Creditron's Auto Messaging Tool Effectively Addresses the FTCs Red Flags Rules for Financial Institutions and Creditors

ROCKVILLE, MD, October 19, 2008 – Creditron today announced that its Lockbox Auto Messaging Agent (LAMA) helps banks, billers and other payments processors comply with the Federal Trade Commission’s new “Red Flag and Address Discrepancy Rules,” which become mandatory November 1.  LAMA is an optional module for Creditron’s ItemAge Express remittance and lockbox platform.

As part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003, the FTC, the federal bank regulatory agencies, and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) issued the Red Flags Rules, requiring financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs.  The programs must in place by November 1, 2008, and must provide for the identification, detection and response to patterns, practices, or specific activities – red flags – that could indicate identity theft.

LAMA is an important tool against identity theft.  As checks and remittance coupons are processed through ItemAge Express, LAMA automatically reviews transaction details such as name, address and account number, matching the information against a pre-defined “hot list.”  In the event of a hit, LAMA sends an automated message, along with details of the transaction, to a pre-determined operator for further examination, validation, and action.

‘Red flags’ identified by LAMA include:

• A suspicious address, such as a mail-drop or prison;
• A suspicious phone number, such as that of a pager or answering service;
• An address or phone number matching one supplied by other individuals;
• Personal information inconsistent with information already on file;
• A request for additional users on the account, shortly after a change of address; and
• Any condition the financial institution or processor deems inappropriate.

“Under the FTC’s ‘Red Flags’ requirements, financial institutions, creditors and other payments processors soon will be required to implement a program to detect, prevent and mitigate instances of identity theft,” commented Rob Haberman, senior product manager for Creditron. “LAMA is the first line of defense in this fight. It provides a powerful tool to help organizations of all sizes meet and monitor their compliance initiatives, while specifically addressing the FTC’s new ‘Red Flags’ requirements.”

Creditron will demonstrate ItemAge Express in its expo hall booth (No. 1510), at the 2008 AFP Annual Conference, to be held October 19-22, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

About Creditron

Creditron is a leading provider of payment processing, distributed capture, receivables management and electronic billing and payment solutions.  Its solutions combine industry standard operating systems and advanced imaging, scanning and data recognition technology to help financial institutions, businesses and other entities optimize operations performance and improve customer service.  The company’s over 350 North American customers process more than 400 million transactions annually, representing over $100 billion.  For more information, visit www.creditron.com.

Creditron is a registered trademark of Creditron Canada, Inc.

Contact:  
Bill Genard,
Creditron
603.772.1499
bgenard@creditron.com