Imagine as part of your business you collect credit information to help make decisions regarding services, a landlord for example.
Now imagine one of your employees seeing that confidential information and confronting the person who submitted it in an inappropriate setting, say a bar.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) strictly spells out how credit information can be used. Your employee has just broken the law and you, the employer, could be in big trouble, facing fines and more.
HMS Credit, a reseller of consumer data, has created services to help businesses avoid that nightmare.
By taking credit information and using an algorithm that the company developed, HMS Credit can provide information that can be shared in the form of a score in a way that does not reveal confidential information.
Companies subscribe to the service and certain employees can access the score without ever seeing confidential credit information, removing the legal jeooardy of an employee misusing credit information.
Another way HMS Credit protects business owners is to inspect and issue credentials for offices where consumer data are received, with its ComplySecure program. They look at five categories including procedures and policies, human resources, hardware and equipment, facilities, and document control.
"This will help them stay out of the witch hunt," says Michael Fleckenstein, CEO of
HMS.
The service is available to companies that have a permissible purpose for having such information -- employers, insurance companies, landlords and others specified under law.
HMS Credit is one of the most recent additions to the company that has managed rental properties for 25 years in Kalamazoo. Fleckenstein anticipates the business could have national applications and it's a part of the business for which he has high expectations.
Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Michael Fleckenstein, HMS
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