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Republican representative Elton Gallegly was recently responsible for the introduction of the Credit Agencies Identity Theft Responsibilities ACT (the CAITRA). This act requires credit agencies to make sure that they inform the secret service of irregularities in different credit reports of their consumers. Since the average loss of households last year due to identity theft was $1,290, the Congressman feels that this problem needs to be resolved soon.
According to Gallegly, "Identity theft has become an epidemic across the United States, claiming more than 10 million victims last year alone. Victims of identity theft find they are turned down for insurance or have to pay higher rates, they've been the subject of a civil suit or judgment, or they've been the subject of a criminal investigation because of a crime committed by the thief."
The Federal Trade Commission states that the credit card fraud folder is the biggest when it comes to identity theft at 25% which is then followed by utilities at 16% and differing kinds of employer/employment fraud at 14%. Furthermore, many households have either been forced into paying higher interest rates or been denied service as a direct result of identity theft.
At the current moment in time, credit reporting agencies are only involved in directly notifying the consumer of potential fraud and they only do that when specifically blatant fraudulent actions have occurred. Under the CAITRA, if 3+ names are associated with a single SSN, 3+ addresses are listed for a consumer in a one year stretch or the consumer has more than one date of birth, the credit reporting agency would be required to notify the secret service.
Once the secret service had been notified, they would then need to look at the cases and take actions they saw appropriate.
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