Red Flags Rules
The Federal Trade Commission's new rules on identity theft, known as "Red Flags Rules," require financial institutions, utilities, and other creditors to set up programs aimed at preventing identity theft. Because of the definition of "creditor" in these rules, many municipalities may be affected. Joint rules and guidelines were issued by the Department of the Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission). They implement sections 114 and 315 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act). The joint final rules and guidelines were effective January 1, 2008. The mandatory compliance date for this rule was November 1, 2008. The FTC has granted an additional delay, until June 2010, of enforcement of the 'red flags' rule requiring creditors and financial institutions to have identity theft prevention programs.
For more information visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt050.shtm.
October 30th, 2009 – At the request of members of Congress, The Federal Trade Commission issued an announcement that it will again suspend enforcement of the new “Red Flags Rule” for the fourth time.... this time until June 1st, 2010 to give creditors subject to FTC jurisdiction additional time in which to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. Today’s announcement focused on small businesses and their need to understand the requirements of the rules.
For more information visit http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/redflags.shtm.