Compliance Coach identifies 23 identity theft red flags

The Federal regulation imposes new responsibilities on businesses to prevent consumer identity theft. The impact is broad and the rule affects every single bank, credit union, mortgage lender, auto dealer, credit card lender, payday lender, landlord, utility company, phone company, and any consumer or small business lender in the country.

The compliance deadline is November 1, 2008. Failure to comply can lead to civil money penalty for each violation, regulatory enforcement action, private plaintiff lawsuits, negative publicity and loss of business.

Compliance Coach has identified 23 new identity theft red flags and has updated its software, CompliancePal, which enables compliance with the FACT Act Identity Theft Red Flags Rule.

CompliancePal already contains the previously government published 26 identity theft red flags. The 23 new red flags identified by Compliance Coach and added to CompliancePal are the industry’s first set of new red flags. The red flags are based on recent identity theft cases and schemes affecting financial institutions, creditors and consumers.