ACB: Press Releases

Contact:	Robert Schmermund (202) 857-3104 Jim Eberle (202) 857-3145	Jim Eberle (202) 857-3145 (work) (703) 893-2593 (home) [email protected]	For Immediate Release July 9, 2003 #03-26
E-mail: [email protected]

AMERICA’S COMMUNITY BANKERS SUPPORTS FAIR AND ACCURATE CREDIT TRANSACTIONS BILL

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — America’s Community Bankers endorsed legislation today that would permanently reauthorize the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s uniform national consumer protection standards, provide banks and consumers with additional tools to combat identity theft, and improve the national credit reporting system.

Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, ACB Chairman D. Russell Taylor said ACB “wholeheartedly” endorses the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and urged its adoption expeditiously.

“The preservation of these uniform national standards is imperative to maintain the efficiency of consumer credit markets and the competitiveness of the economy as a whole,” he said. The bill “strikes the appropriate balance of protecting consumers and properly regulating information sharing practices.”

Taylor is president and CEO, Rahway Savings Institution, Rahway, N.J., whose family of companies also includes Rahway Savings Insurance Agency. “The FCRA is too often evaluated in the context of large financial institutions. We are by no means a large financial institution, yet the uniform national standards in the FCRA help small- and medium-sized companies like mine better serve our customers.”

The FCRA’s national standards for consumer protections are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Removing the sunset provisions “will allow community banks, like Rahway Savings and others, to continue making prudent credit decisions quickly and inexpensively wherever a customer may reside or have conducted business,” he said.

Taylor brought the unique perspective to the hearing of being both a bank executive and a victim of identity theft. He supported the bill’s framework that would institutionalize measures to help minimize the risk of identity theft and assist identity theft victims. “Community banks are on the front lines of the war against identity theft, and we appreciate the tools provided” in the bill, he added. ACB members have distributed more than five million identity theft brochures to their customers.

Taylor expressed concern, however, about the new legal liabilities the bill would place on users of credit reports. Because fraud alerts have a variable degree of accuracy and completeness, Taylor said “lenders should not be bound by specific instructions found in the fraud alert. Instead, lenders should be permitted to use whatever reasonable and practical measures are appropriate to verify the identity of the person, rather than blindly adhere to the specific instructions found in the fraud alert.” He suggested clarification that new penalties apply only to credit fraud, not to legitimate credit applications.

Taylor said that the “continued integrity of the national credit reporting system demands that credit reports be as accurate as possible. He supported a requirement that would provide consumers with a free annual copy of their credit report (which consumers are already entitled to in six states), and information on how a credit score is derived and how it can be improved.

Because the FCRA standards expire in less than six months, Taylor said, “We sincerely hope that consideration of other issues will not slow down or threaten the passage of this legislation.”

Click here to read testimony.

America’s Community Bankers is the national trade association committed to shaping the future of banking by being the innovative industry leader strengthening the competitive position of community banks. To learn more about ACB, visit www.AmericasCommunityBankers.com.

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