A Note from our CEO, Scott Soderberg

No, it’s not some new discipline fad for parents. Neither is it a way to slow your overly energetic children down to a manageable level. It’s really an act of compassion that could save your entire family a great deal of time, money, and aggravation. Read on.

As I’ve written about more than once in this column, bad actors are everywhere stealing personal information for the purpose of perpetrating financial crimes against all of us. It has been happening for so long and is so widespread that, in my opinion, the bad guys already have virtually everyone’s Social Security number, date of birth, address, phone number, email address, etc. It’s just a matter of time before they attempt to use your name and information to apply for a loan, open a credit card, buy a car—the list of nefarious acts is endless.

However, there is one thing fraudsters need to have happen before succeeding in these scams. Your credit is checked at the time of any credit requests made in your name with one or more of the 3 primary credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. No successful credit check, no sale for the scammer. Fortunately, this is the one point where you have considerable power to block these thefts. And as I mentioned previously, freezing your credit at all these agencies is the best way to do just that. It is free, easy, and flexible when you need to temporarily unfreeze it for your legitimate financial activities that require a credit check.

But how are your children relevant to this discussion? After all, minors rarely purchase anything that requires a credit check and likely don’t even have a credit rating or a file at these agencies yet. The truth is some studies show that 1 in 50 children in the US are victims of identity theft. Fraudsters know that children’s identities are very attractive targets because the attempts are very hard to detect at an early stage and it’s easier to create a “synthetic identity” (creating a fake person or company) from a young child’s information. Statistics also show that newborns (< 1 year) have the highest risk, at an astounding rate of 1 out of 20 being affected! You can read more about these shocking statistics at Child Identity Theft Statistics (2026): Expert Analysis (Gitnux).

So, what do you do if you wish to protect your children from these risks? You should contact each of the reporting agencies and request a “protected consumer freeze”, which is the official name for freezing a minor’s credit. Even if your child has no credit rating, the agencies will create a file for them when a freeze is requested. You will be asked for proof of a) your identity; b) your relationship with the child; and c) the child’s identity. You will also be asked to fill out the specific minor freeze form available from each agency. It’s a little more work now, but a LOT less than what it takes to repair the damage from any identity theft later!

For your convenience, here are the links to each of the 3 primary credit reporting agencies’ minor credit freeze pages: Experian (click “Add or remove a security freeze for minor”); Equifax; TransUnion.

Freeze your kids. It might give you the warm feeling that comes from greater security.