Announced Action for October 7, 2005

Commission denial of FACTA petition:  The Commission has denied a petition, submitted by the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) on July 18, 2005, in which AFSA requested that the FTC delay the effective date of Section 642.3(a) of the Pre-Screen Opt-Out Disclosure Rule (Prescreen Rule) of the FACT Act. The provision requires that written prescreened offers of credit and insurance contain a notice of the consumer’s right to opt out of receiving future prescreened offers, and sets forth specific requirements for the form of this notice. According to its letter to the AFSA denying its petition, the FTC found no grounds at this time to delay the effective date of the Rule.

The Commission vote to deny the petition, a copy of which can be found on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release, was 4-0. (FTC File No.P044804; for more information contact: Division of Financial Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 206-220-3224.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.