Is The Government Carrying out Anything To Protect You From Identity Theft?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the federal financial institution regulatory agencies have sent to the Federal Register for publication final rules on identity theft red flags and address discrepancies. The final rules implement sections 114 and 315 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003.
According to a report of the Presidents Identity Theft Task Force, identity theft (a fraud attempted or committed making use of identifying info of an additional person without having authority), outcomes in billions of dollars in losses every single year to individuals and corporations.
The final guidelines demand each financial institution and creditor that holds any consumer account, or other account for which there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of identity theft, to develop and implement an Identity Theft Prevention System for combating identity theft in connection with new and existing accounts. The System must consist of reasonable policies and procedures for detecting, preventing, and mitigating identity theft and allow a financial institution or creditor to:
Identify relevant patterns, practices, and distinct forms of activity that are red flags signaling possible identity theft and incorporate those red flags into the System
Detect red flags that have been incorporated into the Plan
Respond appropriately to any red flags that are detected to stop and mitigate identity theft and
Make certain the Plan is updated periodically to reflect adjustments in risks from identity theft.
The agencies also issued guidelines to assist financial institutions and creditors in developing and implementing a Program, including a supplement that gives examples of red flags.
The final guidelines also call for credit and debit card issuers to create policies and procedures to assess the validity of a request for a change of address that is followed closely by a request for an additional or replacement card. In addition, the final rules demand users of consumer reports to create reasonable policies and procedures to apply when they get a notice of address discrepancy from a consumer reporting agency.
The final rule-producing is issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Method, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Credit Union Administration, the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Workplace of Thrift Supervision. The final rules are efficient on January 1, 2008. Covered monetary institutions and creditors should comply with the rules by November 1, 2008.
The government is carrying out its best to combat identity theft. Keeping one step ahead of the thieves by checking your free of charge credit report will make sure that no 1 has stolen your identity. The government is performing what it can, but you are the initial line of identity theft defense.
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