Our Members are our priority

To our Members:

IC Credit Union’s mission is to deliver quality products and services to meet the financial needs of all our Members regardless of their location. This means using the newest and most convenient technology to deliver these products and services to you, including the Internet.

A logical concern that arises from the rapidly changing world of technology is every Member’s right to conduct business with us in confidence, and the right to maintain privacy over his or her financial affairs. We share this concern and are committed to ensuring that all business you conduct with us is held in the strictest confidence and that all Member transactions are safe and secure.

In the course of providing products and services, we collect nonpublic, personal information about you from the following sources:

• Information we receive from you on applications or other forms
• Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others
• Information we receive from a consumer credit reporting agency

IC Credit Union and its affiliate Investments & Retirement Services may also work closely to offer products and services to meet members’ needs. As a result, we may also share your nonpublic personal information with each other as permitted by law.

We take a proactive approach to make your transactions with us safe and secure in both the delivery and storage of data. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information. We take certain precautions with our Online Banking Products to ensure that each Member can conduct their business in a private and secure manner.

We will not disclose any nonpublic personal member information, except such information required by federal or state law or judicial or regulatory action or which is necessary to be disclosed to process a financial product or service transaction specifically requested by the Member.

If you decide to terminate your membership or become an inactive Member, we will continue to adhere to the Privacy Policy and Practices described herein.

You may direct us not to disclose information between IC Credit Union and our affiliates that does not relate solely to experiences or transactions with you or your account (such as application information and credit bureau information) by writing to us at 300 Bemis Road, Fitchburg, MA 01420 or by calling us at 800.262.1001. If you make such a request, it will apply to all your consumer relationships within the IC Credit Union family of affiliated companies.

Security

Don’t get hooked by scammers out ‘phishing’ – Internet scammers have ways to lure unsuspecting victims: They go “phishing” (also called ‘carding’).

PHISHING – is a high-tech scam that uses spam to deceive consumers into disclosing their credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords, and other sensitive information.

How it works:

The scammers send you an e-mail that appears to be from a business you deal with. It could be your internet service provider, online payment service, or credit union, for example. The e-mail says you need to “update” or “validate” your billing information to keep your account active. You are then directed to a “look-a-like” website of the legitimate business, further tricking you into thinking you are responding to a valid request. Unknowingly, you would end up submitting your financial information to the scammers, who would then use it to order goods, services and obtain credit – in your name.

Be aware:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urges you to take the following precautions to avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam:

If you get an e-mail that warns you, with little or no notice, that an account of yours will be shut down unless you reconfirm your billing information, do not reply or click on the link in the e-mail. Instead, contact the company cited in the e-mail, using a telephone number or website address you know to be genuine.

Avoid e-mailing personal and financial information. Before submitting financial information through a website, look for the ‘lock’ icon on the browser’s status bar. It signals that your information is secure during transmission.

Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you received them to determine whether there are any unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balance.

Report suspicious activity to the Federal Trade Commission and send the actual spam to [email protected]. If you believe you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at www.ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website www.ftc.gov/idtheft to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from identity theft. Visit www.ftc.gov/spam to learn other ways to avoid e-mail scams and deal with deceptive spam.

VISHING – A vishing scam is a way to elicit either banking or credit card information from someone, which may then be used against the person. Vishing scam operatives want access to this information so they can gain access to credit cards or bank accounts and clean people out.

The typical vishing scam makes use of Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), which allows people to talk over their computer lines, and can allow for multiple dialings of numbers at the same time. Scammers may work from a list of regional phone numbers or even from a phone book, but what they mainly do is call everyone they can and leave an automated message saying the person’s credit card or bank account has been compromised, depleted, or closed. When this process is done by email it’s called phishing, instead of vishing.

People who are left a message are given instructions to call a number to get more information about this alleged compromise. Scammers often use toll-free numbers for this purpose and may even have, for people with caller ID, the legitimate name of the company that is supposedly calling. When people call the number, they’re instructed to dial in their credit card number or bank account number, and even sometimes information like personal identification numbers (PINs), or their social security number. Once this information is obtained, callers may speak to a person posing as a “representative” or they may never get to a representative and are placed on hold. Meanwhile, the damage is done and the scammers may then use the information to steal money or credit card numbers.

Essentially, it’s pretty easy to avoid a vishing scam or one conducted by email, and now commonly through text messaging on cell phones. Instead of calling the number listed, hunt up your bank/credit union account telephone number or your credit card phone number and call that number instead. If you’re being vished, a bank/credit union or credit card company can tell you this immediately by letting you know that there has been no illegal activity on your account or any security compromise of your account. These scams can seem very real though because they often contain warnings about not divulging your personal information, which may make a potential target feel the company calling, texting or emailing is protecting his/her interests.

The main thing to remember is to never call the number listed on any potential vishing scam calls. This will not take you to your bank/credit union or credit card company, and if you give out your information you’re likely to have it stolen. People are naturally worried if they hear the security of one of their accounts may have been compromised, but it will only take a few minutes to find the legitimate number of the “supposed” business that is calling you. You can also do your part by making sure that the bank or company is aware you’ve been vished, and you should consider reporting any of these scam attempts in the US to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, run jointly by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.

SMISHING – In smishing scams, cell phone users receive a text message that seems to come from a legitimate source, such as a bank/credit union, e-commerce site or other financial institution. The message seeks to dupe users into clicking on a link via the phone’s internet connection, or into calling a certain phone number. Both the link and phone are fraudulent, and lead to requests for personal information that can be used for ID theft. Once your identity has been stolen, it generally takes much time and effort to try to regain your lost funds and your good name.

How to protect yourself

Now that you’re aware of the problem, it’s wise to take a few simple precautions to protect yourself from this growing form of fraud.

Never respond to unsolicited requests for personal financial information received via text message – even if the request appears to come from a legitimate institution that you do business with. This includes request to “confirm, verify or update” your information.

Always know who you’re dealing with. Don’t click on links in text messages, or call numbers listed in text messages. Verify contact information independently, and key in web addresses yourself.

Put passwords on all your financial accounts.

Monitor your credit report regularly for signs of irregularities. You are entitled one free credit report from each of the three major credit report. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com, call 877-322-8228, or write to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

If you have any questions regarding the Privacy and Security, please call any one at our Call Center at IC Credit Union at 800-262-1001 Monday – Wednesday 8:00 – 5:00; Thursday & Friday 8:00 – 6:00; Saturday 9:00 – 1:00.

Site Usage Policy

IC Credit Union is confident of the system’s ability to protect all transactions available herein; however, certain portions of this system are for the use of authorized users only. Those portions are a private computing system; use is restricted to authorized individuals. Actual or attempted unauthorized use of these restricted portions will result in criminal and/or civil prosecution.

IC Credit Union reserves the right to view, monitor and record activity on the system without notice or permission. Any information obtained by monitoring, reviewing, or recording is subject to review by law enforcement organizations in connection with the investigation or prosecution of possible criminal activity on the system. If you do not consent to continue monitoring, exit the system at this time.

For further details, call anyone at our Call Center at IC Credit Union at 800-262-1001 Monday – Wednesday 8:00 – 5:00; Thursday & Friday 8:00 – 6:00; Saturday 9:00 – 1:00.