Loading ...The Red Flag Rule
photo by The Hidaway
With identity thieves creating havoc with consumers and businesses alike, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is doing its best to fight back with some new legislation. They are requiring all financial institutions/creditors to provide responses and programs for prevention practices known as “red flags” which are the calling cards of identity thieves. This rule was to begin to be policed in November 2008 but has been extended until May of 2009.
What are Red Flags for ID theft?
- Finding discrepancies in your credit report.
- You receive a bill for a credit card account you didn’t open.
- Unauthorized charges on your credit card statement.
- You haven’t received your bills or credit card statements for months.
- Your bank statements show unauthorized transfers or withdrawals.
- You receive a call from a ABC Collection Agency about an account you never opened.
- You receive calls from businesses about merchandise you didn’t buy.
- You’re denied credit because debts show up on your credit reports that don’t belong to you.
Who must comply to the new “Red Flag Rules”?
- A financial institution is defined as a state or national bank, a state or federal savings and loan association, a mutual savings bank, or a state/federal credit union.
- A creditor or any entity that regularly extends, renews, or continues credit.
- A covered account used mostly for personal, family, or household purposes and that involves multiple payments or transactions (Think credit cards or cell phone accounts).
Most of the bigger companies already have great Fraud Departments. I visited with a few people in Chase Bank’s Fraud Department and found them to be some of the brightest people I have been introduced to. Personally, I believe these rules are more for the Mom & Pop shops that extend credit. Do you regularly monitor your bank statements? Have you or anyone you know been a victim of identity theft?
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hey this post is useful.
Keep it up
cheers
Thanks for filling us in on the details. To answer your question I think that Tim Geithner was a good choice.