When your children head off to college, you’re sending them out into the world to start life on their own. Before they leave, you’ll probably coach them on the things they’ll need to know -- like how to do laundry, cook their favorite dish, and budget their time and money. But many parents forget to address two areas that can have a significant, long-term impact on their children’s financial health -- managing their credit and protecting their identity.

The Lure of Easy Credit

As soon as they arrive on campus, students are bombarded with credit card offers. Credit card marketers reach out to college students in an effort to be the first credit card in the wallet and to build loyalty early. Credit is easy to get, and for students not used to having a credit card, it is all too easy to end up deep in debt thanks to maxing out multiple credit cards. To avoid this pitfall, talk to your child about how many credit cards he or she should have and how to use them responsibly.

Students should know that their credit history will follow them long after they leave college and can impact their future purchasing power. Students also should keep in mind that having too many credit cards or failing to pay balances on time can affect their credit scores and result in higher interest rates when they are ready to buy a car or finance their first home.

Identity Thieves Prey on Young

In addition to being hard to pass up, credit offers are an easy way for identity thieves to gain personal information about students. Statistics show that young adults represent a large and growing segment targeted by identity thieves. According to the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse, of the more than 255,000 identity theft complaints filed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2005, 5 percent involved people under the age of 18. That's up from 3 percent in 2003 and is the age category that grew the most in the two-year period. College students and young adults age 18 to 29 make up 29 percent of those filing complaints, the largest age category of victims.

College students are increasingly preyed upon by identity thieves because they typically have no credit history and are not as likely to keep a close eye on their credit. In addition, the college environment is ripe for identity theft as some educational institutions request Social Security numbers on various forms and may even post grades by Social Security number.

Credit 101

Teach your son or daughter to be vigilant about protecting their personal information. In a dormitory environment, it is important not to leave any sensitive information out in the open -- too many people come and go and the information may fall into the wrong hands. Here are some steps to help protect against identity theft:

1. Review the basics about credit reports, credit scores and why they are important. Urge your kids to learn all they can about identity theft from resources such as www.equifax.com. Show them what pre-approved credit offers look like, and remind them to shred credit applications instead of simply tossing them in the trash. Teach them to guard their Social Security number, giving it out only when absolutely necessary and when they are sure the request is legitimate.

2. Regardless of whether you think your child has a credit history, help them check to see if a credit report exists and ensure that it contains no fraudulent items.

3. Give a credit "care package.†Purchase a shredder for the dorm room and a small storage item like a security box or fire safe to hold sensitive information.

4. Take advantage of credit monitoring. If your child is credit active with a student loan or credit card, consider buying them a credit monitoring product like Equifax Credit Watchâ„¢ Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring. It alerts your child to potentially fraudulent activity as well as significant changes in credit balances that might warn the student to curtail spending until some debt is paid off. If you already have the service for yourself, you can add family members at a discount.

A little extra preparation before your child leaves for college can head off big problems before they happen.

For more information on credit monitoring products from Equifax, visit www.equifax.com. - ARA

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