Compliance Coach Inc., a provider of automated regulatory compliance
solutions to the financial services industry, today announced that it
has identified 23 new identity theft red flags and has updated its
software, CompliancePal (http://www.compliancepal.com).
CompliancePal is the industry’s first software
solution to enable compliance with the FACT Act Identity Theft Red Flags
Rule.
The Federal regulation imposes new responsibilities on businesses to
prevent consumer identity theft. The impact is broad and the rule
affects every single bank, credit union, mortgage lender, auto dealer,
credit card lender, payday lender, landlord, utility company, phone
company, and any consumer or small business lender in the country.
The compliance deadline is November 1, 2008. Failure to comply can lead
to civil money penalty for each violation, regulatory enforcement
action, private plaintiff lawsuits, negative publicity and loss of
business.
“CompliancePal enables a financial institution
or creditor to quickly and easily get into and stay in compliance,”
said Sai Huda, chairman and CEO, Compliance Coach. “Under
the rule, companies must monitor for new identity theft risks
and update their program for new red flags,”
continued Huda.
CompliancePal already contains the previously government published 26
identity theft red flags. The 23 new red flags identified by
Compliance Coach and added to CompliancePal are the industry’s
first set of new red flags. The red flags are based on recent
identity theft cases and schemes affecting financial institutions,
creditors and consumers.
For example, the following are three new red flags identified by
Compliance Coach and added to CompliancePal that are based on the United
States v. Caldwell identity theft case involving the “name
change” scheme. Caldwell used this scheme to
defraud more than 50 banks and retail stores and created thousands of
dollars in losses:
--
Red Flag # 1: Government issued identification bears an issue date
and expiration date that are unusually close together. For
example, a driver's license or passport bears an issue date and an
expiration date that correspond to a time frame that is less than
the usual time frame for validity.
--
Red Flag # 2: Inconsistency between name and SSN when compared to
a third party database.
--
Red Flag # 3: Existing or known customer frequently changes his or
her name. For example:
--
Changing order of last name (e.g., Jones-Smith to Smith-Jones)
--
Adding or changing last name
--
Changing first name
--
Changing entire name (e.g., first, middle, and last name changes)
“Compliance Coach’s
team of legal and compliance experts monitor and analyze daily identity
theft cases, schemes and trends to identify new red flags. CompliancePal
is the only solution for millions of companies to easily stay on top of
new red flags,” said Huda.
CompliancePal is a Web-based software that walks the user through a
series of questions and produces: the required risk assessment, the
mapping of red flags to appropriate detection and response procedures,
the written program, the training materials and the compliance status
report, everything necessary to pass an audit.
The software is updated regularly for new identity theft schemes and red
flags so a company can easily update its identity theft program and
maintain compliance. To use the solution, companies simply sign-up
online and access the software via the Internet. A demo can be viewed at http://www.compliancepal.com.
About Compliance Coach Inc.
Compliance Coach is a leading provider of automated regulatory
compliance solutions to the financial services industry. Five of the top
10 banks and hundreds of financial institutions throughout the U.S. rely
on Compliance Coach’s solutions and services
to mitigate compliance risk.
Compliance Coach provides risk assessment software, e-learning and other
tools to enable compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Its
products and services are supported by an in-house team of nationally
recognized legal, compliance and technology experts. CompliancePal is
the company’s latest revolutionary web-based
software that uses a unique five step system to enable compliance with
the new FACT Act Identity Theft Red Flags Rule, quicker and easier.
The company is privately held and venture capital backed by four of the
top 10 banks: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Washington
Mutual are the company’s primary investors.
It is based in San Diego, California and has a regulatory relations
office in Washington, D.C. For further information, visit http://www.compliancecoach.com.
Compliance Coach® is a registered
trademark and CompliancePal™ is a trademark
of Compliance Coach, Inc. Patents pending. Copyright ©
2008 Compliance Coach, Inc. All rights reserved.
TAGS: compliance, identity theft, data security, consumer privacy
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