The $8.3 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio is living up to its name by adding a new mobile layer of protection for member card accounts.
Security Service FCU said it launched real-time credit and debit card text fraud alerts as a free service (except where phone charges apply) to help prevent fraudulent transactions from occurring on members' credit or debit cards. Members must sign up online to trigger credit card fraud alerts, but debit cards receive automatic enrollment in the program.
“With text fraud alerts, the minute we detect any suspicious debit or credit card activity on the account, we send a text message asking for verification of the transaction,” Howard Baker, executive vice president and chief risk officer for the credit union, said. “Members can rest assured that card fraud monitoring and account security are top priorities at Security Service.”
Real time fraud alerts are available for the 700,000 Security Service FCU members in Texas, Colorado and Utah.
According to a 2014 Federal Trade Commission survey, 10% of Americans have been credit card fraud victims and 7% have suffered losses via a debit or ATM card scheme. The median amount reported on credit card fraud is $399.
The credit union also offers three tips to help combat fraud: Keep contact information current, notify your financial institution about personal travel and never provide sensitive account information to anyone—including your financial institution—via text, social media or email.
Another Texas credit union, the $2.4 billion Texas Dow Employees Credit Union in Lake Jackson, is taking a proactive approach when it comes to its members' security. It provides alerts on its website and online banking site to keep members informed of potential threats such as the recent FREAK exploit. The alerts grew out of policy resulting from member concern over last year's data much-publicized data breaches.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Roy Urrico
Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).
