In October 1998, the Identity Theft and Assumption act were passed by the United States congress. Over the years since the passing of this bill federal and state governments have passed additional bills to try to strengthen the initial bill. In 2003, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) were created. FACTA addressed a variety of changes but it primarily addressed consumer rights and more specifically identity theft. The Free credit report was a provision of FACTA which gave the consumer 1 free credit report through each of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and the TransUnion). Since consumer doesn't have to pay for this benefit this encourages them to monitor
