Customer fraud protection products for banks and credit unions

Over the last several years, the U.S. economy has seen significant growth in small businesses, surpassing 30 million individual businesses and representing 99.9 percent of all businesses in the U.S. These businesses fuel local communities by creating jobs and revenue, making it imperative that their bank partners help ensure profitability and growth in 2019.

This is especially important as industry forecasts indicate a slight plateau in growth. In fact, Kiplinger expects 2019 growth to slow to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent this year. In their recent forecast, they go on to explain that while Americans will keep spending at a healthy rate because of higher wages and low unemployment, the tight labor market will make it difficult for businesses to expand.

How can financial institutions heighten security measures on transactions while guaranteeing consumers a faster payments process?

In August 2018, the volume of transfers via the ACH Network hit an all-time high – exceeding 2 billion transactions alone according to NACHA. Together, the value of those payments totaled $4.5 trillion, a 12 percent increase from the same time last year. These statistics prove consumers are increasingly using ACH payments for more regular, predictable transactions.

To keep up with demands, financial institutions need to take their payment processing abilities to the next level – and same-day ACH is the way to achieve this. But with the improved experience comes potential new challenges and liabilities that must be considered.

Credit union expands business service offerings with positive pay solutions that empower members with greater control over accounts

According to Experian’s 2018 Global Fraud and Identity Report, 65 percent of businesses have experienced the same or more fraudulent activity compared to the previous year, making it critical for financial institutions to empower their corporate account holders with greater control to combat fraud and the financial risks associated with it.

By arming business members with actionable treasury management solutions that are supported by interactive fraud prevention tools, financial institutions can empower business members to proactively prevent check fraud and dispute unauthorized ACH debits in a timely manner, before the funds ever leave their account.

According to First Orion’s 2018 Scam Call Trends and Projections Report, there was a dramatic increase in cell phone scam calls over the past year, rising from a mere 3.7 to 29.2 percent. The report goes on to suggest that scam calls will reach 44.6 percent of all U.S. mobile traffic by early 2019.

Financial institutions still relying on outdated, manual methods of communicating suspicious activity to the consumer – like phone calls and recorded messages – will be at a disadvantage if spam calls continue to increase. With an uptick in spam calls, banks and credit unions should be going the extra mile to deliver a positive customer and member experience. Here are some thoughts to consider regarding how the phone scammers may impact your financial institution:

According to the 2018 AFP Payments Fraud Survey, instances of fraud reached an all-time high last year – 78 percent of organizations were victims of fraudulent activity. The study also revealed that checks were the most common source of fraud, as 74 percent of survey respondents experienced check fraud. As these numbers grow, many financial institutions, like West Jordan, Utah-based Mountain America Credit Union, have recognized the need for more effective security measures to protect their members from fraud.

Overcoming an Industry-Wide Challenge:

When an unauthorized transaction occurs, businesses are required by regulation to report fraudulent activity within two days compared to the 60-day timeframe allotted to consumers. Such a limited timeframe to report and dispute fraud oftentimes makes it harder for businesses to recover stolen funds. In an effort to attract more business and commercial members, Mountain America Credit Union needed a way to help these members quickly detect and respond to suspicious transactions, specifically checks and ACH debits, and protect their hard-earned funds from fraudsters.