Fraud Alerts

I have never seen a fraud alert show up in a credit report. What does it look like when it is listed in a credit report or what phrase is stated to signify that a fraud alert exists?

I contacted the credit bureaus that we use and they sent me sample reports with fraud alerts.

Here is a link to a web site that has some questions and answers about alerts that may help you.

http://www.experian.com/compliance/factact/experian/qa.html

I have one in front of me that says at thet top
--------------------------------------------------
SPECIAL MESSAGES
*** HIGH RISK FRAUD ALERT: INPUT SSN USED IN DEATH BENEFITS CLAIM FOR .....

Then goes into detail on the deceased DOB and DOD and residence information. I don't think I will be doing this loan.....

Not necessarily. First make sure there is no input error. Then compare the consumer's data with the decesed person's data provided on the credit report. If they match, there is a possiblity of the misrepresentation. Then ask for additional information (actual SSN card) from the consumer and then decide.

Has anyone ever dealt with a Fraud Alert on a credit report that a customer said was due to ID theft? I was wondering what other people have in place to comply with section 151 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT). How do you handle providing information to the victim etc?

I would like to know as well. If there is a phone number provided we contact the phone number. But lately, I have seen some alerts without the phone number and do not know what is the best way to handle this. I hope someone can share their procedure. Thank you.

SPECIAL MESSAGES
*** HIGH RISK FRAUD ALERT: INPUT SSN USED IN DEATH BENEFITS CLAIM FOR .....

I talked with our Trans Union rep and he said the "High Risk Fraud Alert" assocaited with SSN's is not the same as the Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts. Our reports generate the "High Risk Fraud Alert" on virtually each report. I think its more to point out the info regarding ..age of issue and state of issue along with death benefit claims.

Yeah I think that message is a normal alert. I was wondering if anyone has ever seen a FACT alert?

Yes, it might be a normal alert or nothing to do with FACTA. However these alerts need to be addressed. .

We have had a situation of Fraud Alert recently. It was a bear. The Fraud Alert contained a telephone number be called when dealing with this person. The only problem was that the customer had moved and the telephone number was no longer the correct number. We required the customer to go to the CRA and update the Fraud Alert, before proceeding with the application.

Thanks Reg Reader that is a great link!

Off the Experian website.

Does the FACT Act require all lenders to report data to nationwide CRAs?

There is nothing in the FACT Act that requires a data furnisher to report to all CRAs. There will be guidelines and regulations issued by the FTC and banking regulators regarding the accuracy and integrity of information provided to CRAs. It is unlikely that these regulations will require data reporting, but additional standards may be set. We will communicate updates, as they are available.

On the reports that I see GENERALLY the fraud information is in the first section, before you get to the account details. Then at the bottom there will be the longer message that gives the instructions.

We have discovered that some consumers have messages like "contact me to verify". When you look at the date of the message it will be a year or two old, long before FACT Act, which explains the lack of detail. So be aware that there are old messages out there.

Here's hoping that time will bring some standardization to the process!

Hmm Thanks GenerousLife. Does anyone know what the difference will be from the old Fraud alerts verses the new alerts due to FACTA? I wonder why if you could have those messages before what has really changed?

I am hoping to address all of the previous responses with this one reply.
I currently have an extended fraud alert on my credit report and requested such over 4 years ago prior to the FACT Act legislation. When I make application for the extension oof credit from any creditor, that are required to contact me and ask me several questions about materials contained on my credit report (credit history). For example, do I have a car loan? If yes, who is the lender and what is the monthly payment amount?. Do I have mortgage? If yes, who is the lender and what is the monthly payment amount?. Did you recently open an account? If yes, with whom? Did you recently close an account? If so, with who?. The regulations states that you MUST verify enough infromation to ensure the person making the credit application is the same person that you are talking to.

The difference between the old "Fraud Alert" requirement and those in the FACT Act are:
1. Each credit reporting agency had their own procedures for handling identity theft and unfortunately, none were the same. The FACT Act requires uniform procedures across all the agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax).
2. Prior tot eh FACT Act, there were a going number of Active Duty service men and women who were victims of identity theft. The FACT Act now requires the CRA's to put an Active Duty Fraud Alert on the credit files of all Active Duty Military personnel (as requested) for a perior of 12 months to assist military personal that are operating in harms way with some sort of credit protection.
3. Variosu states have legislation in place that would allow the residents of that state to obtain their credit file from all CRA's annually free of charge. For consumers that did not live in those states, you had to either pay for your credit file or be denied credit. This means it cost you money or hits to your credit score just to see what has been repoerted to the CRA. Additionally, statistcs show that at least 25% of consumers that have been denied credit over the past year were denied due to mis-information on their credit file. So with the FACT Act, ALL consumers can receive a copy of their personal cerdit file from all 3 CRA's annually by simply requesting a copy via mail, pohne or online at www.annualcreditreport.com. Current those located in the western and mid-west regions may apply because congrass authorized a "rolling" roll-out by region.
4. Finally, there were various cases of mortgage lenders and brokers supplying consumer with false information about contained in their credit file so the lender and/or broker can charge higher fees or a higher rate (for greater return on the sale of the loan or greater YSP for brokers). So, congress also required mortgage lenders and brokers to disclose to the consumer their creditr score, the range of scores and the 4 reason why the score was what it was disclosed.

I hope this helps everyone. If not, let me know and I will try to type some more. But this chicken-pecking his starting to hut my fingers.

Thanks for the good information complianceman!

So when you request a free credit report from one of the 3 CRA's it doesn't count as a hit to your credit report?

I deal with the ID Theft at my job and those associated with the FACT Act. We run two different bureaues; either TransUnion for Consumer Loans or a tri-merge for Mortgages. When dealing with TransUnion, the alert is on the first and I believe, last pages. When looking at a tri-merge with all three bureaus, it is well hidden. I found it on pages 10 and 12 out of 13 pages. You would think that with all the attention on ID Theft, this information would be more prominent.

For verification purposes I ask quetions that would have taken place before the alert was placed, and other items afterwards. In one case I even obtained old copies of a tax return.

When you make a persona request for your credit report under the authority provided by the FACT Act (www.annualcreditreport.com) is does not count against you. Everytime a creditor makes a HARD hit against your credit report, it does cost you points. If you apply for a mortgage, then all HARD hits within a 30 day period only count as one hit.

Hope this helps.