FACTA Rules Enhance Credit Card Protection

Many Americans are not concerned about identity theft until their information has been compromised in some way and they are left dealing with the consequences.

A federal law, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), has been established to guard against identity theft by improving debit card and credit card protection.

FACTA offers Americans a deeper level of protection against those who might want to steal their sensitive information. FACTA, enacted in 2003 by President George W. Bush, was set into law in order to offer identity theft protection, including debit card protection and credit card protection.

FACTA regulates many things including fraud alerts for consumers and the truncation of credit and debit card numbers, among other things.

One thing that FACTA allows is for consumers to obtain free credit reports easily and to set up fraud alerts so that they can keep track of their credit score. This also helps concerned consumers pay attention to possible identity theft. For example, checking one’s credit and setting up fraud alerts can signal a consumer if a fraudulent loan or fraudulent credit card is taken out in his or her name.

Additionally, FACTA offers debit card and credit card protection by regulating what retailers can print on receipts that they issue to customers.

Merchants can violate FACTA in a couple ways. First, retailers may not print more than the last five digits of a debit card or a credit card on a receipt. The rest of the credit card or debit card number must be truncated. This often means that other symbols like a “*” or a “#” may act as placeholders for the other numbers of the credit or debit card.

Secondly, a merchant or retailer may not, under any circumstances, print the expiration date of the individual’s debit card or credit card. This is to ensure the consumer’s credit card protection.

With the rise of identity theft and fraud in recent years, FACTA was enacted to protect American consumers. While cyber theft is often the means by which thieves or hackers steal and use sensitive information, this same information that may make a consumer vulnerable if it is printed on a receipt.

FACTA attempts to reduce the number of fraud-related crimes due to the stealing of financial information. A person attempting to commit fraud or theft may take financial information off of a store receipt that has been discarded by the consumer and exploit that information.

After FACTA was signed into law, merchants had time to adjust their receipt printing machines to reflect the new law. Now, it has been many years since FACTA was enacted to ensure credit card protection; however, some merchants are still not compliant.

If a merchant prints other financial information on a receipt outside of the last five digits of the card number, that merchant may face stiff fines and repercussions.

If you feel like you have been a victim of FACTA violations, you may be eligible to file a credit card protection lawsuit.

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.

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