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How Real ID Act enables Digital KYC Services for US Customers?

Digital KYC Services for US based customers are in debt of Real ID Act as it streamlined the process of issuance of identity verification documents. Real ID Act was able to introduce basic standards to assist US States when they issue a driving license to their citizen or any other relevant identity verification document. 9/11 was a big influencer in the introduction of this act as the commission made for investigation of the catastrophe gave the suggestion to introduce a uniform system of issuing IDs to citizen. They suggested a federal legislation that will not be binding on the states to follow but will serve as fundamental groundwork to establish verifiable documents for the citizens of United States.

Why Real ID Act was needed?

Before the introduction of Real ID act in 2005, there were stark differences among driving licenses and other IDs issued by states to their citizens. Some of them used sophisticated method to discourage identity theft and fraudulent activities while others used outdated techniques to issue same documents. This created a haphazard ID regime which was not only inefficient but also created financial and criminal loopholes. Although, introduced before Digital KYC services became all the rage but Real ID Act also enabled businesses and companies to ascertain the identity and credentials of their customers.

What does Real ID Act entail?

The intention of Real ID Act was very simple: Stop the practice of making secure yet fraudulent IDs and driving licenses. In hindsight, this is the intention of Digital KYC Services as well. Real ID Act wants states to adopt technologies and practices that eventually lead to issuance of secure identity documents. According to the legislation, a standard ID must have following characteristics:

  • It must be machine-readable
  • Must include 2-D barcode

Within that bar code, following information must be stored

  • Expiration Date of document
  • Full Legal Name of document holder
  • Data of transaction
  • Data of Birth of document holder
  • Gender of document holder
  • Address of document holder
  • Unique driver’s license or Identification card number (whichever is applicable)
  • Card Design Revision Date
  • Inventory control number of physical document
  • Name of state or territory that has issued the document

Now as you can see, an identification document containing all this data will be sufficient to verify the identity of a person. In order to ensure the credibility of the document itself, the machine readable nature and 2-D barcode are satisfactory.

In order to further fortify the security of these identity documents, there are other measures suggested to be made part of these documents that will hinder tampering of documents, production of counterfeits or for duplication of genuine documents.

KYC Services Supported by Real ID Act

Although, there are many states who are yet to fully comply with Real ID Act, but the overall response to the process has streamlined the way for Digital KYC services. With machine readable driving licenses and 2-D barcode carrying  vital information, each customer can be verified against the credential that they have entered while making an online purchase or for opening a bank account.

The rate of online fraud and the risk of online identity theft has also reduced substantially because of Real ID Act as not only the law enforcement agencies have been able to identify personnel through a unified system of identity verifying documents but Digital KYC services providers have been able to verify the real identity of a user because of technologically advanced documents. This act has enabled Digital KYC services to verify following:

  • Identity of an Individual
  • Age of an Individual
  • Address of an Individual

So, to put it in nutshell, Real ID Act has assisted companies like Shufti Pro to provide seamless identity verification services for US based businesses. It is one of the finest examples of real world legislations supporting the technological world in order to ensure transparency and ease of business. Because of Real ID Act, technologically advanced identity documents are now issued in US States that can be verified by Shufti Pro in 30-60 seconds with 100% accuracy.

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