COLUMBUS – Under current Ohio law, a child who has her identity stolen has no way to prevent the damage to her credit rating unless she already has one. A bill approved by the Ohio House yesterday is aimed at eliminating that Catch-22.
The measure allows credit reporting agencies to create a credit record for the minor and then freeze in the event of identity theft.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ron Maag (R–Lebanon) says one of his constituents told him how their 11-year-old daughter’s identity was stolen after their family’s personal data was compromised. While the parents were able to freeze their own credit to prevent identity theft they couldn’t do the same for their daughter.
Ohio law allows individuals to freeze their own credit but they are not able to do that on behalf of a minor who does not have existing credit, Maag said.
Credit reporting agencies which offer identity monitoring services cannot to prevent identity theft but they can alert individuals. Maag’s bill would allow parents to take preventative measures to protect their child’s identity.
It now goes to the Ohio Senate.
According to the 2012 Child Identity Fraud Report, Maag says, one in 40 households with minor children had at least one child whose personal information was compromised by identity criminals. Since the release of that report, Maag says 21 other states have enacted similar legislation.