FTC survey - Do current laws help ID theft victims?

The Federal Trade Commission plans to survey identity theft victims to inquire about their experiences when they contacted credit reporting agencies for help. The proposed survey will seek information from identity theft victims who contacted the FTC between Jan. 1 and May 30, 2008.

The President’s Identity Theft Task Force recommended the survey in order to evaluate remedies available under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act). Among other things, the law gave consumers the right to place fraud alerts on their credit files, block information on their credit reports that resulted from identity theft and obtain free copies of their credit reports.