We've all heard the stories- friends, neighbors, co-workers, or family members who have fallen victim to identity theft. The newest victims out there are our children. State Representative, Eric Hutchings of Kearns, Utah helped to create and launch a new program to help protect our children's identity. The Children's Identity Protection program (CIP) is the result of Rep. Hutchings' brain child, as he explained to one of the districts during the GOP Caucus meeting 3/15/12 at Kearns High School. After the birth of his last child he was required to fill out the application for social security number for the baby. Reluctantly he obliged and was immediately concerned about the security of his newborn child's identity. With the help of TransUnion Credit Bureau and the Attorney General they have launched CIP which locks the child's identity until their seventeenth birthday. At that time the child may contact all three credit bureaus and have a "Fraud Alert" or "Security Freeze" added to their files for further identity protection.
I was so excited about this new program that I enrolled all three of my children first thing this morning and created a step by step instruction document for anyone who would like to share this new program with their friends, neighbors and family. The best part about this program is that even though Utah is the only state with the program at this time, ANYONE in the country can utilize it! Below shows the process to enroll children under the age of 17. Please share a link to this blog to anyone you feel may benefit from this program!
Click on “Begin”
Using your current address and drivers license information complete the first form and click on “VALIDATE” at the bottom right hand corner.
The next screen will show your “Parent/Guardian” information filled in. You will need to UN CHECK the box below “Parent Guardian” information if the child does not live with you, and then fill in the information for the child including social security number and click “CONTINUE”.
To add additional children click on the green dot “ADD Another Child” and continue with the previous step and adding children until all children in the household under the age of 17 have been enrolled into the Child Identity Protection (CIP).
Verify the information is correct and click: “SUBMIT”
A special thanks to State Representative- Eric Hutchings (R- Kearns) for his work on this project and making the protection of our children’s identity possible! The really amazing thing about this program is that ANYONE can use it, not just Utahns.
Yeah, this is a very helpful program by your local government. Now parents can be more proactive in protecting their children’s identity. Since creditors still have no way to determine the age of an applicant, this program can pretty much alert them of the status of an applicant. I wonder when other administrations would follow this.
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