Monday, May 15, 2006
Financial Institutions Comply with New Identity Theft Guidelines
ID Insight's Safe2Change(SM) Helps Financial Institutions Comply with New Identity Theft Guidelines; Sections 114 and 315 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act Require Financial Institutions to Resolve Consumer Address Mismatches
ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2006--Safe2Change, a new service from ID Insight Inc. will help financial services companies comply with recently proposed Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) guidelines aimed at preventing identity theft, according to Adam Elliott and Bob Clark, the company's founders.
Signed into law in December of 2003; FACTA requires that the Federal Trade Commission and other federal entities draft identity theft regulations and guidelines for financial institutions. Last week a consortium of federal agencies including the FTC, Federal Banking Agencies, and National Credit Union Administration, released a proposed rulemaking surrounding sections 114 and 315 of FACTA.
"Sections 114 and 315 both recognize the fact that all true instances of identity theft involve an address manipulation," said Adam Elliott, co-founder and president of ID Insight. "Our new solution, Safe2Change is built on extensive research around that same dynamic. Our core technology has data and analytics that provide financial institutions with definitive resolution to all address mismatches."
"The truth is, people legitimately change addresses all the time," said Bob Clark, co-founder and former fraud investigator. "But at the same time, the amount of fraud in address change transactions is simply too much to ignore. Safe2Change effectively isolates this fraud; allowing you to approve more genuine requests and deny more fraudulent ones."
Safe2Change is based on ID Insight's patent pending Address Differential Analysis(SM) technology - a blend of data and analytics designed to resolve address mismatches and prevent identity theft in both new accounts and address change requests in existing accounts. In addition to identity verification, the analysis produces the AD Score(SM), which numerically predicts the likelihood of fraud. The score helps financial institutions focus on high-risk requests in real time, allowing them to act immediately to protect consumers and prevent serious losses.
Safe2Change will help financial services companies comply with "red flag" provisions included in Section 114 of FACTA, which requires a credit or debit card issuer to assess the validity of a customer-requested address change when that request is coupled with a request for a new card within thirty days. Additionally, Safe2Change is compliant with Section 315, which requires users of consumer credit reports to verify and reconcile address discrepancies between a customer-supplied address and the address on file with a consumer reporting agency.
"Section 114 was written with account takeover in mind, while section 315 was targeted at new account fraud. Both of these new FACTA provisions support what we know from research; that it's all about the address," said Elliott. "Safe2Change allows financial institutions to serve more customers while reducing fraud and investigative expense at the same time."
ID Insight Inc. is a privately held company dedicated to preventing identity theft in new and existing financial accounts. ID Insight is based in St. Paul, Minn. and serves financial services clients nationwide.
Contacts
ID Insight Inc., St. Paul
Matt Schraan, 651-291-3557
ID Insight Inc., St. Paul
Matt Schraan, 651-291-3557
# posted by (hris @ 8:50 AM 
