If You Have Adopted A Foster Child, They May Already Be in Financial Debt - READ THIS!
10/14/11 10:24
I read about a disturbing trend the other day that I wanted make sure I passed on. It seems that children who are in foster care are increasingly becoming the target of identity theft. Biological parents who may need money for drugs or to pay the bills, unscrupulous previous foster parents and other relatives of these children have been victimizing them in fairly large numbers of late.
Since these people have access to the child’s personal info - birthdate, Social Security number, etc. It is fairly easy for them to swindle credit card companies to issue cards in the child’s name. Since most parents don’t think of checking their children’s credit rating, these children don’t usually find out until they turn 18 and apply for credit. What turns up in these cases is that the child may have hundreds or thousands of dollars in unpaid debt and a severely damaged credit rating even before they get their first personal credit. Credit companies are supposed to help sort these cases out, but it can take a lot of time and effort and incur fees as well.
The best thing to do is to do a yearly check on your child’s credit. Everyone in the US is entitled to check their credit rating with the three big rating companies - Equifax, TransUnion and Experian on a yearly basis by the Federal Trade Commission. The official site is annualcreditreport.com.
So, what are you waiting for - click the link and run the check!
Since these people have access to the child’s personal info - birthdate, Social Security number, etc. It is fairly easy for them to swindle credit card companies to issue cards in the child’s name. Since most parents don’t think of checking their children’s credit rating, these children don’t usually find out until they turn 18 and apply for credit. What turns up in these cases is that the child may have hundreds or thousands of dollars in unpaid debt and a severely damaged credit rating even before they get their first personal credit. Credit companies are supposed to help sort these cases out, but it can take a lot of time and effort and incur fees as well.
The best thing to do is to do a yearly check on your child’s credit. Everyone in the US is entitled to check their credit rating with the three big rating companies - Equifax, TransUnion and Experian on a yearly basis by the Federal Trade Commission. The official site is annualcreditreport.com.
So, what are you waiting for - click the link and run the check!
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