You probably have never given much thought to your young child’s credit history and rating. However, the increase in identity theft means dads have to be more vigilant about protecting their kids from thieves who will take their financial identity, often not to be discovered for many years. As crises go, this one isn’t earth shattering, but the Federal Trade Commission, the federal agency that tracks identity complaints, says that 11,600 complaints for victims under 18 were filed in 2005. This is roughly double the number filed in 2003. Many of these are fraud cases involving relatives, but some involve real theft too.
What can dads do to protect their kids?
1. Guard their social security number. Social security numbers should only be given out for financial and tax purposes, and medical reasons; so ask yourself whenever anyone (school, community groups) demands your child’s social security number. That goes for parents as well. At some point, the social security number could become a national ID number, but this has not yet occurred.
2. Understand how someone could use his or her number, so you understand why a child with no credit could be a target. Anyone working needs a social security number.
3. Watch the mail. Is your son or daughter suddenly getting mail solicitations for credit cards and loan products? This may be a warning sign that someone has used his or her number and your child has been identified as financially mature.
4. It’s not a bad idea to consider checking your child’s credit report, which you can do for free each year. You can also place a fraud alert on their records, but that has to be renewed every 90 days. Companies exist, like LifeLock (www.lifelock.com) that will track your credit and can add your children to their alerts. These are checks you can do for free by asking for a credit report, but may be worth the fees ($10 per month plus add-on of $25/year per child) if you are concerned.
An allowance for kids is an important part of growing up and plays a significant role in developing the ability to manage money. A few things for parents to keep in mind while choosing how much allowance for kids.
By: P. Banas
Posts Tagged ‘Medical Reasons’
Kids, Credit and Credit Ratings
March 29th, 2010Posted in Articles
Tags: Bad Idea Community Groups Credit History Crises Federal Trade Commission Financial Identity Fraud Alert Fraud Cases Lifelock Loan Products Mail Solicitations Medical Reasons National Id Number Social Security Social Security Number Social Security Numbers Target Tax Purposes Thieves Warning Sign
Poor Credit Credit Cards
March 7th, 2010
People who have bad credit have many more credit card options today than they did just a few years ago. Maybe this is contributed to the theory of supply and demand or maybe the credit card companies just realized how much more money they can make by charging high interest rates to people with bad credit. I personally think it may be a little of both.
But no matter what the reason why, there are many credit card companies willing to grant credit to people with bad credit these days. This is good news to those with tarnished credit records. But people with bad credit should evaluate what actions got their credit into bad shape in the first place before applying for more credit. For many people their bad credit is due to uncontrollable circumstances like the loss of a job or medical reasons. But for other people, their bad credit is due to irresponsible financial decisions. If you have bad credit and it was caused by the second reason, it is imperative that you change your credit habits. Otherwise you will never improve your credit score and will always end up paying high interest rates and fees.
Higher interest rates are obviously the price you have to pay in order to obtain a credit card if you have bad credit.
Fortunately, if you are responsible with your bad credit credit card and make your monthly payments on time, over time you can improve your credit score and eventually get a lower interest rate. Make sure that the bad credit credit card you are applying for frequently reports to the major credit bureaus. This will insure that your credit score will improve as quickly as possible by having your positive payment activity reported.
There are credit card websites that have researched the best bad credit credit card deals available and have listed them in an easy to read format. Visit http://www.amex-visa-mastercard.com to look at the details. Many of the bad credit credit cards listed on this site do monthly credit bureau reporting.
We have all run into hard times and made mistakes with our credit activity. Thankfully there are bad credit credit card offers available that will still give you the freedom of having a credit card along with giving you the chance to rebuild your credit.
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By: Beth Pardue
Posted in Articles
Tags: Amex Amex Visa Mastercard Bad Credit Credit Card Bad Credit Credit Cards Bad Shape Credit Bureau Credit Card Options Credit Credit Cards Credit Habits Credit Score Financial Decisions Hard Time High Interest Rates Major Credit Bureaus Medical Reasons People With Bad Credit Poor Credit Credit Cards Supply And Demand Theory Of Supply And Demand Uncontrollable Circumstances
