Is The Government Undertaking Something 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 guidelines 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 Job Force, identity theft (a fraud attempted or committed utilizing identifying information of an additional person with no authority), outcomes in billions of dollars in losses every single year to people and corporations.

The final rules demand every single monetary 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 Program for combating identity theft in connection with new and existing accounts. The Plan must consist of reasonable policies and procedures for detecting, preventing, and mitigating identity theft and enable a financial institution or creditor to:

Determine relevant patterns, practices, and specific types of activity that are red flags signaling feasible identity theft and incorporate those red flags into the Plan

Detect red flags that have been incorporated into the System

Respond appropriately to any red flags that are detected to avoid and mitigate identity theft and

Make sure the Plan is updated periodically to reflect changes in risks from identity theft.

The agencies also issued guidelines to help monetary institutions and creditors in creating and implementing a Program, including a supplement that offers examples of red flags.

The final rules also need credit and debit card issuers to create policies and procedures to assess the validity of a request for a modify of address that is followed closely by a request for an additional or replacement card. In addition, the final guidelines demand users of consumer reports to create reasonable policies and procedures to apply when they receive a notice of address discrepancy from a consumer reporting agency.

The final rule-making 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 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Workplace of Thrift Supervision. The final guidelines are useful on January 1, 2008. Covered financial institutions and creditors must 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 totally free credit report will make sure that no one has stolen your identity. The government is performing what it can, but you are the very first line of identity theft defense.

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