Credit Building And ID Theft Protection

FreeKick offers free or low-cost identity monitoring for families including babies and children who ideally should not have credit profiles. 

Unfortunately, identity theft can affect anyone who has a Social Security Number. That means even a baby could become a victim of identity fraud.  

FreeKick also offers accounts to help teens and young adults build credit without taking out debt. With FreeKick, young adults can have a jump start to their financial wellness journey. This FreeKick review explores what the platform has to offer. 

What Is FreeKick?

FreeKick is a fintech offering identity protection and credit-building services through a savings account which is FDIC insured. A subsidiary of Austin Capital Bank, which also owns CreditStrong , FreeKick’s mission is to protect and prepare children and to support schools. It fulfills this mission both through the products it offers and by making regular donations to schools. 

FreeKick offers identity theft monitoring for the whole family. Its credit-building products are specifically designed for the parents of teens and young adults aged 13-25. 

Identity Protection For Families

Most adults know that they need to monitor their credit report for suspicious or unauthorized activity. But identity theft monitoring and insurance can be expensive, especially if you have multiple kids in the house. FreeKick offers identity theft monitoring for two adult parents and up to six children between the ages of 0 to 25. 

Children can become victims of identity fraud, and it often goes undetected. When you sign up, FreeKick will check to ensure that your children do not have a credit profile in their name. If they do, they’ll make sure the profile is legitimate. If it isn’t, FreeKick will notify you immediately. 

If you are the victim of identity theft, FreeKick offers up to $1 million in identity theft insurance and premium identity restoration. The insurance can cover small costs like the cost of certified mail needed to get new documents or larger costs like legal fees if you get sued due to identity theft.

Option To Build Credit History For Teens And Young Adults

When you open a FreeKick account, you can add up to six additional accounts to help your teen or young adult child build credit. This type of account is commonly known as a credit-builder account. FreeKick offers different models for credit-building. 

The first model allows you to make a one-time deposit. FreeKick then reports the account as an open line of credit equal to the balance of the account. 

The second model requires you to make monthly deposits to the account. FreeKick reports these deposits as payments. With either method, when a child turns 18, they can claim the account. Then FreeKick reports all their credit behavior to the three major credit bureaus. This early credit building may allow your kids to skip the painful years of trying to build credit without access to actual credit products.

Avoid Fees With $3,000 Deposit

FreeKick costs $149 per year, but the fee is waived with a one-time $3,000 deposit. As long as you maintain a $3,000 balance, you don’t have to pay for any FreeKick services. The deposit is FDIC-insured, and it earns a tiny amount of interest in the FreeKick Account.

Earn Interest On Your Credit Building Accounts

FreeKick allows you to build credit and protect yourself from identity theft. But it is also a savings account. As a saver, you can choose between a CD or a typical savings account. Each account pays a small amount of interest.

If you choose a savings account, you can add money to the account over time. Rates vary depending on the product you use, but the rate on a standard account is .01% annually for people with less than $10,000 in their savings account.

As mentioned, FreeKick charges $149 per year for Identity Protection and up to six accounts designed to help children build credit. However, you can waive that fee by making a one-time deposit of $3,000. The deposit earns a nominal interest rate as long as you keep the account open.

When it comes to credit-building products, FreeKick is the only credit-building loan with a free option (fee waiver). Many people who are building credit resort to secured credit cards. Not all secured cards charge fees, but the available credit can tempt some people into overspending. 

FreeKick doesn’t work the same way. You can’t spend money you don’t have. If you spend your savings, then your credit limit falls. This makes FreeKick more like Self, which offers credit building loans to people with poor or limited credit. But FreeKick is favorable to Self Lender because it doesn’t charge interest and gives you a fee waiver option. 

Kikoff is another online lender designed to assists clients with credit building. It offers a $750 line of credit which can be used to purchase digital products from the Kikoff Store. The line of credit installment payments are reported to two major credit bureaus. There is no interest charged on the credit-builder loan, however, there is a $5 monthly fee. 

FreeKick’s identity theft monitoring for the whole family is also an excellent value. If you can afford to keep $3,000 tied up in a bank account, you won’t have to pay the $149 annual fee for FreeKick identity monitoring. You’ll forgo some interest earnings, but the free monitoring delivers value and peace of mind. 

To open a FreeKick Account, select the Sign Up button in the upper right corner of the FreeKick.Bank home page. Enter your name, email address, phone number, home address, and Social Security Number. You will need to connect the FreeKick Account to your checking account and fund the account. Transfer at least $3,000 if you want to waive the $149 annual fee.

Once your account is established, you can add all of your children to the account. As long as your kids have Social Security Numbers, FreeKick can monitor their profiles for any credit-related activity.

Accounts at FreeKick are FDIC-insured. That means that even if the bank fails, you will get your money back, up to $250,000. On top of that, FreeKick is an identity theft monitoring and insurance platform. You will enter a ton of sensitive information into the site including your name, your social security number (SSN), birth dates, and more. Plus you’ll add your children’s personal information. FreeKick collects and stores that information in a database with bank-level encryption and security.

Overall, FreeKick seems to offer a high degree of security for savers and for people who are primarily using identity theft products.

Austin Capital Bank, FreeKick’s parent company, is located at 8100 Shoal Creek Blvd Suite 100, Austin, TX 78757. You can call FreeKick between 8 AM and 5 PM Central Time at (833) 288-5004. You can also use the chatbot on the website or in the app.

FreeKick is an excellent option for parents who want to protect their children’s identity and help their children grow their credit. While the $149 annual fee is reasonable for the services FreeKick provides, it is far better to deposit $3,000 and get the fee waived. You will forgo some interest earnings (rates on FreeKick accounts are quite low), but you will receive valuable services in return. If you can afford to have $3,000 tied up, FreeKick is a great option for you.

Check out FreeKick here >>