Tips to Protect You and Your Money

As a financial services consumer, there are things you can do and simple precautions you can take to protect yourself and your money.

Here are a few tips you can follow to help protect yourself:

• Thoroughly review your monthly credit card statements.  If there are charges you do not recognize, talk to the credit card company immediately – there will be a customer inquiry number on each statement.
• Try to avoid keeping large amounts of cash at home.  You are better off keeping it in your banking account and accessing the cash through your debit card.
• Co-signing a loan.  Remember you are responsible for paying off the loan, should the other person default on the payments. 
• If the envelope your personal cheques are delivered in appears to have been tampered with, contact your branch right away.
• If your wallet or purse has been lost or stolen, inform the police, The Credit Union, credit card companies, other financial institutions and the credit bureau.  Not only can your credit cards be used, but your identification could be used for other types of fraud.