Abstract
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (“FACT Act”) makes incremental progress toward its goal of improving the protection of consumers and businesses in an age of increasingly sophisticated scams and cons. Congress enacted the FACT Act in order to further address the problems of identity theft, improve resolution of disputes over consumer credit information, enhance accuracy of consumer credit records, further regulate use of credit information, and broaden consumer access to credit information. The FACT Act imposes new business practices on companies that handle personal consumer information by requiring them to share with consumers information about data that has been collected and reported about them, as well as how and when that data is being used. Consumers and businesses may benefit from these changes if some harm has already occurred and, in any case, consumers should find that the accuracy and accessibility of their credit information has improved. However, they will find that prevention of future acts of identity theft was not the principal aim of the FACT Act and that other legislation and initiatives are necessary to adequately address these crimes.
First Page
5
Recommended Citation
Terrance J. Keenan,
The FACT Act of 2003: Securing Personal Information in an Age of Identity Theft,
2 Shidler J. L. Com. & Tech.
5
(2005).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wjlta/vol2/iss2/1