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Taking Credit

Washington shields businesses from identity theft losses.

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This story appears in the December 2003 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

After a troubling report from the on , is moving to make it easier for to prevent losses caused by thieves who have stolen someone's . The passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (H.R. 2622) a week after the FTC report was issued.

Joe Rubin, executive director of technology and for the , says the bill will help entrepreneurs in two ways: by protecting their credit rating and by shielding them from losses from identity theft. The bill accomplishes this by allowing consumers to issue " alerts" to credit bureaus. This would ostensibly stop banks from opening bogus accounts for thieves in the name of someone whose identity they've stolen (via a credit card or bank account number). "Small- people themselves using their own credit cards, second mortgages and personal lines of credit during lean times," Rubin says. "This bill protects that ability."

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