Financial Coaching

The New Face of Identity Theft

Sep 07, 2016

As parents, we do our best to protect our children from danger – from spreading germs and falling out of trees to talking to strangers. But we often forget to protect their identity from fraud, which can happen as soon as they have a Social Security number. Here are three precautionary steps parents can take to keep their child’s identity safe.

  1. Monitor your junk mail. If junk mail has your child’s name on it, check to make sure it’s not a preapproved loan offer. Preapproved credit offers in your child’s name could be an indicator that someone has used his or her information to apply for loans.
  2. Enroll your child in an identity protection program. Identity protection is not just for adults. Setting your child up for identity protection will make sure his or her Social Security number is being monitored for fraud. Many of these services will alert you in the event your child’s Social Security number is used to open new loan accounts. Identity protection services can also help remove fraudulent items from the credit report.
  3. Put a freeze on credit. Contact the credit bureaus and ask them to place a freeze on your child’s credit. This will prevent any loans or accounts from being able to be opened using your child’s Social Security number. When your child is old enough and ready to start building credit, your child can contact the credit bureaus and remove the freeze.

These three easy steps will help you protect your child’s identity and are far easier to set up now compared to trying to clean up fraudulent accounts later. Plus – as a benefit of membership, all members of Arizona Federal and their immediate family members have access to IDProtect™, Arizona Federal’s FREE identity protection service. To set up this service, call (602) 683-1000 or visit ArizonaFederal.org/benefits/identity-protection.
Comments

You May Also Like
Financial Coaching

The Benefits of a Free Credit Union Checking Account with Payment App Integration

Managing your finances in today’s fast-paced world requires flexibility, convenience, and low costs. Whether you’re paying bills, splitting a dinner tab, or sending money to a friend, having access ...
Read More
Financial Coaching

Avoiding Insufficient Funds: Tips for Arizona Financial Members

Understanding and managing your finances is vital to a healthy financial life. One crucial aspect is grasping the concept of insufficient funds, also known as non-sufficient funds (NSF). If you ...
Read More
Financial Coaching

Why Consider a Joint Bank Account? Insights from Arizona Financial

Managing finances can be complex, especially when multiple people are involved. If you’re sharing expenses with a spouse, a partner, or even a family member – a joint account can be a powerful tool ...
Read More

Routing # 322172797

Arizona Financial’s website may provide links to third party sites, independent from Arizona Financial Credit Union. These links are provided only as a convenience and do not constitute an official endorsement of the website or application. Arizona Financial does not manage the operation or content of these third-party websites or applications. The privacy and security policies of the websites or applications may differ from those of Arizona Financial Credit Union.


Arizona Financial Credit Union is committed to making our products and services accessible to all of our members. Your experience is important to us. We strive to conform to WCAG 2.0 guidelines for website accessibility. Our efforts are ongoing including frequent testing and updates to improve accessibility. Should you have any problems accessing our website, please call us at 602-683-1000 so that we may promptly assist you in getting the information you need in a method that is accessible to you.

Important Notices for website users: Please take note that we track user communications, their digital method of communicating, and whether the user clicked on content after using the general search feature or chatbot. This information may be disclosed to others in accordance with our privacy policy. Also, online banking users accessing our secure site with confidential information is restricted to authorized persons only. Unauthorized access or use is not permitted and constitutes a crime punishable by law. Violators may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

 

©2024 Arizona Financial Credit Union