MADISON, Wis. – CUNA and CUNA Mutual are joining the ID theftfray. The industry's largest trade association and insurer/vendorare teaming up to help credit unions battle ID theft which costfinancials almost $50 billion last year and affected some 10million consumers. The two are offering a number of tools,including an online tool kit, to help credit unions educate membersabout ID theft, while also helping credit unions understand theirresponsibilities. Each organization has launched a Web site(www.cunamutual.com/ID theft,www.cuna.org/initiatives/idtheft.html) where these tools and otherinformation can be viewed free of charge. There are already a fewplayers in the industry battling ID theft. Liberty announced aproduct earlier this year and Progeny has had a product for a fewyears with famed fraudster turned consultant Frank Abagnale as thespokesman. In the banking industry, Citicorp really elevated thenotoriety of ID theft with its popular commercials featuring voiceovers of crooks via victims. ID theft has jettisoned into thenumber one consumer financial issue over the last few years. It isconsidered one of the most damaging financial frauds that can hitconsumers because it can not only cost someone thousands ofdollars, it can take a long time to have an ID restored and can beemotionally taxing. “People spend hours trying to clean up theircredit report, clear their name. I had people in seminars who feelthey have to pay financially for some of these things. They didn'tknow what to do,” said Jan Garkey, Special Materials Editor in theCenter for Personal Finance for CUNA. Getting credit union membersand credit unions themselves to understand what they can do tobattle the problem is what the CUNA, CUNA Mutual partnership is allabout, said Garkey, who has only been with CUNA since December.Garkey has experience with ID theft. Prior to coming to CUNA, sheworked for the Iowa State University where among other things sheheld seminars on ID theft. Prior to that she worked in the consumereducation division of American Express. Garkey said there are manyways to prevent ID theft, but one of the most basic is protectingyour Social Security number. She said there are only a fewinstances where consumers have to give their Social Securitynumber. “I walked into a Holiday Inn and when they asked me to bepart of their frequent stay club, they said `what's your SocialSecurity number. It will be your club ID number,' “she said. WhenGarkey asked for another number they complied. Garkey said too manypeople don't ask. In Iowa many people still have their SocialSecurity numbers on their driver's license. Garkey said that toocan be changed. She said insurance companies often tie clients totheir Social Security number, making that the customer's ID number.But most will issue another number at the customer's request. Shesaid the only time a consumer has to give out their number is forincome tax, medical records, credit reports, college records, loanapplications and vehicle registrations. She said there's also noreason to carry the card, which many older Americans have a problemaccepting since they've been doing it for years. Where does most IDtheft occur? Garkey said the workplace is the most prevalent place.There is a lot of personal information floating around that variouslevels of employees may have access to. She told the story of onevictim who had faxed in their insurance application to theinsurance company and after sitting on someone's desk for hours,information was taken from it and used to steal their ID. Garkeyalso suggested that credit union members pick up their sharedrafts, rather than having them delivered to their house, and notto mail bills that have account numbers from unsecured mail boxes.Shredding personal documents of course is another preventativemethod. One of the first things consumers should do if they fallvictim to ID theft is to complete an ID theft affidavit availableat the FTC's site and forward on to the three major credit bureausand any institution where their credit was compromised. They shouldalso require a free credit report from all three credit bureaus.This should be available shortly as part of the Fair and AccurateCredit Transactions Act working its way through Congress. RogerNettie, Solutions Development Manager, Credit Union Protection forCUNA Mutual Group, said this initiative is all about raising theprofile of ID theft among CUs and members. He said it's hard totell how prepared the industry is because it varies so much fromcredit union to credit union. “I think credit unions are going tobe in various stages. Some have more innovative ideas in terms ofhelping members with ID theft. There are some credit unions thatwill take a more active role, point out the steps you can take,”said Nettie. Nettie said from a credit union's perspective one ofthe key areas to focus on for preventing ID theft is the processfor address changes. Often a thief attempting to get a member'saddress changed to somewhere they can access the mail is the firststep of the process. Nettie said the CUNA/CUNA Mutual partnershipis a natural because CUNA has experience on the employee trainingside, while CUNA Mutual brings more of a risk managementperspective. [email protected]