AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION (2nd) July 23, 2004 Federal Trade Commission
Office of the Secretary
Room 159—H (Annex H)
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580 Re: The FACT Act Disposal Rule, R-411007, FTC RIN 3084-AA94; 69 Federal
Register 21388 (April 20, 2004) supplemented 69 Federal Register 41219 (July 8,
2004) Dear Sir or Madam: The American Bankers Association (“ABA”) transmits the following comments
on the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) proposal to implement section 216
of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (“the FACT Act”) by
issuing a rule regarding the proper disposal of consumer report information and
records. The FTC supplemental publication is particularly interested in the impact
on smaller entities. The ABA brings together all elements of the banking community to represent the
interests of this rapidly changing industry. Its membership – which includes
community, regional, and money center banks and holding companies, as well as
savings associations, trust companies, and savings banks – makes ABA the largest
banking trade association in the country. Especially relevant to the FTC’s
supplemental solicitation for comment is the fact that ABA’s membership
includes more than two thousand banks or savings associations with less than
$100 million in assets—over half of which have fewer than 20 employees. As noted in its proposal, the FTC is required to coordinate its regulation of
consumer information disclosure with the Federal banking agencies and to adopt
consistent and comparable rules regarding such disposal. Accordingly, the ABA
attaches for the FTC’s consideration in finalizing its FACT Act Disposal Rule the
Association’s comments on the interagency disposal rule published by the Federal
banking agencies. As the FTC observed in the summary of its proposed rule, the flexible standard
for disposal allows “covered persons to make decisions appropriate to their
particular circumstances and should minimize the disruption of existing practices
to the extent they already provide appropriate protections for consumers.” This
approach is also intended to “minimize the burden of compliance for smaller
entities …[and]… harmonize the Disposal Rule with the Commission’s
Safeguards Rule…implementing section 501(b) of GLBA.” ABA believes that
this policy predicate combined with the obligation to coordinate with other
regulators leads to the conclusion that all entities that are subject to the
Interagency Guidelines Establishing Standards for Safeguarding Customer
Information (“Interagency Guidelines”) under the Federal banking agency
regulations implementing section 216 of the FACT Act should be exempt from
the FTC’s FACT Act Disposal Rule. Elimination of overlapping regulatory requirements reduces undue burden without
diminishing the obligation for companies to properly dispose of consumer credit
information. It is especially important for small banks and small savings
associations to be relieved of redundant, unnecessary monitoring responsibilities
which only waste scarce and overworked compliance resources while providing
no additional benefit to their consumers or local communities. Every one of these
small institutions—and any operating subsidiary or affiliate they create to fulfill
their charter obligations—are already subject to an examination process far more
rigorous and comprehensive than any oversight the FTC can bring to bear.
Indeed, all federally insured depository institutions and their subsidiaries are
subject to extensive periodic compliance examination. Accordingly, ABA
strongly urges the FTC, pursuant to section 628(a)(3) of FCRA as amended, to
exempt from operation of the FTC FACT Act Disposal Rule all persons who are
within the jurisdiction, scope or operation of the proposed revisions to the
Interagency Guidelines applied by the Federal banking agencies. Respectfully submitted, Richard R. Riese
Senior Compliance Counsel
American Bankers Association
1120 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036 CC w/ Attachment:
Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System
20th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20551
FACT Act Disposal Rule R-1199 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
250 E Street, S.W.
Public Reference Room, Mail Stop 1—5
Washington, DC 20219
FACTA Act Disposal Rule RIN 1557-AC84 Robert E. Feldman, Executive Secretary
Attention: Comments
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
550 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20429
FACT Act Disposal Rule RIN 3064-AC77 Regulation Comments
Chief Counsel’s Office
Office of Thrift Supervision
1700 G Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20552
Attention No. 2004-26
FACT Act Disposal Rule RIN 1550-AB87 | 
