POWAY, Calif. — First Advantage CREDCO, a provider of specialized credit reports for the auto industry, announced this week that it has launched a new comprehensive Red Flag Solution.

The expanded product offering, which includes identity verification, Office of Foreign Assets Control screening and credit reporting services, is designed to help U.S. dealers comply with the new Red Flag Rules.

As a requirement of the new Red Flag Rules, dealers have until Nov. 1 of this year to establish and maintain an identify theft prevention program.

Officials indicated that First Advantage CREDCO's Red Flag Solution combines several powerful information solutions that can help dealers meet the new compliance requirements. To simplify compliance and streamline overall F&I dealer processes, the Red Flag Solution automatically delivers results with the buyer's credit report, according to the company.

"Anticipating and fulfilling dealer compliance requirements are foremost on our minds when it comes to product development," explained Eric Rumsey, president of First Advantage CREDCO.

"We continually strive to proactively address local, state and federal mandates that could impede dealer operations or put them at risk for non-compliance. The result, in the case of our new Red Flag Solution, is a turn-key compliance tool that helps our dealer customers establish processes designed to meet their compliance requirements quickly and easily, so they can focus on sales," he continued.

First Advantage CREDCO's new Red Flag Solution includes:

Identity Verification: This can help dealers quickly confirm their customer's identity with an easy-to-interpret three-digit numeric score.

OFAC Screening: Dealers can automatically screen car buyers against the OFAC list of terrorists, drug traffickers and money launderers prior to any sale.

Credit Reporting Services: This offers dealers a prequalification tool that provides single-source access to credit reports from any of the three national credit bureaus.

Integrated Solution: All three product components are automatically included with the buyer's credit report.

In 2007, First Advantage CREDCO ran a summer-long promotion to raise awareness regarding the value of protecting dealerships against identity theft and fraud-related losses, and to prepare them for the then-proposed Red Flag Rules, executives recalled.

As a prelude to this expanded Red Flag Solution, last year's promotion offered First Advantage CREDCO's score-based identity verification product free to thousands of dealerships nationwide.

First Advantage CREDCO indicated that it is continuing its compliance awareness initiative throughout 2008.

First Advantage CREDCO Partners with DealerVu

The company also recently announced the integration of its identity verification solutions with DealerVu, a leading provider of dealer management systems and enterprise software applications.

Under the new agreement, First Advantage CREDCO said it will deliver BuyerID Index and BuyerID Alert through DealerVu's DMS, which is used by recreational vehicle, motorcycle and powersports dealers.

The integration of First Advantage CREDCO's identity verification solutions will enable participating U.S. dealers to verify potential customer identities automatically with every credit report, officials explained.

"Our integration with First Advantage CREDCO offers dealers the solutions they need to help protect their dealerships from identity theft and fraud-related losses," said Kelvin Ng, DealerVu's vice president and general manager

"Just as important, BuyerID also provides an easy, first-step identity verification tool that satisfies certain requirements of the new Red Flag Rules that went into effect Jan. 1, 2008," he continued.

The companies said BuyerID Index provides a three-digit numeric score (ranging from 000 to 999) that indicates the level of risk associated with a buyer. Basically, the higher the score, the greater the probability of identity risk.

BuyerID Alert provides a text-based identity verification solution. Both are automatically included along with the buyer's credit report.

"Our expanded relationship with DealerVu helps our mutual customers protect their dealerships and their customers from potential fraud," said Rumsey.

"Seamless integration provides fast, convenient access to important identity verification tools, in addition to credit reporting information and compliance solutions, directly from their DMS," he added.

Officials explained that since 2005, the two companies have enjoyed a successful business relationship based on First Advantage CREDCO's credit information services and compliance solutions. The integration of identity verification solutions expands this relationship, providing another value-added service to users of the DealerVu dealer management system, executives concluded.