Nearly 60 credit union clients of The Members Group now have the option of offering fraud text alert services to their cardholder members, TMG announced.
Credit union members who opt into fraud text alerts receive texts requesting them to verify or report a transaction that has been flagged as risky. If a member reports a transaction as potential fraud, TMG places a hold on his or her account.
The credit unions that now provide TMG's service include Deere Employees CU ($514 million, Moline, Ill.), Du Trac Community CU ($545 million, Dubuque, Iowa), Eli Lilly FCU ($1 billion, Indianapolis, Ind.), Mission Federal Credit Union ($2.3 billion, San Diego, Calif.), Purdue FCU Union ($746 million, West Lafayette, Ind.) and United Nations FCU ($3.7 billion, Long Island City, N.Y.).
TMG said the alerts are triggered by the credit union's individual fraud prevention techniques, not the member's own settings.
“Many financial management text alerts, including TMG's Visa Transaction Alerts, are triggered by cardholder-initiated settings, which is excellent for budgeting and account management,” said Karen Postma, cards risk senior manager for TMG in Des Moines, Iowa. “But when it comes to fraud prevention, you really need those texts to be driven by proven prevention strategies and highly trained specialists.”
In the first quarter of 2013, six more credit unions will roll out the fraud text alert service, which will soon allow members the option of receiving their alerts via email instead, TMG said. TMG Financial Services, TMG's sister company and the agent issuer of ATIRAcredit to more than 50 credit unions, is providing the fraud text alert service to ATIRAcredit cardholders as well, the company added.
“As we've talked with our partners and card members, they've encouraged the development of mobile features for credit cards, particularly a tool like this that allows us to act quickly when there is a questionable transaction,” said April Schmaltz, vice president of marketing for TMG Financial Services. “We expect our card members will embrace this convenient and effective fraud prevention tool.”
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
