CUs Step Up as Member Partners Against ID Theft

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – When it comes to identity theft, credit unions are eager to find solutions that will help members fight back. Over in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Northeast Credit Union is working from the inside out. Recently the credit union tapped the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Bureau to provide training to staffers here. According to Northeast CU Training Manager Sandy Milne, the course is designed to ensure employees are as informed as possible on identity theft. Still other credit unions have turned to Identity Theft 911 like Columbia, South Carolina-based State Credit Union; Marietta, Georgia-based Lockheed Georgia Employees Federal Credit Union; and Champaign-based University of Illinois Employees Credit Union to offer members free identity-theft crisis resolution services. The popular RB421 program includes a combination of consumer education and victim resolution. “While there are many ways for consumers to reduce their risk of identity theft, there are also many risk factors that individuals simply cannot control,” said Adam Levin, chairman of Identity Theft 911 and former director of the New Jersey Consumer Affairs Division. “A true solution to identity theft will require serious structural changes in the way our society collects and uses personal information. In the meantime, this crisis is going to get worse before it gets better – and Americans need help here and now to deal with it.”