WASHINGTON — NAFCU is providing statement inserts so that credit unions can help inform their members about the availability of free credit reports and the dangers of identify theft–described by some as one of the fastest growing crimes in America.
A recent study indicates that many are unaware that they can help monitor the problem with a free check of their credit reports. Fewer than half of high school seniors surveyed know that the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies are required to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report, the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy discovered in the survey.
Only 47.7% of the high school students knew they can check their credit report for free once a year. College students did better–nearly three quarters of them knew about the free credit report–but overall, the research seems to indicate a lack of knowledge in this area, the coalition concluded.
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The survey was funded by the Merrill Lynch Foundation and has been conducted since 1997.
Georgia Central Credit Union Promotes Tech Officer Sirras to Senior VP
DULUTH, Ga. — Chief Technology Officer Dawn Sirras recently received the additional title of senior vice president at the $1.6 billion Georgia Central Credit Union. Sirras will head IT and product development.
President/CEO Greg Moore lauded Sirras' work over her six years at Georgia Central, recognizing her guidance for technology initiatives, recommendations about future products, solutions to streamline operational processes and providing member support of technology applications.
Sirras was hired in May 2002 as Georgia Central's director of product development, moving shortly thereafter into an officer position and assuming responsibility for the IT department. Since her promotion to vice president/chief technology officer in 2007, she has been serving as part of the senior management team.
She holds a B.S. in business administration with a marketing concentration from the University of Richmond.
Justice Urged to Investigate GSEs
WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney in New York,
will be fending off another investigation if some lawmakers in Congress have their way.
Twenty-eight Republican members of Congress have urged the Department of Justice to investigate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for mortgage fraud.
The group, led by the ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), has sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey charging that fraud, mismanagement, missed opportunities to rein in the enterprises and overzealous lending under the Community Reinvestment Act are at the center of the troubles in the mortgage-related markets.
The group urged Mukasey to add the GSEs to the Justice Department's already underway Operation Malicious Mortgage probe.
The lawmakers also alleged that sweetheart loans given to former Fannie and Freddie executives–the "friends of Angelo/Countrywide VIP mortgage program"–be included in the probe, naming several of them as having been recipients of loans on favorable terms from the company.
Angelo Mozilo is the former heard of Countrywide, which is now owned by the Bank of America.
Several years ago, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to restate several years' worth of earnings in a $10 billion accounting scandal.
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