- Sent December 28, 2011 -
Dear Senator Bennet, Senator Udall and Congressman Gardner -
My name is Jason Huitt, and I'm a registered independent voter in Fort Collins, Colorado.
I am writing today to request that your attention be directed toward the issue of free credit reports for children. I was startled to see on the December 27th edition of NBC's Today show a report concerning the fraudulent use of children's Social Security Numbers, affecting nearly one in ten American children today.
As a result of this NBC investigation, my wife and I decided to take advantage of the Congress-mandated AnnualCreditReport.com web site to check not only our own credit reports, but the report for our eight month old daughter. I have used this website three times a year for many years to check my own credit, and appreciate the ability to track my credit report for free.
We were stunned to learn however that we are unable to use this web site to view our daughter's credit report. AnnualCreditReport.com claims that we need to contact each of the three credit reporting agencies directly, in writing, to obtain this information. This is an undue burden on parents, and prevents the timely receipt and review of this vitally important information. How can we protect our children from identity theft if we don't have the same tools available for them that we use for the protection of ourselves?
I am concerned that the credit reporting agencies are not complying with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 by preventing access to information for children. The Federal Trade Commission website with documentation about AnnualCreditReport.com (located here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/freereports/index.shtml) fails to note that children are excluded from access to free online credit reports, leading me to wonder whether the FTC rules created at the behest of 2003's FACTA somehow excluded children.
Given the above, would you and your staff be able to investigate this situation further, and potentially address this problem? At the very least, it would be helpful to fully understand the legal specifics behind this exclusion.
The issue of child identity theft needs a great deal of legislative attention. Social Security Numbers are too easy to guess, the penalties for identity theft are not a sufficient deterrent, and law enforcement requires additional resources for investigation. However an excellent first step would be to give parents greater visibility into the problem by giving them free online access to children's credit reports. If nothing else, this would give my wife and I piece of mind that we are doing everything we can to protect our daughter from identity theft.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration in this matter. Best wishes for the upcoming year.
Sincerely,
Jason Huitt