FACTA Aims to Provide Consumers with Identify Theft Protection

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) is a federal law whose aim is to provide citizens with some level of identify theft protection.

Passed in the last month of 2003 under the administration of President George W. Bush, FACTA was an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

FACTA helps to provide identity theft protection by allowing a consumer to notify one of the three credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian or Trans Union—if they suspect their personal information has been compromised.

This notification is for the purposes of placing an alert, so that if someone attempts to take out credit using their information such as full name, social security number or birth date, the credit bureaus are required to provide identity theft protection by contacting the consumer first to verify intent.

This alert lasts 90 days or three months by default but the consumer can request an extended version which lasts up to 7 years. With the extended identity theft protection, an alert must be disclosed with any credit score released.

The reporting agency must also remove the name of the person with the alert from any list provided to third-parties seeking leads to offer credit or insurance.

Another identity theft protection instituted by FACTA concerns deploying military men and women. The law allows for these individuals to notify and alert credit bureaus when they are overseas on deployment to reduce the chances of someone attempting to open credit in their name.

With military alert, the notification lasts 12 months with full disclosure and elimination from third-party lists.

With an alert of pending active duty as with a compromise of personal data, notifying one credit bureau is sufficient. That credit bureau is required to pass the information on to the other ones under FACTA.

Identity Theft Protection Extends to Financial Institutions

Under FACTA, the red flags rule was established which put banks, credit unions and other financial institutions on the ‘hot seat’ to protect American citizens from identity theft.

Under these stipulations, banking organizations must establish their own plans and policies to reduce identity theft. They also must, if they use consumer credit reports, respond to notices of change of address or discrepancies in addresses that they come across.

There are also guidelines that if a bank receives information regarding an address change and then an application for a new or replacement credit or debit card comes shortly thereafter, the bank needs to assess the validity of the new address or request.

Other Identity Theft Protection FACTA Elements

Other FACTA elements that provide consumers with a certain amount of identity theft protection include rules regarding how credit and debit card receipts can be printed and the right to obtain a free credit report.

Consumers can request a free credit report from one of the three credit bureaus once every 12 months free of charge. This allows the citizen to track anything that might be ‘dinging’ the record and investigate and handle any discrepancies.

Since the passage of FACTA, and with a three-year grace period to allow for equipment upgrades, restaurants and retailers must now limit the numbers of your credit card printed on your receipt to the last five only. The other numbers may be represented by placeholder hashtags or stars. The expiration date of your credit card number can also not appear on the receipt in any manner.

Consumers who receive a credit or debit card receipt that shows too much card information may be able to bring a FACTA lawsuit against th business that issued the receipt.

Free FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you made one or more purchases and the retailer provided you with a receipt that contained more than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number or the expiration date, you may be eligible for a free class action lawsuit investigation and to pursue compensation for these FACTA violations.

Get Started