Local credit unions are often stereotyped as too small to really offer the amenities generally stuffed into an account at a large, corporate bank. The opposite of that rumor is also that you gain customer service with a local financial institution that you won’t get if you’re one of the masses at a large bank lining up to argue a fee or unnecessary charge on your account.
So which is better in terms of protecting your money – tons of perks from a large bank or personal service from a local credit union?
We think the answer is in the details.
“Fraud happens to everyone, everywhere,” says Candie Schneider, AVP of Fraud at DATCU. “We watch it happen to young and old through every medium possible – from check washing to job scams posted on social media, but the more we know about you and your spending habits, the more we can prevent it.”
Schneider references here that while DATCU has software programs that recognize anomalies in someone’s financial history, the credit union also has a team of fraud specialists, accountants, information security specialists, tellers, and branch managers who are looking out for each member.
She adds, “When we spot something out of the ordinary, it’s flagged by our fraud systems and then we follow that warning by investigating what caused it. Our IS team also has a number of reports that track transactions in real time and spot behavior we’ve identified as fraud in past instances. We have people reviewing those reports daily.”
With a heavy reliance on data analytics and AI-powered software, banks tend to automate their response to fraud and skip the human interaction in most cases. Why does DATCU continue to depend on a personal approach to fraud prevention?
“We know our members,” says Melanie Vest, DATCU President. “Our credit union started by teachers in order to protect each other during the tough economic climate of the 1930s, so it’s a big part of our mission to understand the habits of everyone who banks with us. Even our tellers call their regular customers by name, and it’s that level of detail that allows us to know when something is wrong.”
It's true that preventing fraud takes a village, but it’s also true that knowing the names of those you are helping makes you take it that more seriously and gives you a stronger reason to protect your neighbor.