 |
Home | Rates | GCFlash | Contact Us | Search | Site Map |
| About GCF | Online Banking Center | Personal Banking | Commercial Banking | Tools | Favorites | Our Communities | Contact Us |
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
||||
 
The ultimate in electronic access, high-yield savings accounts. Learn which great product is right for you! Details
|
||||
|
Ask us about Commercial Lending! More details |
 |
|||
 |
GCFLASH
Hot Off the Press!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - Edition #460
|
Weekly Spotlight
Ask us about Commercial Lending! For more information, e-mail John.Balsama@gcfbank.com or call (856) 589-6600, extension 373, or Robert.Bender@gcfbank.com, extension 303.
1st Flash:
GCF CAN HELP!!
Experts recommend you keep liquid funds available to access in case of an emergency, equal to a minimum of three month's worth of living expenses. They also recommend you keep it somewhere other than under your mattress. That's where we can help. GCF Bank has deposit products to fit every need. Open a Passbook Savings account with only $10. This is great for children starting out who can watch their money grow each time they present their passbook to make a deposit. The account earns interest with no fees as long as your balance is over $100. Fees are waived for minors and seniors over age 62. But mom and dad better keep track of the precious book itself. There's a $5 charge to replace it if lost. If you don't want to keep track of a passbook, try our Statement Savings account. Unlike a Passbook Savings, this account can be accessed electronically via an ATM, our web site or Express Line to transfer money between accounts. This account has the same terms as our Passbook Savings. Those that prefer banking online might be interested in our cyber accounts. Open a CyberSaver account on our web site for a minimum of just $100. We offer a great introductory rate for the first 90 days, and continue to earn higher rates than our traditional savings for the life of the account. Manage the account yourself on our web site. Teller-assisted help is available for $15 per transaction. CyberSaver Supreme is our premier high-yield savings account. Available to depositors with a $100,000 minimum, this account is designed to make your money grow without tedious oversight. CyberSaver Supreme must be opened online. In accordance with Regulation D, preauthorized, eligible transfers from this account are limited to three per month. A $25 fee per occurrence will be assessed for transfers in excess of this limit. This account is not eligible to be titled as a Trustee, Payable-On-Death or Beneficiary account. Account holders will not be issued an ATM card or participate in GCF's SafeLink service. GCF offers the ever-popular Holiday and Vacation savings accounts. These accounts are designed to help you budget for the extra expenses around the holidays and vacation time. There are no service charges and interest is earned as long as the account is not closed before maturity. If you close it early, all accrued interest is forfeited. Visit your local branch for more information on any GCF product. 2nd Flash:
VISHING ATTACKS
For those of you keeping track, it's been almost four months since we've published an article on identity theft. I expect most folks roll their eyes whenever they hear the term by now with the subject getting such extensive coverage. Yet while diligent consumers sit complacent, knowing they've taken adequate measures to prevent becoming a victim, crooks don't rest on their laurels. The competition out there is fierce. Each villain is scheming to devise the next big hoax to hoodwink unsuspecting targets. And the stakes are higher in such tough economic times. After all, they have to eat and buy gas too! We're all working a little overtime to make ends meet, the only difference is their method of obtaining funds. While we're busy trying to make a buck, they keep busy trying to steal them. Education is the key to avoiding such scams. Preventative measures are posted on web sites, printed literature, news articles and even TV commercials. And they work. Fewer consumers fall for the old tactics of phishing emails. So what's a hard-working thief to do? They find a new method. This time it's called "vishing." The target gets an authentic-looking email from a financial institution urging them to call customer service to resolve a pending problem. They don't include an embedded link, consumers are finally wary of those. Instead, they're given a phone number to call. Those who call get an automated greeting that was pirated from the legitimate institution. They're instructed to enter their card number to authenticate identity. From there, well, you already know how this story ends. This scam is fairly simple to avoid. Just follow the same advice given for phishing emails: respond to a phone number known to you from your bank statement or directory listing. Even if you recognize it as a scam, it's important to report the message to the institution and/or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) so they can track the perpetrator and try to protect others from falling victim. If you realize too late that you gave personal information to someone you shouldn't have, report the crime immediately. Doing so can minimize damage. Every major card company offers zero liability policies. Once you report an unauthorized transaction to your account, the policy reimburses you for any stolen amounts. Coverage varies from brand to brand. You'll find it detailed in the fine print of your card agreement. If you can't interpret their lingo, it's worth the trouble to call and ask a customer service agent for the details. Call any one of the major credit reporting bureaus and ask to have a fraud alert placed on your file. This alert requires an additional step to verify the identity of an initiator when a credit transaction is taking place, usually it's a phone call to the cardholder confirming they are the one trying to buy a plasma TV. You only need to call one credit bureau; they become responsible for contacting the other two. This type of alert expires after 90 days. You'll need to call again to have it restored. This is where protection services such as Lifelock come in. You've all seen the ads featuring a businessman displaying his own social security number in hopes it will convince you to buy his service. The man is so certain he can keep you safe, he's offering a $1 million guarantee with his product. Lifelock, and others like it such as Identity Guard and TrustedID, cannot prevent identity theft anymore than you can do on your own. It was reported earlier this year that this man, too, was a victim of identity theft. He admits that there have been 87 attempts to obtain a driver's license by others using his social security number. The only monetary infraction came by way of a $500 payday loan in Texas, an industry that does not perform a credit check before handing out cash. Overall, a very small infraction for someone who so freely gives up his personal information. While these companies cannot prevent such a crime, they do provide a valuable service for some. We all know what we should be doing to protect ourselves, but do we have the time it takes to stay on top of our credit history? Do we get an annual copy of all three of our credit reports? Once we place a fraud alert, do we remember to renew it every 90 days? These companies do the legwork for us. If you lose your wallet, they'll call your credit card companies and get you a replacement driver's license. In other words, they can't prevent the crime but they can make it harder to commit. And if you do fall victim, they can take the stress out of recovery. If $9 a month is worth the peace of mind for you, then consider using a credit protection agency. But if you're the type who prefers to control such important matters on your own, you already know what to do. The ploys may differ, but exercising caution doesn't. Financial News
Gas and oil prices continue to be near and dear to all of our hearts. The average U.S. price is up to $4.07 a gallon for gasoline at the pump! Saudi Arabia has promised to increase oil production in an effort to reduce worldwide costs. The head of OPEC has said that increased production is not necessary as he contends that the refineries are still at capacity. Oil demand from developing nations has increased in recent years. Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline demand fell 2.7 percent last week, the ninth weekly decline, according to Mastercard Inc. The assumption is that people are cutting back on vacation travel. In response to the rising fuel costs, the IRS finally increased the standard mileage rate to 58.5 cents per mile effective July 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 for business miles driven. The mileage for the first six months of 2008 was 50.5 cents. The new six-month rate for computing deductible medical or moving expenses also goes up by eight (8) cents to 27 cents a mile, up from 19 cents for the first six months of 2008. The rate for charitable mileage remains at 14 cents a mile. This rate is set by statute, not the IRS. Today's National Market Rates
|
In This Issue... 1st Flash: GCF CAN HELP!! 2nd Flash: VISHING ATTACKS Today's Market Rates On the World Wide Web Tip of the Week Financial News Past issues of GCFlash: June 17, 2008 Edition #459 June 10, 2008 Edition #458 June 3, 2008 Edition #457 May 27, 2008 Edition #456 Looking for articles from a past issue of GCFlash not listed above? Find them in our Knowledge Base!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Online Banker | Commercial Products | Consumer Products | Rates | Calculators | Site Map | Webmaster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||