The Fair and Accurate Transactions Act of 2003 is the same law that brought the consumer is the right to a free credit report every year from the three national credit bureaus Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The FACT act Also Amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to give the consumer is the means to fighting identity theft. However the FACT also has the provisions that have proved to be of a great service to individuals:

1) Allows a centralized system of maintaining fraud alerts. The consumer can notify any one of the national credit bureau to place a fraud alert. This credit bureau automatically shares the fraud alert with every credit bureau.

2) Active duty military personnel who are deployed abroad can use an extended fraud alert.

3) Consumers have rights to a credit score from the credit bureaus and an explanation for that score.

4) Store receipts for credit card purchases can only include the last five digits of the credit card number.

5) Victims of identity theft can get a copy of any application which has been used to get a product service in their name as long as they provide proof of their identity.

6) Lenders must take action on suspected identity theft even before the consumer is aware of it.