Federal lawmakers are hoping the latest version of the Fair Credit Reporting Act provides a better shield for consumers in the war on identity theft.
Supporters of the law said it provides better protection against identity theft and offers greater assistance to victims of fraud. Detractors claim the legislation prevents individual states from passing even tougher regulations.
“It has its strong points, but it also has its weaknesses,” said Linda Foley, co-founder of Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit group. “We are bitterly disappointed that states were not given more leeway to work with the problem of identity theft at the state level. We were promised a strong set of national laws and what we got was a good attempt.”
Some of the provisions in the new law:
– Businesses are not allowed to publish full credit card numbers on receipts.
– Consumers can request a free credit report every year and have access to their credit scores.
– A fraud alert tag must be prominently placed on all credit reports of individuals who have been victims of identity theft.
– Credit-rating agencies will be prevented from including fraudulent transactions when selling a credit report to other entities.
– Medical information will be coded on credit reports and cannot be used for credit decisions.
– Consumers will have only one number to call when reporting identity fraud or fraudulent activity instead of having to call all three major credit reporting bureaus.
