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FACT Act Alerts Coming Soon to Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector

October 21, 2004

	FTC "Curbing Identify Theft" Web Site

Effective December 1, 2004, consumers have the option, because of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction (FACT) Act, 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 has 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.consumer.gov/idtheft/business_curbidt.html.

Starting December 1, Loan Prospector will begin passing on to LP users the FACT Act alerts received with credit infiles and merged credit reports. FACT Act alerts for all three credit repositories will be included, free of charge, on credit infiles obtained through Loan Prospector.

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.

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

Source: Freddie Mac