The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) of 2003 requires each major credit bureau to provide one free credit report annually to consumers who request a copy. Call 877-322-8228 or go to www.annualcreditreport.com to request your copy.

Regularly monitoring your credit report is an excellent way to protect yourself against identity theft. When you get your report, make sure all information is accurate and that there are no unauthorized activities. If you see anything suspicious, immediately contact that creditor and file a report with the FTC at the Identity Theft Hotline at 877-IDTHEFT.

In a world with so many financial obligations and options, it's no wonder money management often seems overwhelming.  That's why ISU Credit Union has partnered with a financial fitness program called BALANCE. Click on the logo below to find out more about BALANCE.

Balance offers numerous services to our members to help you manage your finances.  Here are a few that are appropriate in today's tumultuous financial world.

• The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008
• Early Delinquency Intervention: Saving Your Home from Foreclosure
• Renters' Rights in a Foreclosure
• Preparing for a Financial Setback
• How to Manage Your Finances in a Slow Economy
• What to do if Your Income is Reduced
• Financial First Aid

Criminal attempts to obtain private, non-public financial information have increased dramatically in the past few years. The methods take many forms, but all are attempts to get account numbers, passwords and PINs to gain access to your money.  Here is a brief summary of the problem and ways you can keep your information safe.

Phishing Attacks Increase Nearly 600% in 2009

Prevention Starts with Members

Details:

Criminal phishing (e-mail), smishing (text messaging) and vishing (telephone) attacks increased nearly 600 percent in 2009 according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.  Unsuspecting credit union members continue to respond to fraudsters who contact them through various methods to obtain their personal or financial information.  These scams are well-designed to mimic legitimate organizations (including credit unions), so it’s often too late when members realize they’ve been swindled.   

The following are examples of phishing requests mimicking credit unions:

“Your account has been temporarily suspended because of a security breach at our credit union.  Please provide your information to our security department to reactivate your account.”
 
“Your credit card was suspended. Our customer service department needs your information to reinstate your card.”

“Your loan is delinquent.  Payment is needed ‘immediately’ (over the phone).”

“You can receive a reduced interest rate on your loan.  We need to confirm your information.”

This type of socially-engineered breach of personal or financial information is a potentially costly and devastating crime that can impact your credit union and your members.  Fortunately, losses can often be prevented through member awareness combined with sensible everyday practices.
Members should never respond directly to requests that purport to be from a credit union or any other company, no matter how urgent or persuasive the request.  Instead, members should initiate the communication using the customer service number listed on their monthly statement to verify that the request is legitimate. 

RISK Scenarios:
During the last month, a number of credit unions have reported phishing, smishing and vishing scams mimicking their organizations.  In one case, members were advised that they would receive a reduced interest rate on their loan if they responded to the request.  Working with a leading telecommunications carrier, we successfully shut down the related telephone numbers. 

Loss Prevention Recommendations:

Tips to protect members:

• Don’t respond to e-mails, text messages or telephone calls asking for personal identification or financial information
• E-mails and Internet pages created by scammers may look exactly like credit unions
• Learn more about phishing scam techniques at http://www.antiphishing.org/consumer_recs.html
• Take action immediately by alerting your credit union, placing fraud alerts on your credit files, and monitoring your account statements
• Report scams to the Federal Trade Commission by calling 1-877-IDTHEFT

Fraud Education Here is a collection of recent scams and schemes all designed to steal your

financial information.

Educational Website
Here is a website that offers a series of video examples of frequently used scams.

If you have no more than $250,000 in all your accounts at ISU Credit Union, (whether savings accounts, certificates, a share draft checking account, etc.), sleep soundly--all your funds are covered by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.  If you have more than $250,000  in your accounts, there is much more federal insurance available, depending on how you have set up the ownership structure and possible beneficiaries of your accounts.  And, regardless of what other funds you have on deposit, money you have in your IRAs or Roth IRAs is separately insured from any other accounts up to $250,000.

In addition, if you have joint accounts, you are insured up to $250,000 for your portion of all the funds you have in jointly-held accounts.  This protection is calculated separately from any insurance you have on accounts you own by yourself.  You can have different co-owners on various joint accounts at the Credit Union--your ownership interest in each of those accounts are added together for joint account insurance coverage up to $250,000.

Revocable and irrevocable trust accounts are also separately insured up to $250,000 for each beneficiary.

Here is a quick video from NCUA Vice-Chairman Rodney Hood that explains share insurance.

If you would like to estimate the amount of insurance coverage on your accounts, follow this link to an NCUA Share Insurance Estimator.

Tips to Conduct Financial Transactions Over the Internet

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