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CU Globe
What is Identity Theft? When one person steals another person’s identity for the purpose of committing fraud. Typically the fraud occurs when unauthorized withdrawals from savings accounts & checking accounts are made. Who commits identity theft? This crime can be committed by anyone. It may be a roommate at school, a relative, a close friend, a neighbor or anyone you may come in contact with during the course a normal day. What do identity thieves seek? Thieves seek anything that may give them the information needed to access some one’s account. Most commonly they try to obtain birth date information, social security numbers, past addresses, personal identification numbers (PINs), and yes, even your mother’s maiden name would be helpful to an identity thief.How do identity thieves get this information? As exciting as it may sound most identity thieves don’t get your personal information by intercepting a cell phone signals or downloading a spider programs to your computer. Rather they rely on good old-fashioned techniques such as picking pockets, sifting through un-shredded trash, stealing from mailboxes, or simply looking over your shoulder while you enter a PIN or write a check. In fact, anyone you give a personal check to, may have enough information to conduct an unauthorized transaction on your account.What can you do to prevent identity theft? Nothing. You can’t prevent identity theft, but you can take steps to help minimize the possibility of it ever happening to you. Below are 10 steps to help you minimize the possibility of falling victim to identity theft: STEP #1 Balance your account every month if you have share draft checking and every quarter if you have regular shares. You should be able to reconcile the balance on your records to the balance on your statement. This will give you the best control and the most assurance that your account has not been tampered. STEP #2 Call the 3 major credit bureaus if you suspect that you been victimized of identity theft and have your account flagged and that you be notified of future uses. The 3 credit bureaus are Equifax 800-525-6285, Experian 800-301-7195 and Trans Union 800-680-7289. STEP #3 Contact your debit card &/or credit card companies immediately, if you lose your card, and request a new account number with a new card. STEP #4 Report to the local police and the U.S. Secret Service if you’ve been victimized. STEP #5 Contact your credit union (or bank) immediately, if your cards have been lost or stolen for the purpose of closing your account and opening a new account with new account number(s). STEP #6 Avoid using commonly used passwords, such as birth-dates and street addresses when establishing PINs for ATM cards, credit cards, etc.STEP #7 Deposit your outgoing mail in a U.S. Mailbox and avoid leaving mail in your home mailbox for pick up. STEP #8 Remove seldomly used debit and credit cards from your wallet or purse. STEP #9 Protect your social security number, driver’s license number, account numbers and all other highly sensitive personal information.STEP #10 Document everything you do when reporting identity theft, because the burden of proof that you have acted responsibly when victimized by identity theft, sadly, is on you. What Is Budgeting? Practically speaking, there are two types of credit union budgets. The first type is commonly known as a trend-based budget. Trend-based budgets are developed using historical trends for income & expense line items and applying these trends toward the future, using a mathematical process. This mathematical process, or formula, is usually done using a computer program that is specifically designed to perform this type of calculation. Typically a computer program will calculate a projection using a mathematical computation known as linear regression analysis. Linear regression analysis will calculate the best straight line that will pass through all historical data points. If that straight line were extended to points in the future, then you would have budget projections for those points in time. Linear regression analysis is probably the most common process for determining projections, however, others like exponential regression analysis, are also available. The second type of budget and probably the most effective, is commonly referred to as a "balance sheet driven" budget. The balance sheet driven budget is based on assumptions made by management regarding the structure of the credit union's asset and liabilities. It usually offers more accurate results than trend-based budgets, however, often requires more time and more expensive computer programming to administer. Credit unions that already utilize an asset/liability management (ALM) program may find that balance sheet driven budgeting is an available feature of such a program. As explained, these budgets require management to make assumptions. These assumptions will be regarding loan growth, share growth, investment growth, loan rates, share rates and investment portfolio rates. Obviously, the more detailed the assumptions are, the more accurate will be the budget results. In other words, credit unions that make assumptions by each loan type (new autos, used autos, personal, mortgages, etc.) will likely generate more accurate budgets than credit unions that make assumptions on only the total loan portfolio. Management's assumptions are then applied to the balance sheet of the credit union which in turn generate projections for the major components of a budget, interest income and cost of funds. The only remaining step necessary to complete the balance sheet driven budget is to project those non-interest income and expense line items. This can be accomplished by using a trend-based-budgeting tool as described earlier or a technique known as zero-based-budgeting (ZBB). In simple terms, ZBB is a process where management develops a annual budget with zero dollars being their starting point. This concept requires management to revisit each income and expense line item as they relate to operating the credit union. This process requires management to cost justify every service as well as every employee providing the service. As you can imagine, ZBB has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of ZZB is that it forces closer scrutiny of areas of the business that would often be overlooked. The disadvantage, of course, it is a more time-consuming and costlier process. Internet
Info For Skeptical Credit Union Parents As exciting and useful as the Net can be, like anything else it does present some potential risks. Just like our own neighborhoods, the Net can be a haven for people who lack certain moral, ethical and legal standards. Today’s technological environment requires parents to more carefully guide their children through these times. In addition to using the Net with your children, parents should always keep their eyes and ears open. Listed below are signs that may indicate your child is having difficulty using the Net in a responsible manner: >
Your child spends too much time on-line. If you find that any or all of these activities are occurring, you may want to consider establishing some rules for using the Internet. Perhaps the best way to determine whether the Net is being used appropriately is to sit down and use the Net with your children. To help learn more about the Net and staying safe on it, we would suggest a visit to the following sites:
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