STAR®

On June 29, 2011, the Federal Reserve Board released the final regulations pertaining to Section 1075 (the Durbin Amendment) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. Because most of the provisions take effect on October 1st of this year, financial institutions must act quickly to achieve compliance and take necessary strategic steps to minimize any negative impact on their business and positions themselves for the future.

First Data offers a host of solutions designed not only to help your financial institution become compliant with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) Red Flag Rule guidelines, but also to help you stand apart from the competition as a leader in protecting consumer information from fraud and risk. This document shares ideas on how you can detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft to your covered accounts.

The current changes in consumer spending habits have led to an increase in the popularity of branded prepaid “general purpose” reloadable (GPR) cards. Unlike conventional prepaid cards, prepaid GPR cards allow customers to reload the cards with additional funds and even set up direct deposits to the cards, which make them especially appealing to unbanked and underbanked consumers. Distributors of GPR cards should review program compliance as an integral part of the overall value proposition.

Even with education and high-tech systems designed to protect consumers, identity theft continues to be a major concern. As this and other types of fraud proliferate, financial services companies are in danger of losing customers’ confidence in the event of a security breach. The Fair and Accurate Transaction Act (FACTA) Red Flag rules—designed to address these issues, require financial institutions and creditors to implement a written identity theft prevention program to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft.