STOP THE SCAMS!

Scam information from out lovely and talented IT Manager, Amy Cassella. Be informed about your finances to help prevent scams.

http://www.creditunion.coop/scams.html

 

SAVE TO WIN hits Nebraska!

Save to Win is a special savings account that helps build savings while also giving you chances to win a grand prize of $25,000, plus monthly cash prizes! Every $25 deposit into this certificate helps build your savings and gets you another chance to win- up to 10 chances every month. Plus, all the money you deposit into the Save To Win account is still yours, plus interest!

The real prize is the savings you will build with regular deposits each month. But to sweeten the pot, there is on annual grand prize of $25,000 and monthly cash prizes totalling $1,500 per month.

Save to Win runs January 2012- December 2012. Members can open a Save to Win account at either branch location or online http://www.mutualfirst.com/personal/savings/save-to-win.html To participate, you must be at least eighteen (18) years of age and a member in good standing.

Sure, you might win some of the monthly prizes and maybe even the grand prize, but, with regular deposits into your Save to Win account all year, you are guaranteed to have more money saved than when you started. That’s a WIN-WIN Situation!

 

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120114/MONEY/701149924

 

MYTH BUSTERS: Your credit score

Great tips and myth-busters from Sierra Morris, Mutual 1st Federal Lender/Financial Rep

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/8-common-credit-myths-debunked.html

 

We want to help you pay for college!

 

Attention high school seniors planning to enroll in college:

If you are a current credit union member at Mutual 1st Federal, or your parents are current members, you are eligible to WIN a $1500 SCHOLARSHIP! Submit an essay and letter of recommendation to Mutual 1st Federal by February 16, 2012.

ESSAY TOPIC

Establishing a good payment history, savings habits and smart spending to build credit will be just as critical to your financial future as your college education and work experience. In this essay contest, please tell us:

How can my credit union help me be most successful in the future? Include products, technology and education that you feel are necessary to help establish smart spending, credit and savings habits.

 

Essay deadline is February 16, 2012. Winner will be announced at our Annual Meeting on March 13, 2012

Send Essays to:

Mutual 1st Federal

Attn: Amy Brandt

14510 F Street Ste. 201

Omaha. NE 68137

or email to ajbrandt@mutualfirst.com

Mortgages & Merry Christmas

Right now you are probably, like me, getting bombarded with emails about last minute holiday shopping and more spending.

While we do offer holiday loans and auto loans if you’re still looking for that “big-ribbon-gift”, you may be ready to relax and enjoy the end of the year as you start planning for 2012.

 

LOW RATES on MORTGAGE LOANS:

If you haven’t refinanced your home loan in the last 2 years, you may be very surprised how low mortgage loan rates are right now.

 

While you’re thinking about your resolutions, getting your budget in order, and making a savings plan for next year, contact Becky or Tifani, Mortgage Lenders at Mutual 1st Federal,and see how much we might be able to help you save on your monthly mortgage payment.

 

Becky Brown babrown@mutualfirst.com 402-697-3490

Tifani Anderson tlanderson@mutualfirst.com 402-697-3411

 

Thank you for your membership!

 We appreciate your business

Tips worth reposting!

Tips to Prevent Identity Theft Posted: 17 Oct 2011 12:40 PM PDT It’s scary how easy it is for criminals to get to our personal information – as technology improves, so do the skills of fraudsters. In fact, I find myself being what some think is paranoid – triple checking for the https in online shop URLs, and shredding almost everything with my name on it. I mean look what happened to Sandra Bullock in The Net – if that could happen in the 90’s just think of what’s possible now! As trusted financial advisors it’s imperative for credit unions to help educate members about what they can do to help prevent their own identity theft and the losses that often accompany that. Not to mention, the more careful your members are, the less at risk your credit union is of incurring losses due to identity theft. (Check out the landmark case involving Comerica Bank and your potential liability from a phishing scam.) We teamed up with our Preferred Partner for identity theft, Affinion Group, to gather some key tips for you and your members to help prevent identity theft. Check your credit card statements regularly, and consider paying for credit monitoring. Credit card and account statements, which typically arrive and can be checked monthly, are a great indicator of whether or not your account is being used fraudulently.  A credit monitoring service can be a valuable tool in fighting and detecting identity theft, helping alert you when any new accounts are opened in your name. Get used to shredding documents, which can help ensure that papers with personal information are properly disposed of and do not fall into the wrong hands.  Anything that has your name and address on it should be shredded in a cross-cut shredder to be safe, including credit card offers, bills and financial statements. (Whew – that’s a check for me!) Protect your computer by enabling all security features and keeping anti-virus and spyware protection up-to-date. Research shows that the most common reaction to a person finding out they were a victim of identity theft is installing anti- virus protection on their computer. Don’t wait for this simple step.  Install and activate a pop-up “blocker.” Destroy all sensitive data on your hard drive prior to selling, donating or discarding an old computer. While it can be difficult to remember so many different passwords, it is essential to create “strong” passwords. A strong password is one that is not easy to guess and it should include both numbers and capital letters, and possibly characters as well. Also, it’s helpful to utilize a password locking system on your computer if it is left on while you are not sitting in front of it. Keep your passwords hidden, even in your own home. Keep your user IDs, passwords and any other information used to access your financial accounts secret and be aware of anyone else who has access to your personal information. Don’t take the bait. Beware of phishing scams. Phishing scams include emails that appear to be from legitimate organizations asking the recipient to update their personal information – with the sender intending to steal their identity to commit fraud. One key giveaway for this type of scam is that it will typically ask you for some sort of personal information (perhaps as verification). When you receive something like this, call the institution directly, and ask them if this email is legitimate. Regularly monitor your accounts online. Be cautious about opening emails from unknown senders and don’t ever download a file or click a link from an email from an unknown sender. Use only one credit card for personal expenses and one card for business expenses and monitor accounts online weekly. Always send or receive mail only through secure and locked mail boxes. Never give out any sensitive information (SSN, Acct #, Pin #, Password, etc.) via an email solicitation. Always type in and visit the website directly. On all credit cards, in addition to signing your name, write “Please ASK for ID!” Never give out your Social Security Number, Drivers License Number or Date of Birth unless the person or firm has just cause and really needs it. Offer a fun way for your members to learn some of these tips with videos we created with Affinion Group like this one! (Free for NAFCU members to use and just $150 to customize for your credit union). Post written by Kirstin Hemsteger, Marketing Manager, NAFCU Services Corp. Comment on this post. Related links and posts: § Landmark Legal Case: If Your Members Have Been Phished, Your Credit Union May Have To Pay § How to scare the living daylights out of a room full of credit union executives § NAFCU Services Video Ads

abc News Money 101: Tips and Tricks for Avoiding New Bank Fees

Watch the video here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/avoid-rising-bank-fees-14654542

Many banks are inventing brand new fees to stick you with — and raising the ones they dreamt up years ago. Fortunately, there are workarounds to avoid these gotchas.

When Congress and the Federal Reserve passed new laws and rules that rob banks of some of their favorite fees, the industry came up with some new ones.

Americans now use debit cards more than credit cards. And next year, they could even surpass cash. And that, experts say, is why banks are now looking to cash in on your debit cards.

Consumers aren’t happy.

“It is pretty irritating,” Amanda Harris said.

“It’s hard enough, it’s our money,” another accountholder said.

 

Gotcha No. 1: No more free debit cards.

Bank of Americais about to start charging a $5 per month debit card fee. Use your card just once, to buy something like a $1 bottle of water, and you’ll owe it. A Bank of America spokesperson says “the economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations.”Wells Fargo and Chase have experimented with similar fees.

Bob Sullivan is the author of the book“Gotcha Capitalism.”

“Quite literally money will now cost you more money,” he told “Good Morning America.”

The workaround? Use a credit card instead of a debit card, as long as you pay it off each month.

 

Gotcha No. 2: No more free checking.

Two years ago, three-quarters of banks offered it. Now, fewer than half of banks do, according to bankrate.com.The workaround: Nearly all banks will give you free checking if you sign up for additional services, such as direct deposit.

 

Gotcha No. 3: Mandatory minimum balances.

Several big banks now charge between $5 and $15 if your checking balance slips below $1,500.”All sorts of banks are trying all manner of new fees,” Sullivan said. “Really it feels like they’ve turned into the airline industry trying to nickel and dime you at every turn.”

The workaround: Keep all your accounts at a single bank, so both checking and savings count towards your minimum.

 

Gotcha No.4: Ever-higher ATM fees.

You’ll now pay a total of $3.81, on average, for using an out-of-network cash machine.The workaround: Consider an online bank because many of them reimburse you for ATM fees.

 

Final Gotcha: Soaring bounced check fees.

They now average nearly $31.The workaround: Finance experts say consider joining a non-profit credit union that doesn’t use fees to boost its bottom line.

Credit unions are a tremendous resource and these days there’s always some way to join, even if you don’t work for a company that offered one. Click HERE for a site that matches people with credit unions.

 

Web-Extra Tips

If you have an account requiring a minimum number of deposits or balance amount, pay close attention to your statements. Use account alerts to notify you when your balance drops close to the level that gets you hit with a fee. Check the fine print. Many banks advertise free checking, but have stipulations that must be met to waive monthly fees.

Keep up with monthly debit card transactions. Some banks are adding fees if you don’t use your debit card enough.

Find out what activities will waive your monthly maintenance fee. Banks may waive the fee for online banking, a certain number of deposits or more debit card usage.

If you didn’t opt out of overdraft protection, contact your bank and opt out now. While banks still promote its benefits, this protection can be costly should you overdraw your account.

Web extra tips courtesy of Lowcards.com

LETTING THE WEB REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORDS

via TMG Blog by Nicole Reyes on 9/16/11

At the end of July, Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit group behind the Firefox browser, announced an experiment – BrowserID, which will store users’ various log-on credentials for multiple sites. Instead of having to remember multiple passwords to various sites, BrowserID will store your credentials right on your browser.

The thinking behind the experiment, I suppose, is that keeping credentials on a personal computer is much more secure than keeping them with numerous entities – entities that could be tracking consumers’ online behavior, or worse yet, could be vulnerable to hackers.

As someone with her own monstrous collection of passwords, I see the value. But the security expert in me is cautious. I wonder how BrowserID is more secure than other company’s site. After all, won’t Mozilla need to track and store all its users’ credentials the same as any other online property?

My colleagues and I are constantly reminding people how important it is to have several different passwords across sites. This prevents someone who learns of your password from gaining access to, for example your Facebook page and your online banking site, all in one fell swoop. BrowserID is touting the benefits of one password for all. Yes, it’s more convenient. But safer? I’m not so sure.

This is still in the experimental phase, so it will be interesting to see what comes from this new effort by Mozilla and how they address the security question. For more information, visit https://browserid.org.

GAME ON!!!

WHAT ARE YOU SAVING FOR? Meet Sierra, Financial Representative, that is saving for her first home!

Get in the SAVINGS GAME with Mutual 1st Federal

Add an automatic transfer to your savings of $50+ and you will earn $25 after 12 months

(or earn $10 after 12 months with a $25 month transfer to savings)

Sign up now until November 30th and you will be entered to WIN $500!!!

Meet Michele, Executive Administrative Assistant, she’s saving for her son’s college graduation celebration!

Follow the Saving Game Plan action on facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1413513544&ref=ts#!/pages/Mutual-1st-Federal/119220081428198

*Don’t forget to join us for a free tailgate Sept. 23rd

12-2:00 PM 14515 F Street location

Big Party from 94.1 will be broadcasting live. Free BBQ, chips & drinks! Register to win a Kindle or $50 Gift Card. Accepting donations for United Way.

VBV? What does that mean to you…

VBV-Verified By Visa

What is it and what does it do for me?

VBV is an online security system for credit and debit card transactions.  It is a free and simple to use service that confirms your identity with an extra password when you make online transactions.  It allows you peace of mind that you will not be held responsible for fraudulent charges made with your card or account information.

How does it work? 

1. You must activate the service either on a sponsored merchant site or on the VBV.com site.

2. Shop online with participating merchants (you will see the VBV letters)

3. Enjoy enhanced security knowing the extra password is required.

You can now use your card with extra confidence that the charges that appear on your statements are actually yours.  Always remember to take the time to verify your monthly statements or your online access to ensure no foreign charges appear.  If there is something that appears on your statement that you do not recognize, contact your Credit Union representative immediately to notify us of the unauthorized activity and what is required to resolve the issue.

Carol O’Donald

Mutual 1st Federal Corporate Operations