Offering Free Identity Resolution Services and Education to Members
SAGINAW, Mich.--(allCUnews)--July 18, 2006--United Financial Credit Union (UFCU) announced today a partnership with Identity Theft 911 - the nation's leading provider of identity theft resolution services and education - to offer their membership guidance should they fall victim to the rapidly-growing crime of identity theft. Thanks to this collaborative effort, any United Financial member who becomes victimized will have a personal advocate to guide and support them through the challenges of identity restoration. This is all provided by United Financial at no additional cost to the members.
"At United Financial Credit Union we are always looking at ways of differentiating our credit union from other financial institutions in the area," said Jessica Gwizdala, Director of Marketing and Training at United Financial. "With the increase of personal information being stolen, we wanted to offer something to our membership and have this program in place if the unforeseen does happen."
Education and Resolution Services
One of the many highlights provided by the Identity Theft 911 service is giving United Financial members access to proactive educational materials at www.unitedfinancialcu-identitytheft911.org [1]. Members will have the opportunity to educate and protect themselves using the comprehensive tips, threat alerts, facts & resources, and articles found at the educational site.
Most importantly, in the event that a member's personal information becomes compromised, they will receive one-on-one assistance by a personal fraud advocate, with placing credit file fraud alerts with all three major credit bureaus, completing the Federal Trade Commission Fraud Victim Affidavit, and setting up a case file for insurance claims and law enforcement investigations. The fraud advocate will stay with the victim through the entirety of the resolution process. Victims will also receive a full year of credit monitoring and fraud monitoring. Additionally, members' immediate household is covered with these services.
"The Identity Theft 911 Resolution Service has been important to United Financial as well as to our members," adds Gwizdala. "We've had a handful of members that have already used the service since its launch in January 2006, due to a purse or wallet being stolen or becoming full-blown victims of identity theft. It's a service that we provide to our members free of charge, offering the reassurance that there is someone there to help."
In addition, United Financial offers its members free paper shredding at all four of their offices, as a preventative measure. Each member is allowed to bring up to one box of paper items, which will be placed in a bin to be shredded. They have also held public identity theft seminars and are continuing to work with the local police department to educate the community on scams in the area and ways to protect themselves and their families.
The partnership of United Financial and Identity Theft 911 will afford both anticipatory and crisis resolution to United Financial's member base. As Jessica Gwizdala stated, "We wanted to provide our membership with proactive tips to help minimize their risk, as well as have something in place if they do become a victim of identity theft."
About Identity Theft 911
Identity Theft 911 provides enterprise-level fraud solutions to Fortune 500 companies, a wide spectrum of financial institutions, colleges and universities, and many of America's largest insurance companies and corporate benefits providers. Identity Theft 911 is a leader in identity theft victim resolution and education, with more than six million households currently included in its retainer-based program. The Company's cutting-edge products include: RB421(SM), retainer-based blanket resolution and proactive education; IDR911(SM), identity disaster response; SBR911(SM), security breach response; and ITA911(SM), identity travel assistance. Online Banking Report named Identity Theft 911 one of "the 10 most significant innovations and developments of 2003." For more information, visit www.identitytheft911.com [2].
About United Financial Credit Union
United Saginaw Credit Union, which would become the cornerstone of United Financial Credit Union, was formed in 1964 to serve a small group of tool and die workers in the Bridgeport, MI area. What started out in the home of one founding members has now spread to four locations and serves members from Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties. Today, United Financial Credit Union's membership has grown to 13,000 and their assets total $86 million. For more information please visit www.unitedfinancialcu.org [3]
Contacts
Bliss, Gouverneur & Associates
Sally Martin / Jen Kirchner, 212-840-1661
sally@blisspr.com [4]
jen@blisspr.com [5]
Links:
[1] http://www.unitedfinancialcu-identitytheft911.org
[2] http://www.identitytheft911.com
[3] http://www.unitedfinancialcu.org
[4] mailto:sally@blisspr.com
[5] mailto:jen@blisspr.com
[6] http://links.ncsreporting.com/redirect.aspx?cr=302355&of=335&af=122045&ac=102&uv=id theft protection
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