Review of Beneficiaries

Members are encouraged to review the beneficiaries currently listed on their financial accounts to insure that existing names and distribution percentages are still valid. The credit union has had members to pass away with a previous spouse still listed as the account beneficiary or joint owner. By law, the credit union is required to distribute funds from a deceased account according to the existing status on the account at the time of death. If one or more multiple joint owners exist on a deceased member's account, any surviving joint owners would receive the funds. If there are no surviving joint members on an account, the credit union is then required to distribute funds according to the account beneficiaries listed on the most recent membership card. Please understand that beneficiaries can be different for the share and IRA accounts. Beneficiaries can be changed at any time by the primary member or IRA account owner.

The death of a loved one is difficult enough. Nobody wants a problem with an outdated beneficiary or joint owner being listed on a deceased account. Stop by any branch office to review the existing account beneficiaries and/or joint owners on your accounts. If changes need to be made, now is the time to address these name changes for beneficiaries and joint owners on your account(s).

Alert: Insurance for your water lines?

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) of North Alabama sent out an alert concerning consumer concerns about solicitations for water service line insurance coverage that are being circulated in our area. These offers are not affiliated with any local utility company and only offers a service contract that covers the main water line going from the utility company connection to your home. As with any product or service solicitation, consumers are cautioned to read all of the terms and conditions of any offer that they are considering.

One of the water service line insurance solicitations provided a number of important exclusions that appeared in the fine print of the mailing. Some of these exclusions included: Acts of God, thawing of frozen pipes, repair of covered parts, equipment and/or systems due to reduction in performance caused by normal wear and tear, repairs when parts are obsolete, etc, etc. (These reasons alone are some of the more common reasons why a water service line would fail!).

Consumers are urged to research unknown companies with their local Better Business Bureaus before making a purchase or signing a contract. One of the water service line warranty firms had a C- rating due to 492 complaints that have been registered in the past three years, 51 of which have been determined by the BBB to be serious in nature.

Buyer Beware is the best advice here.

Tools for Schools

North Alabama Educators Credit Union is assisting the WHNT News 19 Tools for Schools program this year. The Tools for Schools program collects school supplies from the community to give back to the various school systems in the Tennessee Valley. While actual supplies are still requested by the community in the program, a new wrinkle this year is the availability of donors making a monetary donation towards the program. Financial donations made to Tools for Schools will be distributed by the WHNT News 19 fundraiser team to the school superintendents in 12 counties of north Alabama. North Alabama Educators Credit Union has established a "Tools for Schools" account to receive financial donations either online or at one of our five branch offices. North Alabama Educators Credit Union also has donation boxes at each office location for school supplies to be donated.

Here is the direct link to the "Tools for Schools" page where monetary donations can be made via PayPal. Credit and debit cards can also be used to submit a donation.

http://www.naecu.org/toolsforschools.html

Please pass the donation link on to anyone that you think might be able to assist with a monetary donation. The educational budgets are tighter than ever so your assistance with providing school supplies would be greatly appreciated!

VISA Debit Card Fraud Monitoring

Behind the scenes of every VISA debit transaction, our fraud prevention team is monitoring every transaction and scoring the potential fraud risk associated with each transaction. The fraud prevention system tracks member card activity and looks for unusual changes in card usage behavior or locations. Members may be contacted either by telephone or mail by our Fraud Prevention Center to confirm suspicious transactions. The Fraud Prevention Center telephone number is 1-800-262-2024 which is open nights and weekends. We recently had a member to receive a mailed inquiry about possible suspicious activity on their VISA Debit card from the Fraud Prevention Center. The 1-800-262-2024 telephone was provided in the letter. The member contacted the credit union first to verify that the letter was legitimate and then contacted the Fraud Prevention Center. The member had recently traveled to Gulf Shores and there were a few back to back transactions at a WalMart that appeared suspicious. (Most card users would make one purchase and move out of the store). The Fraud Prevention Center provided all the details of the transactions and asked no confidential information during the member call. No fraud was evident and the potential fraud case was closed.

Key Points: Never provide personal information in response to a fraud inquiry. Our Fraud Prevention Center will just need your name and zip code. They will then provide the details of any suspicious transactions. If you receive a telephone call from 1-800-262-2024 (The Fraud Prevention Center number), inform the caller that you will call them back at the same number since incoming calls can be spoofed (fake) and not actually be the Fraud Prevention Center. The published number for the Fraud Prevention Center is listed on the bottom of our home page at www.naecu.org. Members are welcome to contact any credit union office location for assistance as well.

There are MANY fraudulent emails, text messages, phone calls, and letters circulating that are designed to steal personal information. Be careful out there!

Interchange Amendment Fails - Canada Example

A replay of the Senate debate on the interchange rate fix legislation was covered last evening. It is disappointing that the final vote failed although we are pleased that both Alabama Senators voted for the bill. We thank Senator Richard Shelby and Senator Jeff Sessions for their support on behalf of Alabama consumers.

Senator Durbin noted in his comments that Canada retailers do not pay any interchange rates, implying that that system is superior to the system in the United States. Perhaps Senator Durbin should have compared the consumer side of the equation in Canada. A quick online search of Canadian credit unions show a considerable increase in the amount of banking fees paid by account holders as compared with credit unions in the United States. Monthly service charges range from $15 to $6, depending upon the type of checking account. Electronic transactions in Canada generally offer 5 to 10 free transactions per month and then a per transaction fee of $1 or more is charged. There were also several examples found where $500 daily electronic transaction limits were in place. This limit is most likely due to minimizing the fraud exposure on behalf of the institution.

It would be interesting to compare retail prices of products on common items sold in Canada as opposed to the United States. Given the fact that interchange rates are not being paid by retailers in Canada, they should be selling their products for a lessor price. My guess is that prices are not that much different though. Certainly not enough to cover the additional banking fees being paid by consumers in Canada.

If credit union members want a glimpse of how interchange rate changes can affect their bottom line, look online at credit unions in Canada and look over their fee schedules. It is unfortunate that Congress did not choose to perform a consumer impact study that would have been required in the interchange fee legislation that was ultimately voted down.

Refer a New Member - Earn $10.00

Membership Months for North Alabama Educators Credit Union is now in effect through September 30th. What does this mean to existing members? Existing members can refer potential new members to North Alabama Educators Credit Union and earn $10.00 for each qualifying new member who opens an account. Some of our best sales people are our own members. Share your good experiences and stories to relatives (any family member of an existing member can join) and encourage them to join the credit union. If you have three children who don't have accounts, that is $30.00 to get them started on a savings plan PLUS you would earn $30.00 as well for referring the new accounts! Membership coupons can be printed out on our web site - CLICK HERE.

Don't forget that friends and co-workers may be eligible to join the credit union as well. The page link above provides a resource for membership eligibility qualifications. As an example, PTA members of sponsor schools are eligible and anyone can become a member of the PTA. All students in the counties of Madison County, Morgan County, and Limestone County are also eligible for credit union membership. There are numerous other eligibility methods.

Become a salesperson for North Alabama Educators Credit Union and earn some green while helping the credit union to continue our membership growth.

Capturing Photos, Photo ID's, and Signatures

North Alabama Educators Credit Union is committed to protecting your financial accounts from fraud and identity theft. It is our responsibility and obligation to insure that all financial transactions being completed are being performed by the members authorized for access to a particular account. The credit union is financially liable for any fraudulent or erroneous transactions posted to a member’s account.

Our credit union staff are digitally capturing photos, photo ID’s, and signatures to help prevent errors and fraud on our membership. This information is only used for the purpose of verifying our members upon subsequent visits. Please keep in mind that identity thieves can counterfeit photo ID’s in an attempt to steal account funds if they know your account number. Having this information on file also can assist members if they have lost their own photo ID and need to perform a transaction. This exact scenario occurred at our Athens branch following the April 2011 tornadoes when a member’s identification was lost but we were able to verify the member’s photo and signature on file.

We also hear from longer term members who do not want to have to show their photo ID when performing a transaction. With nearly 12,000 members it is impossible for our staff to recognize every member of the credit union. This photo retention process can assist those longer term members since we will have the photo ID available on file to the credit union staff member.

Please keep in mind that we are simply trying to protect member accounts. The information is not being shared with anyone outside of the credit union. We are already seeing the information when we post member transactions now. We would appreciate your cooperation in our efforts to secure and protect your membership account(s).