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Freeze their credit and claim their government accounts
Why it matters: Older adults' details turn up in many breaches and they rarely apply for new credit, so a freeze costs them nothing and blocks a lot.
On your path if you picked “An older parent or relative I help” for “Who's at home?”.
Do it
- With them, place free freezes at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
- Create or secure their my Social Security account so no one else can redirect benefits.
- Set up Informed Delivery so they can see mail before it arrives.
- Store logins in a password manager they can use, or in a shared vault with you, with their agreement.
Check it worked: Your relative has credit freezes at all three bureaus, and their my Social Security and USPS Informed Delivery accounts exist and are protected.
Simply put
It's the same deadbolt you put on your own credit file, fitted on theirs. They rarely apply for new credit, so the lock costs them nothing and blocks a lot, and claimed accounts make their benefits harder to redirect.
In detail
This is the same work as identity-claim-accounts, done with and for someone else. Run it once per person and mark it complete for both domains.
Points toward the Long View: credit and benefits that are much harder to take over in your relative's name.