Saturday, March 26, 2011

Does FACTA Mean I Am Required To Shred My Information?

By Steven Jorgensenn


The Fair and Accurate Credit and Transaction Act requires that consumer data is destroyed just before it's disposed of. How does this affect companies and people?

No matter how careful you are with your personal details, it's necessary every now and then to give this data to other different entities: schools, universities, doctors, banks, etc. Do you ever ask yourself what occurs to that info after you give it away? You may be happy to know that law, specifically the Fair and Accurate Credit and Transaction Act (FACTA) demands the safeguarded destruction of this data.

FACTA applies to each and every individual and business within the United States, and is the closest thing we have to a national record destruction law. FACTA mandates that consumer details ought to be destroyed just before it's discarded. No particular means of destruction is specified, but the law states that reasonable measures ought to be taken to stop unauthorized access to the info. According to FACTA, these reasonable measures contain "burning, pulverizing, or shredding of papers containing consumer information" as well as being in "a contract with an additional party engaged inside the enterprise of record destruction to get rid of material, specifically identified as consumer data, in a manner consistent with this rule."

Handling private consumer info isn't something to consider lightly. FACTA imposes hefty penalties for violators, such as civil and class action lawsuits on both federal and state levels. A violation could potentially cost a firm millions of dollars in fines. In a recent example here in Georgia, a business moved out of a building and left behind a lot of documents containing the personal details of others. The property manager discovered these documents and had them shredded. The company is in the process of being investigated and will most likely be fined.

FACTA gives consumers the right to have their personal details protected, and the law places the federal liability and responsibility for this task on companies. To stay FACTA compliant and avoid fines, lawsuits, and bad publicity, businesses should take precautions to have private information securely destroyed in-house or by a reputable document destruction firm.




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