Lining Up FACT Act Players

The FACT Act requirements are rolling into place. By this time next year, everything will be final. Between now and then, you need to be on your toes watching for rules as different agencies fulfill their rulemaking assignments.

Implementing the FACT Act may be more challenging than with most consumer protection regulations because it has broad impact throughout the institution. For example, when implementing Regulation CC and Regulation DD, we were working with the deposit-side staff. Most of the attention went to customer service and operations with some attention given to marketing.

The FACT Act will hit everywhere in the institution. No-one will be unaffected. Arguably even the cleaning staff should be aware of information protection procedures. Anyone who uses a credit report will be involved in the implementation. And remember that credit reports include the fraud alerts that your customer service staff obtains before opening a deposit account. There will be changes in how to read and use credit reports.

Then there are the provisions that deal with information reporting and investigations, account number truncation, and affiliate information sharing. The list is incredible. To help you plan and implement, the chart below indicates general areas that are affected with new responsibilities. This list only strikes the surface and we do not represent it as complete. But we hope it will give you a jump-start in working on your FACT Act program

Function Responsibilities
Loan Officers Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Credit Score notices
Risk-based decision notices
Loan Administrative Assistant Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Credit Score notices
Risk-based decision notices
Credit Analyst Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Credit Score notices
Risk-based decision notices
Loan Administration Staff Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Adverse credit information reporting
Customer Service Representatives Consumer information on identity theft prevention and correction
Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Tellers Consumer information on identity theft prevention and correction
Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Complaint procedures
Customer Service Operations Consumer information on identity theft prevention and correction
Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Investigations Identifying and preventing intrusions
Account number truncation
Providing information to victims of identity theft
Disposal of credit report information Marketing/Business Development Information sharing
Enhanced privacy protections
General knowledge for marketing purposes Executive Assistant Consumer information on identity theft prevention and correction
Responding to complaints
Identity theft or fraud alert proceduresActive duty notices Accounting and Operations Identity theft or fraud alert procedures
Active duty notices
Investigations
Identifying and preventing intrusions
Account number truncationProviding information to victims of identity theft
Disposal of credit report information Human Resources New performance evaluation requirements
New information in credit reports

Copyright © 2004 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 9, No. 6, 6/04