KENNESAW, Ga. — MicroBilt Corporation, a provider of risk management services, introduced two solutions to help dealers comply with the Risk-Based Pricing (RBP) Rule and Red Flags Rule (RFR), which became effective Jan. 1, 2011.
The RBP Rule is part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). The rule requires companies that use a credit report or score in connection with a credit decision to provide a risk-based pricing notice to a consumer when the company grants credit on material terms that are not the most favorable terms offered to a substantial proportion of consumers. Risk-based pricing is the practice of setting the interest rate or other terms of credit to a consumer based on the consumer’s credit report or score.
The RBP Rule provides companies with two compliance options: the RBP Notice or a Credit Score Disclosure Exception Notice. MicroBilt offers the Credit Score Disclosure Exception Notice as a standard service for all customer data contracts.
The RFR is also part of the FACTA. The RFR require credit providers to define their processes for detecting “red flags” in identity verification, such as discrepancies in address histories, fraud alerts on consumer reports, suspicious use of Social Security numbers, inactive accounts that suddenly become active, credit-freeze notifications, credit reports showing unusual patterns of activity, notices from victims of identity theft or law enforcement agencies and discrepancies between applications and third party information.
MicroBilt offers Red Shield, MicroBilt's FACTA Red Flags solution, which is designed to eliminate some of the most difficult front-end steps in the Red Flag process. It analyzes the likelihood of identity fraud and provides a "Pass" or "Fail" grade. If a transaction passes, it is automatically guaranteed against fraud for up to $25,000. The consumer is also protected against identity-theft losses for another $25,000. If a "fail" response is returned, the client is given a range of manual options that can be used to reduce the risk of identity theft or fraud in the transaction.
MicroBilt offers a low cost, on-demand FACTA Red Flags Training course designed to meet the Red Flags training requirements and to make understanding the RFR fun, fast and easy. An online, real-time FACTA Red Flags hotline — that responds to Red Flag questions within 24 hours is available.
MicroBilt also offers an on-demand training of the Fair Credit Reporting Act which requires users of consumer reports to follow specific rules and guidelines when using private consumer data. FCRA compliance regulation responsibilities can be complex and any business that deals with consumer data must understand the basic concepts and provisions of the FCRA to ensure it adheres to the FCRA compliance regulations.
In addition, MicroBilt offers OFAC compliance by providing access to extensive anti-terrorist "watch list" searches as part of its standard credit and identity reporting. MicroBilt screens more than 60 critical "watch lists" including those maintained and mandated by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
"For smaller businesses in particular, keeping up with federal regulations and their compliance with those regulations such as Risk-Based Pricing, Red Flags, FCRA, OFAC, etc. is a major challenge," said Walt Wojciechowski, CEO of MicroBilt. "Along with the obvious business risks of non-compliance, the legal penalties associated with violations of these regulations can be devastating to the small business. With our simple compliance tools, we're trying to help customers do more business with less risk and less confusion without having to become experts on federal regulations."
