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FACT Act Alerts

Per the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction (FACT) Act, effective December 1, 2004, consumers have the option to place fraud alerts on their credit files at the three national credit repositories – Equifax, Trans Union and Experian in the event they determine their credit information may have been obtained or used by any unauthorized person. Consumers may place the following alerts on their credit files per the FACT Act:

• Initial Alert – 90-day “temporary” alert message when fraud/identity theft is suspected.

• Extended Alert – 7-year alert message when a consumer can provide substantial evidence that they are a victim of identity theft.

• Active Duty Alert – 12-month alert to indicate a consumer is on active military duty.

When an alert message appears on the credit report, a prospective lender that obtains the report must verify the identity of the consumer prior to extending credit. For more details on the FACT Act, including more information on these alerts, go to: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/alerts/facta.html.

In addition to the FACT Act alerts, the three national credit repositories will also provide the following messages to ensure the accuracy of consumers' credit information:

• Address Discrepancy Message – This message will notify a credit report requestor if there is a substantial discrepancy between the address on inquiry input and the address on the credit report.

• Inquiry Factor Message – This message will inform the requestor of the credit report if the consumer’s credit score has been adversely impacted by the number of inquires contained in the consumer's credit file.

You may see these additional messages passed through with credit infiles prior to December 1.