The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA, was passed in 2003, and outlines requirements and standards for protecting, managing, and disposing personal and sensitive customer data in the business world. Businesses of all sizes, and in every industry, are required to adhere to FACTA regulations in order to best protect their customers, and keep on the right side of the law. To determine if your company is FACTA compliant, here are some of the FACTA regulations you should already have in place to maximize your company’s efficiency.
Have a Written Plan
FACTA requires that all businesses have a formal written statement, or file, that clearly contains all the policies and procedures for how your business plans on maintaining and destroying important documents. This keeps employees accountable for mistakes and serves as a reference point for anyone questioning what needs to be done. It’s important to make sure that all the necessary information on shredding schedules, storage and retention, and even what happens to electronic media is all included in your company’s personal data management plan to ensure there is never any confusion.
Have a Regular Destruction Schedule
Shredding is the most effective way to completely destroy sensitive documents and information, which is why FACTA requires all businesses to have regularly scheduled shredding days to eliminate old or irrelevant files and data. Shredding regularly, with the help of a professional document shredding service provider, is nice because you never need to worry about making sure the job gets done, you just have to make sure everything that needs shredding makes it to the shredder on time. Hard drives, CDs, and other electronic or magnetic media that contains sensitive information must also be included on the destruction schedule.
Train Your Staff
Sometimes the biggest part of ensuring that your business is operating at optimal capacity is simply remaining compliant with FACTA regulations, which means making sure your staff is always up-to-date on all the latest policy changes, retention requirements, and more. Training your staff not only when they begin their employment, but also throughout their career, ensures that everyone is always on the same page. Technology, laws, and business practices all fluctuate and change according to trends and other variables in each industry. In order to ensure that your employees keep up with demands, you need to make sure your employees are trained and ready for anything.
To help get your business FACTA ready, and learn more about how you could benefit from the simple business management, retention, and destruction solutions at Corrigan Record Storage, call 248.344.9185 or 1.800.944.7716, or complete the contact form in the sidebar.
