<P> The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (abbreviated FACT Act or FACTA, Pub. L. 108--159) is a United States federal law, passed by the United States Congress on November 22, 2003, and signed by President George W. Bush on December 4, 2003, as an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act . The act allows consumers to request and obtain a free credit report once every twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). In cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission, the three major credit reporting agencies set up the website, AnnualCreditReport.com, to provide free access to annual credit reports . </P> <P> The act also contains provisions to help reduce identity theft, such as the ability for individuals to place alerts on their credit histories if identity theft is suspected, or if deploying overseas in the military, thereby making fraudulent applications for credit more difficult . Further, it requires secure disposal of consumer information . </P> <P> The FACT Act contains seven major titles: Identity Theft Prevention and Credit History Restoration, Improvements in Use of and Consumer Access to Credit Information, Enhancing the Accuracy of Consumer Report Information, Limiting the Use and Sharing of Medical Information in the Financial System, Financial Literacy and Education Improvement, Protecting Employee Misconduct Investigations, and Relation to State Laws . </P> <P> This title of the act contains provisions that deal mainly with the prevention of identity theft . In particular, it establishes new regulations concerning' fraud alerts' and' active duty alerts', establishes new limitations on the printing of customers' credit card numbers on receipts, and prescribes that new regulations be established by certain government agencies regarding the detection of identity theft by financial institutions and creditors . </P>

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