Red Flag Rule Extended

We have mentioned in several IFCA articles the new Federal Trade Commission regulation that requires all creditors to adopt policies to protect your clients information from identify theft.  It's called the Red Flag Rule.  If you are in the lending or credit business in any manner and maintain personal information on your customers at your business, this rule impacts you.  You must have security procedures in place at your business to detect identity theft attempts or breaches and respond to protect this information.  The original compliance date was November 1, 2008 but the FTC just announced that it is extending the compliance date to May 1, 2009.  There is certainly a lot of outreach that is needed on this rule, and businesses who fail to comply can be held liable for damages related to identity theft as well as substantial fines from the federal government.  For more information on the Red Flag Rule, go to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt050.shtm