For over a year, automotive dealers have been hearing about the proposed Red Flag Ruling, which would require them to establish and maintain an identity theft program. And for over a year, First Advantage CREDCO, a provider of identity theft and credit reporting solutions, has been preparing their dealer customers with the tools they need to protect consumer identities and minimize fraud-related losses. In particular, CREDCO launched BuyerID — a suite of identity verification products — in spring 2006, making them first in the industry to respond to, and address, the new legislation.

In October this year, the Red Flag Ruling was finalized and, effective Nov. 1, 2008, automotive dealers will be expected to comply. In part, the new law requires automotive dealers to conduct a risk assessment of their dealer operating procedures; then implement policy and procedures for identifying and preventing fraud.

For CREDCO customers, compliance will be turnkey. Thanks, in part, to a summer-long promotion than ran from June 1st to Sept. 18th where the company offered BuyerID Index, the latest in a comprehensive suite of consumer information solutions, for free to dealerships nationwide. The offer helped dealers understand the need to acknowledge and prepare for the Red Flag ruling, legislation that was proposed by federal banking agencies and the Federal Trade Commission.

“The promotion is one of many ongoing investments we continue to make to ensure that our dealer customers are educated and properly prepared in our industry’s continually changing environment; in this case, the implications of identity verification due to the Red Flag Ruling,” said Eric J. Rumsey, president of First Advantage CREDCO. “Now nearly 22 percent of the consumers visiting our dealer customers have a BuyerID product accessed at the same time the dealer accesses credit report information during the F&I process.”

Together with their credit reporting solutions, which automatically include specific fraud-related alerts that support additional components of the Red Flag Ruling, dealers can rely on First Advantage CREDCO for an integrated solution to help them comply with the new legislative requirements.

BuyerID Index helps protect dealers from identity theft throughout the purchase cycle. It’s an easy, integrated solution that’s conveniently available for delivery on over 40 dealer sales and finance platforms, including ERA from Reynolds and Reynolds, RouteOne, DealerTrack, Advent Resources, Autostar Solutions and First Advantage CREDCO’s online portal, CREDCOServices.com.

Automatically delivered along with the buyer’s credit report, BuyerID Index provides a three-digit numeric score (ranging from 000 to 999) that indicates the level of risk associated with that buyer — the higher the score, the greater the probability of identity risk. The complete BuyerID suite includes BuyerID Index, BuyerID Alert and BuyerID Advanced. For more information on First Advantage CREDCO’s BuyerID suite, visit www.CREDCOServices.com.