On Friday, October 30th, the FTC again delayed enforcement of the “Red Flags” Rule – this time until June 1, 2010 – for financial institutions and creditors subject to the FTC’s enforcement. Here’s the official release: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/redflags.shtm.
But this doesn’t mean, until then, businesses get a free pass. The extension doesn’t apply to other federal agencies that have enforcement responsibilities for institutions under their jurisdiction. And the extension also doesn’t alleviate an institution’s need to detect and respond to address discrepancies on credit reports.
Red Flag compliance
Implementing best practices to address the identity theft under the Red Flags Rule is not just the law, it’s good business. The damage to reputations and consumer confidence from a problem gone unchecked or worse yet – unidentified – can be catastrophic. I encourage all businesses – if they haven’t already done so – to use this extension as an opportunity to proactively secure a Red Flags Rule to ensure Red Flag compliance. It’s an investment in protecting their most important asset – the customer.
