This post brought to you by Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The content and opinions expressed below are that of A Daily Dose of Toni.
Identity theft is a very real issue. Whether it’s somone using your bank account, your social security number, or anything else that is tied to your identiy, it’s a problem that’s becoming much more rampant. We all need to protect ourselves from identity theft and while adults are old enough to do it for themselves, most children are not.
It’s so important to Protect Your Child’s Identity, thankfully the new Florida law, is there to help. With more than 50,000 children in Florida becoming victims of identity theft yearly (more than $100 million is stolen yearly from children whose identities have been compromised), this is a very real issue!!
As a parent I want to do what I can to make sure my children are safe, that includes their identities. Thanks to the new Florida law, I (and other parents) can set up credit records for my childrent and freeze them. I get to essentially block others from using my childs credit, so theives can not use personal information to open credit cards, mortgages, or any other financial account.
It’s not something most parents think about, in fact until this post, I really only thought about my identity being stolen, not my kids. Now that I know, I am going to be taking the necessary steps to protect them. If you want to do the same you can create a credit report by contacting Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. You will need some documents to work with them, which is why you can go to www.FreshFromFlorida.com/ProtectYourChild to get them and sample letters.
There is a one time fee of $10 to freeze your child’s credit per agency, which is nothing compared to the hundreds or thousands of dollars that could be stolen! So, if you are a parent or legal guardian of a minor up to 16 years old, you can sign up your child. The freeze stays in place until the child reaches adulthood or the parent contacts them, whichever comes first.
It’s so easy for theives to target kids, so let’s do our part ot make it a little harder if not totally impossible!
Toni Patton
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