How are checks and checking accounts related to fraud? Tune into this week’s edition of Money, I’m Home as Lynne chats with Fraud Specialist Kristy Desimone about Checking 101 – Holds and More.

 

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0:00:06.9 Lynne Jarman-Johnson (LJJ): Money, I’m home. Welcome on in, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. Thank you so much for joining us today, from finance to fitness we have it all. And today we have our guest that comes in every single month and helps us with fraud and making sure that we stay safe, whether it be online or anything financially. Kristy Desimone is our senior fraud specialist here at Consumers Credit Union. She gives us such great tips. And today we’re going to talk about all things checking. And you might think yourself checking accounts, what does that have to do with fraud? Well, Kristy is going to tell us all about it. Hi, Kristy. Thanks!

0:00:43.4 Kristy Desimone (KD): Hi. Yes, so we are here to give a lot of information about the life of a checking account when you write a check. So, checks are something that are… It’s staying around. They’ve been around forever. They’re staying around forever. So, it’s important to understand kind of what checks go through in that process. And to educate ourselves so that we don’t have any issues with fraud checks or things of that nature.

0:01:06.8 LJJ: So, when talking all things checks, and now checking accounts have changed a little bit, but what you’re saying is look at… There’s still paper checks, there’s debits, there’s credits, there’s ways that you can mobily upload a check. Tell us a little bit about how this is working, especially in today’s technology of keeping track of what the rules and regulations are for checking accounts.

0:01:27.8 KD: A lot of members think that checks once you deposit them either in the ATM or mobile deposit, or with our interactive tellers that it’s instantaneous. And we get that information right away when it deposits and you see it in your account. But in reality, a check goes through an entire process behind the scenes. So, it can take anywhere from three to five business days for Consumers Credit Union to know if that check is good or not. Because it goes from consumers to our Federal Reserve, and then the Federal Reserve reaches out to the FI that it’s drawn up of, so the financial institution that made the check. And then they report back to us. So, it’s this huge process that most people aren’t aware of because it goes into your account and you’re like, “We’re good to go.” But in reality, it takes a bit to know.

0:02:21.0 LJJ: When you see on your account a hold or something is pending, that really is the explanation of where that money is.

0:02:30.8 KD: Correct, yeah. So, we at Consumers allow a certain amount available right away, and then the rest of it will go on hold, so that we can make sure that check clears through the process that it has to go through. So sometimes when something’s available and then the member says, “But it was there and it was ready for me to use,” and you’re like, “Hey, it’s actually this huge behind the scenes process, so we now know that check is not good.”

0:02:56.4 LJJ: And that actually really is helpful, especially when we talk about balancing a checkbook. And I love this because Scott Dobson, our financial education @Work coordinator. He’s always explaining that, look at… “Because something says that the money is there, you really need to know your budget, know what your checking account truly is.” Not expecting that that is… The check goes in and it’s automatically ready to go.

0:03:21.5 KD: Right, and balancing a checkbook is such a great idea, but nowadays, how many of us really have a checkbook that we balance? So, the way technology is kind of caught up with that is there are a lot of different apps out there that can balance as you put in information. And our own online banking has great alerts to let you know what’s going on, and it provides pictures of any mobile deposit that you’ve done on that phone. So, there are different ways now with technology to balance, “a checkbook,” so that you can maintain your activity.

0:03:54.5 LJJ: I really like the term that is used in our online banking and others that I’ve seen, and that is your available balance. Which is not the same as what your balance is. Your available balance…

0:04:06.5 KD: Right.

0:04:07.4 LJJ: is what you actually have to be able to use.

0:04:09.7 KD: Right, exactly. So, it’s your available balance versus your current balance. And that available balance, I love the word that we put on there because it’s available, it’s available for you to use, and your current balance is currently what is in there with the holds placed on any deposits or pending transactions.

0:04:28.1 LJJ: Now have you seen any uptick at all, especially the economy is changing a little bit on us, Kristy. Have you been hearing anything about any types of check frauds going on, of anything that we should be looking into or thinking about?

0:04:45.4 KD: Yeah, check fraud along with paper checks is here to stay as well. So, it’s a very common way for people to try and get funds into an account. The number one scam that we’re seeing now is an online loan scam where they ask for your online banking information to log in and deposit fraud checks in your name.

0:05:05.0 LJJ: Wow.

0:05:07.7 KD: Yeah. And then you take the funds and they ask you to send some back via like a money transfer service, and then you get to, “keep the rest.” But in reality, you have accepted responsibility for that deposit and owe the money once it returns.

0:05:24.2 LJJ: Wow. And it will return, won’t it?

0:05:26.2 KD: Oh, it will. And it’s hard too because we are coming out of an economy that was stressed, into trying to grow our economy back. And people are using loans and things like that to help them get on their feet, so we are the ones that say, “Hey, it’s not a real loan, this one is actually a scam.” And that can be really tough for members to hear and move forward from.

0:05:51.1 LJJ: Well, and I love the fact that Kristy, what you say at the end of every one of our podcasts is, “Please open the door and talk to us, we can help. If you have any inkling that there’s something not right, your inkling is probably spot-on.”

0:06:06.4 KD: A hundred percent. I love the phone calls where the member’s like, “Hey, I did this but I think it’s bad. Like help me get through this.” I’m like, “Yes, let’s work through this together. We’ve got you moving forward.” And so, any time you are concerned about a check, you can always bring it to us. Sometimes you get checks emailed, sometimes they’re “FedExed” to you. So, you can mail them, you can bring them to us, walk into an office and we can take a look before you even put it in your account. And that’s the best part, is that we are here to help you before you make a decision on your account.

0:06:42.9 LJJ: Well, Kristy, thank you so much for every month coming in and helping us learn about what the latest scams are, what’s out there, and helping protect our members.

0:06:52.8 KD: Yes, I love being here and I love working with Lynne and our members to help make sure everyone’s staying safe out there.

0:07:00.2 LJJ: Well, thank you, Kristy is our senior fraud specialist. I’ll tell you what, if you ever have any questions and want to reach her direct, just let us now, we will contact you. And hey, thank you Jake Esselink for your production skills. If you do have a topic you’d like to share, please send it our way. I’ Lynne Jarman-Johnson, Consumers Credit Union. Money, I’m home.

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