Unfreezing Your Child’s Credit: A Complete Guide
You froze your child's credit, great work! But what are the next steps, how do you undo that...
Chad Rychlewski
6/6/20252 min read
Understanding Credit Freezing
Freezing your child's credit is an important step in protecting their identity from fraud. However, as they grow older, you may wonder about the process of unfreezing their credit and giving them control over their financial future. In this guide, we will walk you through the unfreezing process and what to expect when your child turns 16-18 or when you need to temporarily unfreeze it for them before they turn 16-18.
How to Unfreeze Your Child’s Credit
When you initially froze your child’s credit, you received a letter with a unique PIN or password that you will need to unfreeze it temporarily or permanently. This unique number is crucial for initiating the unfreeze process, so be sure to keep it safe! The unfreezing can typically be done online, over the phone, or through the mail depending on the credit bureau. They are all different and you may see some irregularities in the freeze confirmation process, just make sure you keep the confirmation letter.
To unfreeze the credit, follow these steps:
Determine the credit bureau your child’s credit was frozen with (Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax).
Visit the respective website or call their customer service.
Provide the required information, including the PIN and personal details.
Specify whether you want to temporarily or permanently lift the freeze.
It’s important to note that unfreezing the credit might take some time, so if your child needs to apply for credit, be sure to plan ahead.
What Happens When Your Child Turns 16-18?
When your child turns 16 they can request the "consumer freeze" that you put in place to be lifted or converted to a "standard freeze" that they have control over by providing their own documentation. Depending on the bureau this may be as easy has them opening their own online profile, but they will likely need to talk to customer support.
It is worth saying that if your child was just born and your did the right thing to freeze their credit, this process is bound to change in 16-18 years from now. The best thing you can do is lock up the confirmation letters you received from the bureaus in a fireproof safe or bank lock box.
Conclusion
Unfreezing your child's credit, whether you do it or they do at a legal age, will take several steps. That's ok, that's a good thing! We don't want the process of unlocking credit to be easy, otherwise what is the point of locking it down. Keep your confirmation letters and for additional protection you can still sign up for a monitoring service; however, locking your child's credit serves as the strongest form of identity protection. Good work!
Keep working through additional steps to protect your children online. More steps are covered in our first book, Cyber-Smart Parenting: Protecting Your Child in the Digital Age ( Buy on Amazon #ad).
