The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued regulations requiring financial institutes to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003. Retailers or land-lease communities involved in home sales who assist customers with applications for home loans are covered under the Red Flags Rule. In addition, retailers that are mortgage brokers are covered under the rule. Programs must be in place by August 1, 2009.

The FTC has developed a template for businesses that are low-risk for identity theft. This do-it-yourself template is available by Clicking here

- Click here for the FTC guide, Fighting Fraud with the Red Flags Rule: A How-To-Guide for Business. "On pages 19-21 you will find the common “Red Flags” that are part of Step 1 of the do-it-yourself template above which requires you to identify “Red Flags” that are relevant to your business".

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) requires financial institutions that collect personal financial information from their customers to safeguard that information. The purpose of the FTC Safeguards Rule, which implements the requirements contained in GLB, is to prevent identity theft. The Safeguards Rule applies to businesses, regardless of their size, that are significantly engaged in providing financial products and services.
- Click here for a form designed to help retailers develop a Safeguards Program for their business.

Protecting the privacy of consumer information held by "financial institutions" is at the heart of the financial privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999. The GLB Act requires companies to give consumers privacy notices that explain the institutions’ information-sharing practices. In turn, consumers have the right to limit some - but not all - sharing of their information.
- Click here for a guide for small business from the FTC on how to comply with the privacy rule.
- Click here for sample privacy letters.

Click above link to find detailed information on complying with the Truth in Lending Act. The main purpose of the Truth in Lending Act is to assure the meaningful disclosure of consumer credit and lease terms, including those in advertisements, so that consumers can easily compare terms and shop wisely for credit.

A retail sales center must report on IRS/FinCEN Form 8300 receipts of cash payments of $10,000 when received in one transaction or in two or more related transactions. Once a form has been filed, the retail sales center must keep the form on file at the sales center for a period of five years. Click on the links for the IRS/FinCEN Form 8300 and General Instructions for filing.
- IRS FinCEN Form 8300
- IRS Form 8300 Instructions

The MHI National Retailers Council and the MHI Board of Directors have approved the following Voluntary Professional Standards of Practice for retail sales centers.

With the increasing incidents each year of identity theft, retail sales centers may encounter customers that are first learning that their identity has been stolen when a credit report is pulled at the sales center. Identity theft is a shocking experience and many consumers don’t know where to begin to correct the credit problems that have been created by an identity thief. The links below provide documents that can help retailers’ customers respond to the knowledge that their ID has been stolen. One is an ID Theft Affidavit and the other is an FTC booklet designed to instruct victims on how to respond to identity theft.

The MHI Transportation Committee has initiated the development of a Transportation Resource Manual that covers safety-related, voluntary information concerning manufactured (HUD Code) and modular home section movements.