At the request of Members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission is delaying enforcement of the “Red Flags” Rule until June 1, 2010, for financial institutions and creditors subject to enforcement by the FTC. Read More:

The newly proposed Bill is designed to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for an exclusion from Red Flag Guidelines for certain businesses. But wait… The exclusion may require an application to qualify your business for an exemption.
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To assist small businesses and other entities, the Federal Trade Commission staff will redouble its efforts to educate them about compliance with the “Red Flags” Rule and ease compliance by providing additional resources and guidance to clarify whether businesses are covered by the Rule and what they must do to comply. To give creditors and financial institutions more time to review this guidance and develop and implement written Identity Theft Prevention Programs, the FTC will further delay enforcement of the Rule until November 1, 2009.

The three-month extension, coupled with this new guidance, should enable businesses to gain a better understanding of the Rule and any obligations that they may have under it. These steps are consistent with the House Appropriations Committee’s recent request that the Commission defer enforcement in conjunction with additional efforts to minimize the burdens of the Rule on health care providers and small businesses with a low risk of identity theft problems. Today’s announcement that the Commission will delay enforcement of the Rule until November 1, 2009, does not affect other federal agencies’ enforcement of the original November 1, 2008, compliance deadline for institutions subject to their oversight.

Please feel free to review the latest from the the staff of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“FRB”), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), Office of Thrift Supervision (“OTS”) (collectively the “Federal Financial Institution Regulatory Agencies”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) (collectively “Agencies”) to help clarify question you might have about Red Flag Rules. Click Here to read the Red Flag FAQ Document

The Federal Trade Commission will delay enforcement of the new “Red Flags Rule” until August 1, 2009, to give creditors and financial institutions more time to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. For entities that have a low risk of identity theft, such as businesses that know their customers personally, the Commission will soon release a template to help them comply with the law. Today’s announcement does not affect other federal agencies’ enforcement of the original November 1, 2008 compliance deadline for institutions subject to their oversight. Click Here to read the complete article.

TEANECK, NEW JERSEY, Feb. 25, 2009 — Assurant Specialty Property and National ID Recovery (NIDR) have partnered with Veratad Technologies LLC to expand the benefits and value-added services offered through Assurant Red Flag ID Fraud Solutions, a fraud detection, notification and protection program that helps financial institutions comply with FACTA Identity Theft Red Flag Rules.

New program enhancements provided by Veratad Technologies will enable financial institutions to develop a Red Flag solution that is unique to their business needs. The program allows financial institutions to:

• Create a customized Red Flag rules program based on industry or provider activities
• Identify the identity theft “red flags” that are essential for compliance
• Build customized, Web-based training programs for employees
• Utilize state-of-the art features to verify customer identities and addresses

Assurant Specialty Property and NIDR introduced Assurant Red Flag ID Fraud Solutions in September 2008 to help financial institutions comply with the FACTA Identity Theft Red Flag Rules by Nov. 1, 2008. Affected institutions must provide for the identification, detection and response to “red flags” that could indicate identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) subsequently delayed enforcement of the new law for institutions under its jurisdiction until May 1, 2009.

The Assurant Red Flag ID Fraud Solutions Program features a set of internal tools that financial institutions can use to build a customized red flag program, train employees on what red flag indicators are and how to catch them, verify customer identities for credit transactions and generate reports on trends and issues within their organizations.

An optional feature includes a suite of identity theft and credit protection services that participating institutions can offer to their customers at a reasonable monthly cost. The institutions’ revenue share is designed to more than offset their compliance program costs.

Assurant Specialty Property, part of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ), is a leading provider of specialty insurance and collateral protection programs. NIDR is a leading provider of identity theft solutions to consumers and one of the fastest growing identity theft recovery companies in the nation. Veratad Technologies is a leading provider of real-time online identity verification and knowledge-based authentication solutions.

To learn more about Assurant Red Flag ID Fraud Solutions, visit www.assurantredflag.com , or call 1.800.8598231 to speak to a representative. Additional information on the Red Flag legislation can be found at the FTC’s Web site at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt050.shtm .

About Assurant Specialty Property
Assurant Specialty Property businesses are leading providers of creditor-placed homeowners insurance, direct-marketed products, collateral protection programs and related outsourcing services. They develop, underwrite, market and administer specialty property and personal lines of insurance through collaborative relationships with leading home mortgage companies, financial institutions, manufactured home builders and dealers, auto finance companies, property management companies and managing general agents. Assurant Specialty Property serves clients and their customers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. www.assurantspecialtyproperty.com

Assurant Specialty Property is part of Assurant, a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected international markets. Its four key businesses – Assurant Solutions, Assurant Specialty Property, Assurant Health and Assurant Employee Benefits – partner with clients who are leaders in their industries and who have built leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments worldwide. Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and part of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has more than $24 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. www.assurant.com

About National ID Recovery, LLC (NIDR)
National ID Recovery, LLC  (NIDR) is a Georgia Corporation, founded in April 2004 and managed by a team of seasoned veterans with experience in security, information technology, communications, sales, management and compliance. NIDR is dedicated to providing the most efficient, reliable, low cost and easy-to-use ID recovery service in the marketplace. NIDR’s automated ID theft recovery system, backed by highly trained paralegals, allows NIDR to clear over 48 known types of identity theft with a 100 percent recovery rate. www.nationalidrecovery.com

About Veratad Technologies, LLC
Veratad Technologies, LLC ( www.Veratad.com )is a world class provider of real-time online Identity Verification and Knowledge Based Authentication Solutions designed to verify an individual’s identity and age while maintaining a high level of consumer privacy. In addition, Veratad offers a unique online Red Flag Rules Compliance tool for the creation of an ID Theft Prevention Document and Employee Training designed to meet the compliance requirements of FACTA.

At the center of Veratad’s success is a state-of-the-art privacy processing platform which delivers Veratad’s AgeMatch/Age Verification Solution, IDMatch/Identity Verification solution and IDMatch+PLUS/Knowledge Based Identity Authentication Solution. Veratad also offers a patent pending solution that protects sensitive customer information while offering merchants increased online sales by enhancing customer confidence. Veratad verifications can be delivered in a matter of seconds directly through multiple verification platforms to commerce, financial and government institutions. Veratad also provides a wide range of custom data solutions. For more information contact

For More Information Contact:

Veratad Technologies, LLC
Teaneck, New Jersey
P: 201-510-6000 ext 112
F: 201-510-6036
info@veratad.com

About Veratad Technologies, LLC

Veratad Technologies, LLC ( www.Veratad.com ) is a world class provider of real-time online Identity Verification and Knowledge Based Authentication Solutions designed to verify an individuals identity and age while maintaining a high level of consumer privacy.

Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward -looking statements, such as statements regarding the Company’s, and the combined companies’, anticipated future performance, including the ability of the combined companies to expand verification and e-commerce capabilities; to increase product offerings and the size of the distribution channel; as well as statements containing the words, “believes,” “intends,”, and similar words. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the Company’s limited operating history and variability of operating results; competition in the electronic verification and commerce market; the ability of the combined companies to successfully offer the market expanded verification and privacy tools and e-commerce capabilities and services and the market’s acceptance of such offerings, and other risk factors referenced in this release.

The Federal Trade Commission will suspend enforcement of the new “Red Flags Rule” until May 1, 2009, to give creditors and financial institutions additional time in which to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. Today’s announcement and the release of an Enforcement Policy Statement do not affect other federal agencies’ enforcement of the original November 1, 2008 deadline for institutions subject to their oversight to be in compliance.

CLICK HERE to read the complete listing of the update from the FTC.

The FDIC has issued the listed examination procedures on identity theft red flags, address discrepancies, and change of address requests. We have posted them for your review.

Please click on the links below to view the documents:

FDIC Red Flag Examination Procedures.pdf (61.17 kb)
OCC Red Flag Examination Procedures.pdf (288.41 kb)
Federal Reserve Red Flag Examination Procedures.pdf (270.51 kb)

Welcome to our Blog. We will be focusing on age and identity verification issues. We look forward to communicating with you and hope you will find our blogs informational and helpful.