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Freeze your child's credit
Why it matters: A child's Social Security number has a clean history and no one checks it for years, which makes it ideal for building a fake identity. A freeze stops new credit before it starts.
On your path if you picked “Kids under 13” or “Teenagers” for “Who's at home?”.
Do it
- Visit each bureau's site and follow the process for a minor; you'll provide proof that you're the parent or guardian.
- Keep the confirmation and PIN with your important papers.
- Share your child's number only when it's truly required; ask schools and doctors why they need it.
- Plan to hand the freeze over to your child when they become an adult.
Check it worked: Each child has a credit freeze at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, which you lift when they're ready to apply for credit.
Simply put
A child's Social Security number is like a blank check nobody looks at for years. Freezing it means lenders who check can't open credit with it, and you hand your child the pen when they're ready.
In detail
Synthetic identity fraud often pairs a real but unused number with a made-up name, so child numbers are especially attractive. Problems usually surface only at a first student loan or job application, years after the damage started.
Points toward the Long View: a clean credit history waiting for your child when they need it.