The “Red Flags” Rule: Enforcement On Hold Until August 1, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission will delay enforcement of the new “Red Flags Rule” until August 1, 2009, to give creditors and financial institutions more time to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. For entities that have a low risk of identity theft, such as businesses that know their customers personally, the Commission will soon release a template to help them comply with the law.

National Consumer Protection Week

I have selected three topics today highlighting National Consumer Protection Week.  This information, provided by the FTC, gives practical and timely advice for protecting the personal information of customers, employees, contractors, and others in the business environment.  The topics are:

• Take Stock: Conducting a Data Security Audit in Your Office
• The “Red Flags” Rule: Are You Complying with New Requirements for Fighting Identity Theft?
• Protecting Personal Information: Five Steps for Business

70,951 Complaints

What could possibly generate so many complaints in one year? How about unfair debt collection practices. Well that’s how many complaints the Federal Trade Commission reported receiving by consumers as reported in their 2008 annual report to Congress summarizing their administrative and enforcement actions taken under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p, during 2007.

The law does not erase legitimate debts but does require that debt collectors treat you fairly and prohibits certain methods used in debt collection.

As outlined in the FTC Fact Sheet, some of the debt collection practices that are prohibited include:

That’s Not Me! Dealing with Identity Theft

Identity theft is growing especially in light of our devastating economic times. In most cases, you don’t know that you’re a victim until your credit card statements stop coming, or you’ve realized that there were charges made against your accounts, but you didn’t make nor authorized them, or you’re receiving phone calls from bill collectors for bad debts tied to your personal information.

The Federal Trade Commission published in their “FTC Facts for Consumer” report that if you’re a victim of identity theft, follow these four steps as soon as possible, and keep records of your conversations and copies of all correspondence.