PASADENA, Calif. — Six weeks after 21,000 letters were mailed to Priority One Credit Union members with Social Security and account numbers inadvertently printed on the envelopes, no accounts have been compromised and few members have taken the credit union up on its offer for a year's worth of free credit report monitoring from Equifax, the CU's president/CEO says.
The letters went out on April 23 and contained ballots for an upcoming election for the $172 million CU's board. A mail house and auditing error resulted in the numbers being printed on the envelopes, although they were without dashes and not easily discernible as Social Security and account numbers, says Charles R. Wiggington Sr., a 16-year-employee of the CU who took over as president/CEO in January.
A letter from Wiggington to members describing the mistake and the credit union's response was posted on its Web site at www.priorityonecu.org for 30 days, Wiggington says.
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The situation got some publicity in a May 29 blog by a widely read technology writer for PC World, Steve Bass, who was one of the credit union's members who received the letter. "I'm watching my credit union account like a hawk," he writes.
"This is embarrassing, of course, but it's also had one good result," Wiggington told Credit Union Times. "It's heightened our awareness in general, for everyone. Now our employees are asking for IDs, mothers' maiden names, you name it. They've really gotten into thinking about members' security." – [email protected]
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