Is The Government Undertaking Anything To Guard 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 details of one more person without having authority), results in billions of dollars in losses every single year to individuals and businesses.
The final guidelines require every 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 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 types of activity that are red flags signaling potential identity theft and incorporate those red flags into the Program
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
Guarantee the Plan is updated periodically to reflect modifications in risks from identity theft.
The agencies also issued guidelines to assist financial institutions and creditors in creating and implementing a Plan, such as a supplement that supplies examples of red flags.
The final rules also demand credit and debit card issuers to create policies and procedures to assess the validity of a request for a adjust of address that is followed closely by a request for an further or replacement card. In addition, the final rules call for users of consumer reports to develop 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 Technique, 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 effective on January 1, 2008. Covered financial institutions and creditors ought to comply with the rules by November 1, 2008.
The government is doing its best to combat identity theft. Keeping one step ahead of the thieves by checking your totally free credit report will guarantee that no 1 has stolen your identity. The government is doing what it can, but you are the initial line of identity theft defense. pirate flags