Put a Positive Spin on FACT Act Notices (2 Notice Options)

The FACT Act is introducing a lot of new notices. These notice requirements are well meant in that they are designed to provide customers with useful information. But they present several challenges. One is that consumers already receive a lot of notices. A few more may go unnoticed or fail to have the intended impact.

Another challenge is that - especially in some cases - the notices can make you look unfriendly or imply that you aren't quite doing the job. Think, for example, about the pending notice requirement to tell the customer that your information security has been breached and their financial information may have been stolen. And then there is the notice that says when you don't pay, we tell on you.

How these notices are written and presented may have an enormous effect on your customer and your relationship with your customers. There will, of course, be model language. But we learned from privacy that model language may not be the best way to go.

How can you develop effective, customer friendly notices? Use your marketers. This time the marketer is on your side. And, of course, everyone likes giving advice.

Remember that compliance notices, while required by regulations, also have a constructive purpose. They are supposed to help customers and provide information. No-one requires that they be boring or incomprehensible. They can be friendly, supportive, informative and straightforward. This is where the marketers come in. Because writing material that is easy to read and user friendly is their forte.

As long as your notices contain the required information, you can present that information in many different ways. You can even be creative. Just keep several goals in mind. First, communicate all of the required information. Nothing can be left out. Second, don't confuse the message. While it may be tempting to soften the notice information with sales language, a little can go a long way. Don't overdo it. If you get too sales-y, the notice content may fade away to the reader. Third, be honest. Do not mislead the consumer into thinking that there isn't a problem or that they don't need to do anything. Instead, offer support and information. Finally, think about long term relationships with the customer and set this as a goal. The more helpful, honest, and supportive you are with your customer, the more loyal that customer will be.

One Option:
We know how important it is to you to keep your financial information safe and secure. That's why we maintain information security systems that are designed to catch anyone trying to obtain access to our systems. We do this to protect you and to protect us, because keeping information safe is in everyone's best interest. In our regular safety checks, we found what we believe is an attempt to hack in to our system. Only a few accounts may have been affected but we want to alert those account holders so that they can watch for any possible problems. Your account may have been affected by this security issue. That's why we want to let you know right away. We are taking steps to evaluate the scope of the security breach. In the meantime, we want to protect you from any harm. For that reason, we ask that you call [_________________] and arrange for new account numbers.

Another Option:
We have been notified by [____________] that there may have been a security breach in their network. They have asked us to notify customers about this possible security breach. While we do not yet have any more specific information than this, we wanted to let you know of this possible concern as soon as possible.

Here's what we recommend you do. Check your statements carefully as soon as you receive them. If you can access your account online, we recommend that you check the account activity every few days. If you see anything irregular, notify us immediately by calling [_____________] or by writing to us at [_________________________].

Enclosed is an explanation of your billing error rights with respect to your account. The notice includes instructions on how to notify us about a billing error. The notice includes a list of information that we will need to investigate the concern and help you protect your account.

At [______________] we want to do everything we can to provide you with excellent service and to help you protect your accounts and information from theft or misuse. If you have any questions, please call us. We would be happy to help you.

P.S.. You can find helpful information about identity theft and steps to take to prevent it at the Federal Trade Commission's website, www.ftc.gov or at www.consumer.gov/idtheft . Copyright © 2004 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 9, No. 12, 11/04