Free credit and personal financial information reports aren't the only provisions provided by one of the most sweeping regulatory reforms in consumer credit in decades.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, enacted Dec. 4, 2003 to amend the

Fair Credit Reporting Act, is loaded with provisions that help consumers keep closer tabs on their credit reports while forcing credit information stockpilers and corporate and individual professionals who use that information to better protect it from fraud and identity theft.

The best-known provision allows consumers free annual access to credit reports held by the big three credit reporting agencies--Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The same access is available to reports held by lesser-known, so-called "nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies" including ChoicePoint's C.L.U.E (Claims Loss Underwriting Exchange). But there's more.

In December, the Federal Trade Commission, which administers consumer credit law, issued the final rule on how companies and others must dispose of sensitive consumer information derived from credit reports and other documents. Such information is broadly defined by FACTA as "any record about an individual, whether in paper, electronic, or other form that is a consumer report (also known as a credit report) or is derived from a consumer report."

The law requires any person or company that possesses or maintains such information "take reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of the information in connection with its disposal."

While it may sound inconceivable to be necessary to federally mandate corporate and professional responsibility, in some cases, corporations and professionals were not taking steps necessary to properly discard credit and financial records which wound up intact in easily accessible dumpsters and other disposal containers.

According to a study released by the commission in September 2003, nearly 10 million Americans were the victims of identity theft in the previous year alone. The study also found that U.S. businesses lost $47 billion and consumers lost approximately $5 billion as a result of identity theft during the same period.

The final federal rule provides examples of how to comply with the new requirements, including:

Implementing and monitoring compliance with policies and procedures that require shredding or other forms of destruction of documents and electronic media containing consumer information.

Contracting with a third party to properly dispose of consumer information and monitoring its performance.

Disposal rules compliance is necessary by July 1, 2005.

FACTA also already allows a single phone call to one of the three credit reporting

agencies--Equifax (888.766.0008), Experian (888.397.3742) or TransUnion (800.680.7289)--to alert all three that your identity has or may have been stolen or tampered with. Within 24 hours of the call to any one agency:

That credit agency will electronically notify the other two and a "fraud alert" will be placed on your account at each agency.

You will be opted out of all preapproved credit offers and insurance for two years.

Your request for a copy of your credit report will be handled in no more than three business days.

All three credit agencies will begin to work with you to verify information and delete any fraudulent data, a process that is hastened if you file a police report.

With a documented "fraud alert" placed on your credit reports, creditors are less likely to advance credit to existing accounts or to open new ones.

A related resource includes the commission's ID Theft Affidavit online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft/affidavit.htm. The form is used to alert companies where a new account was opened in your name to allow them to investigate the fraud and decide the outcome of your claim.

Also, identity theft insurance is free with some credit cards and it pays for some, but not all, financial losses associated with identity fraud and theft.

More information about FACTA and FCRA is available online at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/credit/index.html.

Real estate writer Broderick Perkins, executive editor of San Jose-based DeadlineNews.Com, writes regularly for this newspaper.