WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – As identity theft continues to top the Federal Trade Commission list of consumer complaints credit unions have increasingly taken a more proactive approach designed to help members in the fraud and identity theft fight. According to the FTC, identity theft complaints represented 37% of the 686,683 complaints filed in 2005 with credit card fraud reported as the most common form of identity theft. Credit union responses have ranged from tapping firms such as Identity Theft 911 and Identity Fraud Inc., to creating their own solutions and offering more educational information to members via seminars and on the Web site. Recently the Alabama Credit Union League division CU Integrated Services, Inc. partnered with selected Alabama credit unions to provide members with $1,000 Identity Fraud Expense Reimbursement coverage, absolutely free of charge. "We feel it is extremely important, today more than ever, to offer credit union members the tools they need to fight back against identity theft thieves," said CUIS, Inc. Executive Vice President Gregg Hipp. "The time spent trying to recover from an identity theft can be extensive and confusing for the average consumer. Providing superior services like these to our credit unions and their members will help make what can be an extremely traumatic experience somewhat easier to deal with." Looking at a few of these fraud statistics it is no wonder credit unions are stepping up their efforts in the fight and doing what they can to better arm their members: