San Diego, CA. - "Risk Management in Today's
Environment: Assisting Your Clients to Reduce Their Risk
of Identity Theft and Fraud" was the title of the
presentation made before Certified Financial Planners (CFP)
at the 2006 annual meeting of the Certified Financial
Planner Board of Standards, Inc., by the ICFEs'
executive director, Paul Richard, RFC, who is also a
Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist. The
presentation was made on August 4th at the Los Angeles
Convention Center.
The one hour session, attended by approximately 150 CFPs
focused on the growing threat of credit and identity
theft to clients and also the procedures practices CFP's
must now employ to ensure their clients personal and
private information doesn't fall into the wrong hands
and place the CFP's at risk for legal and financial
liability. Those CFPs who attended earned one Continuing
Education (CE) credit hour.
About one quarter of the CFP's attending the session
indicated they had been the victim of credit and
identity theft and about the same number said they
clients who were victims.
The session began with an identity theft quiz, on a
PowerPoint presentation, from the U.S. Justice
Department. It was followed by another PowerPoint show
which helped the certificants understand the different
types of identity theft such as financial, criminal,
identity cloning and business/commercial identity theft.
The presentation covered credit reports and the free
annual disclosures required by the new Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) law. Attendees were also
warned about all the imposter web sites touting "free
credit reports." Included in the free annual disclosures
are specialty reports from such organizations as
ChoicePoint which reports on insurance matters and check
systems, which reports on non-sufficient funds checks
written by business and consumers. Also covered were new
consumer protections written into FACTA which included
fraud alerts, active duty alerts, and credit freezes.
The presentation included a summary of the Fair Credit
Reporting Act and enhancements to the disputing of
credit reports, an explanation of the seven year clock
which covers how long a negative item can remain on a
credit file.
The principal areas of vulnerability for businesses,
including financial planning firms, were explained. This
included employees of businesses who are victims, the
customers who are victims and the businesses who are
holders of protected information. The responsibilities
of businesses as holders of protected information were
explained and what the legal and financial liabilities
were to those who violated the FACTA law.
The limitations of credit monitoring, which is often
offered as a feel good solution to victims, were
presented and why it gives victims a false sense of
security. Other identity theft services and insurances
were also discussed. The session ended with numerous
questions and answers.
Two ICFE programs are accepted by the CFP Board of
Standards for CEs. They are ICFE Certified Credit Report
Reviewer (5 CEs) and ICFE Certified Identity Theft Risk
Management Specialist (30 CEs).
For more information about the ICFE's certification
programs or how to have an identity theft presentation
made for your group or organization, please contact the
ICFE @ 619-239-1401.