Summary

Federal Trade Commission: Identity Theft Red Flags and Address Discrepancies Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003  GAO-08-1118R  August 29, 2008  (4 pages)
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GAO reviewed the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) new rule on identity theft red flags and address discrepancies under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. GAO found that (1) the final rule requires each financial institution or creditor to develop and implement a written Identity Theft Protection Program to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft in connection with the opening of certain accounts or certain existing accounts, requires credit and debit card issuers to assess the validity of notifications of changes of address under certain circumstances, and provides guidance regarding reasonable policies and procedures that a user of consumer reports must employ when a consumer reporting agency sends the user a notice of address discrepancy; and (2) FTC complied with the applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.