creditor names, account opening dates, balances, addresses, inquiries, and collection information.

If another person’s legitimate credit appears to have been attached to the child because of a matching error, that may be a mixed-file problem rather than identity theft. Our mixed credit file guide explains that distinction.

How a Credit Freeze Works for a Child Under 16

Federal law provides a special security-freeze protection for a “protected consumer” under age 16. An authorized person — such as a parent or guardian — can request the freeze on the child’s behalf.

The freeze is free.

One of the most useful features is that the child does not have to already possess a normal credit file. The FTC and CFPB explain that when the nationwide bureau has no file on the protected child, it creates a record so the security freeze can be placed.

That record:

• exists so the child can be protected by the freeze;
• is frozen against new-credit use; and
• cannot be used for credit purposes.

This makes a child freeze fundamentally preventive. You do not have to discover identity theft first.

Contact Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion separately because a freeze at one bureau does not automatically freeze the other two.

What Changes When the Child Is 16 or 17?

The federal protected-consumer provision specifically covers people under age 16.

FTC guidance states that minors who are 16 or 17 may request and remove a security freeze themselves.

That age distinction matters when following bureau instructions. Do not assume the paperwork used by a parent for a 10-year-old will be identical to the process for a 17-year-old.

Use each bureau’s current minor-freeze instructions, especially when the child is approaching adulthood and may soon apply for student financing, an apartment, utilities, a phone plan, or other services where consumer-report information may matter.

A freeze does not damage a credit score. CFPB guidance states that security freezes do not affect credit scores.

If Fraudulent Accounts Already Exist, Freeze Alone Is Not Enough

A security freeze is primarily preventive. It restricts access that prospective creditors use when opening new accounts, but it does not automatically erase fraudulent information that is already on a file.

If you find identity-theft accounts involving a child:

1. Contact the companies where the fraud occurred. FTC guidance says to tell the fraud departments that someone opened the account using the child’s information and ask for the account to be closed.
2. Ask for written confirmation. Request documentation stating that the child is not responsible for the fraudulent account.
3. Contact all affected credit bureaus. Explain that the information belongs to an identity-theft case involving a minor.
4. Prove the child’s minor status. CFPB guidance points consumers to the FTC’s Uniform Minor’s Status Declaration for disputes involving a minor’s identity theft.
5. Request removal of fraudulent accounts, inquiries, and collections.
6. Freeze all three files. Prevent additional new-credit misuse.
7. Report the child identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov.

The CFPB specifically recommends contacting each credit reporting company, explaining that the child is a minor, and using the FTC Uniform Minor’s Status Declaration with a letter requesting removal of accounts, inquiries, and collection notices associated with the child’s information.

For the broader FCRA identity-theft blocking process, see How to Remove Fraudulent Accounts From Your Credit Report.

Protect the Child’s Social Security Number and Identity Documents

Prevention extends beyond the credit bureaus.

The FTC recommends asking questions before giving out a child’s Social Security number. If a school or other organization requests it, ask:

• why the number is required;
• how it will be protected;
• whether another identifier can be used; and
• whether only the last four digits would be sufficient.

Keep documents containing a child’s sensitive information — such as the Social Security card and medical records — in a secure place. Shred sensitive paper records before disposal and remove personal information from computers and phones before disposing of the devices.

Online accounts related to the child should use unique passwords and multi-factor authentication where the service supports it. Limit unnecessary sharing of birth dates, addresses, school details, and other identifying information that can be combined with data from another breach.

Check Again Before the Child Begins Using Credit

A proactive freeze can remain in place for years, which makes recordkeeping important.

Before the child begins applying for credit or another service that legitimately requires access to a bureau file:

• confirm which bureaus are frozen;
• review the current bureau files for unfamiliar information;
• follow the bureau’s current procedure to lift or remove a freeze when appropriate; and
• retain the old freeze and identity-theft records in case a previously corrected problem returns.

If no identity theft ever occurred, the process can be simple: verify the reports are clean and manage the freeze when legitimate credit becomes necessary.

If fraud was previously found, review more carefully. Confirm that previously removed accounts, collections, and inquiries have not reappeared and that the child’s identifying information is accurate.

If identity theft is confirmed at any stage, our Identity Theft Recovery Checklist provides the wider recovery workflow.