Child ID theft has become a growing problem because it may not be identified as quickly as adult identity theft. Here’s how it works: With child identity theft, a child’s name, birthday, and Social Security number are used by someone with no legitimate right to the information. For example, someone may steal child identity information and use the child’s Social Security number to get access to medical care or to open a line of credit on a credit card.

Child ID theft happens in very similar ways to adult identity theft. Someone gets obtains the child’s personal data. This can happen by hacking into a parent’s computer or by using phishing scams where parents are asked about a child’s information. School records, hospital records, and mail that has been tossed in the trash can all be used as part of an effort to compromise child security and engage in child identity theft. Any way that a criminal can get access to personal details may be used, and then the child ID information can be spread around criminal networks easily. Kids in dorm rooms can be especially vulnerable, especially if they don’t know the implications of being careless with personal mail and personal details.

Protecting your child from child ID theft is a smart choice, especially since you and your child may not think to check your child’s credit report and, thus, may not know for a very long time when child ID theft has occurred. With services such as IDENTITY GUARD® or kID SureSM, you can easily keep tabs on your child’s identity and work to prevent child identity theft from occurring.

To learn more about child identity theft or about how IDENTITY GUARD® or kID SureSM can help, check out these Child Identity Theft Resources.

If you are considering purchasing a home any time within the next two years, it is a wise choice to invest in credit monitoring.  Your credit score is going to dictate whether you are able to qualify to purchase a home. Your credit score and report are also going to determine what interest rate you are charged, thus determining how much you will have to pay over the life of the loan and how much the mortgage will cost you.

Credit monitoring helps you keep up on what is going on with your credit report and score so you can make sure you don’t do anything to hurt your chances of buying a home. Credit monitoring also helps you to see any mistakes that are on your report and helps you to see if someone has taken your information and opened credit in your name.

Credit monitoring can be purchased affordably as part of the services provided by IDENTITY GUARD®. By taking advantage of IDENTITY GUARD® platinum, silver, or gold, you will have the most comprehensive tools available to protect your credit and identity. If you prefer a service specific to monitoring credit only, you can take advantage of CreditProtectX3® or CreditProtect® instead and still enjoy the benefit of being able to keep up with what’s happening on your credit report.

To learn more about credit monitoring to better understand why it is helpful to you when considering the purchase of a home, visit the IDENTITY GUARD® website for info on credit monitoring today.

If you do not use the Internet, you may not believe that you need identity theft protection. After all, most of the stories that you hear about people’s identity being stolen can seem to result from sharing info online or from e-mail phishing scams.

The reality, however, is that anyone is vulnerable to identity theft, and everyone can benefit from identity theft protection. Identity theft can happen when you throw out a piece of mail that has your personal details on it. It can happen if you go to a restaurant and someone copies down your credit card info. It can happen if someone installed a device on the ATM machine at your local gas station that intercepted your numbers and sent them off to a scammer. In today’s world, everyone and anyone is a potential identity theft victim.

Because everyone is vulnerable, it is important that everyone learn all they can about identity theft protection and to make use of tools to help them protect their identities. One great option for those who are serious about fighting identity theft is to make use of IDENTITY GUARD®.

By allowing you to access your credit information and by alerting you to certain suspicious activity, IDENTITY GUARD® helps you to be proactive and to keep up to date with what is going on with your credit report and information. When you can routinely check your credit and when you are notified of certain odd activities, you will have a much better chance of catching identity theft early and nipping it in the bud before it becomes a big problem.

Visit the website of IDENTITY GUARD® today to learn more about identity theft protection and about the types of services available to help you keep your personal info secure.