FACTA stands for "Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act", a law that became effective in June 2005. The FACTA law requires companies that have one or more employees to provide them with proper document disposal equipment. In other words, according to the FACTA Law, important personal or business related documents have to be discarded in a safe way that thoroughly eliminates chances of identity theft. The best way of complying with the new FACTA is to purchase a paper shredder for your office, the most protected and successful method of removing information and eliminating sensitive documents.



Increased protection since HIPAA

Only a few businesses are aware of all the requirements of the FACTA Law. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act specifies a series of penalties for businesses that are not complying with it. FACTA law increases personal ID protection for employees and reduces the chances of identity theft from happening. The FACTA law was created to protect employee information and it followed the footsteps of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996).

FACTA law fines

A company that fails to comply with the FACTA law can end up paying huge fines. State laws allow fines that go up to $1,000 while federal law allows a fine of up to $2,500 for one single violation. Besides this, if an employee accuses identity theft, and his employer is found to be guilty of unwillingly facilitating access to personal information (though poor document disposal techniques), chances are the lawsuit will be in the employee's favor. FACTA law compliancy is not difficult to achieve, as it only requires you to purchase one device - the paper shredder. You can choose from a large variety of paper shredders, from cross cut to strip cut shredders, from industrial paper shredders to small office shredding machines.

Identity theft damage

The problems caused by identity theft cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year. There are many ways in which identity theft strikes: a person having personal information on someone else can easily open fraudulent bank accounts, charge credit cards, rent buy or sell items with a different name and so on. Victims of identity theft often have a very late response and they realize that they have been robbed or cheated out of their money only weeks, months or even years later. The number one cause for identity theft are all the documents that contain such sensitive personal information and get thrown in the garbage, instead of being properly disposed of by using a paper shredder .

FACTA law and paper shredders

The fines imposed by the FACTA law for businesses that do not dispose of document containing personal employee information properly are high. The best way of avoiding both the FACTA fines and any risks of allowing employee information to fall in the wrong hands is to purchase a paper shredder. While the cots of a shredder and it's presence in the office might seem like an extra burden, the paper shredder is, in fact, your best bet against identity theft and other forms of fraud. Small office shredders are great for small offices with only a few employees, while larger corporations can purchase a cross cut paper shredder that can process thousands of documents each day.