Local 591 EAP / Member Assistance

Credit IAM EAP, LAP November 2018

November Securing financial accounts.

(excerpts from “How to use automated alerts to protect yourself from fraud” Alliant Credit Union Newsletter, August 2018)

Use smart passwords

A key to reducing the risk that your accounts will be hacked is having strong, unique passwords for each account. How to create strong passwords in several reviews of breached login and password databases, security analysts found that the most common passwords were “123456” and “password.” If you’ve created a password like that, with a single word or consecutive numbers, you are putting your accounts and finances in jeopardy. You take the same risk when you use a term that many people would associ- ate with you, such as your first or last name, your phone number, your favorite hobby or team, or the name of your child or pet. Even if you know that password security is important, how do you create a password that is hard to hack yet easy to remember? Try using complex passwords created from phrases, words spelled backwards and a mix of letters, numbers and special characters.

Make it easy for the bank to contact you

Make sure the contact information on file for all of your financial accounts includes your email address and mobile phone number. Be sure to give permission to be contacted by phone, email, and text. That way, you can be contacted more quickly in case their fraud monitoring systems detect fraud on your account.

Opt in to optional authentication steps

If your financial institution offers any security measures in addition to a login and password, signing up for them adds a second hurdle for fraudsters to get over if they try to hack your account.

Banking transaction alerts

Monitoring your savings, checking and credit card accounts, which used to be time-consuming and a pain in the neck, is now a very simple and easy process. Just sign up for automated alerts that let you know whenever someone makes a transaction on your account. Signing up only takes a few minutes of your time, and after that, you’re on autopilot. You’ll receive an alert when there is a specific activity on your account.

• If you made the transaction, you ignore or delete the notification.

• If you didn’t make the transaction, you contact your financial institution immediately to alert them to freeze your account before more fraud is committed.

Customize your transaction alerts

Many banks and credit unions that offer transaction alerts also allow you to customize the alerts so you can choose which transactions you want to be notified about.

Sign up to receive transaction alerts when your balance changes, when checks clear, when money is deposited or withdrawn from an account, or when your debit card is used.

• Opt in to receive account summary emails, stop-payment expiration notifications or NSF alerts when you have non-sufficient funds to cover a transaction.

• Set dollar limits for your alerts so only transactions over a specific amount will trigger a notification. This feature is especially useful for joint checking accounts. For example, you can set it up to only get alerts for transactions over $15 so you won’t receive a notification every time your partner spends $8 buying lunch with his or her debit card.

Tips for Safe Online Shopping

(excerpts from Alliant Credit Union continued)

Protect your computer. Strong anti-virus software is a must. Anti-virus software protects your computer from viruses and can detect and remove them if they do make it onto your computer. Be sure to regularly install updates and run virus scans regularly to be sure there’s nothing infecting your computer.

Know who you’re shopping with online. A Google search brings up a host of well-known retailers, but other results are a little sketchy. If you’ve never heard of the retailer before, the deals seem too good to be true or the website is poor quality, be wary. It could be a scam site that’s just after your personal information. Be careful about clicking on links to websites from emails, too. Scammers will often send phishing emails that appear to be from well- known retailers and include a link to a too-good-to-be-true offer. If you click on the link, it goes to a scam site or downloads malware onto your computer. Look for misspellings in the email, a tone that’s not consistent with what you’ve received before or anything else out of the ordinary. Hover over the link before you click on it. If the URL doesn’t match the URL of the retailer’s website, it’s probably a scam.

Be sure you’re shopping securely online. Before you hand over your credit card information to a retailer, verify that the checkout is secure. A URL that begins with https:// means the site is using an SSL certificate, which secures all of your data as it passes from the website to the server and keeps it safe from hackers. To get an SSL certificate, a company must go through a validation process. There are different levels of security. The highest level is Extended Validation (EV), which means the company has proved not only its identity but also its legitimacy as a business. You know a site has an EV certificate if the search bar (or part of the search bar, depending on your browser) turns green and displays a lock icon.

November Monthly Observances

Aviation History Month

National Impotency Month

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Benefits and you

Last month was benefits enrollment and we would like to take the time to answer some of the questions that we encountered during the process, please make sure you follow up with all the required paperwork such as evidence of insurability, and check JetNet to make sure everything was done correctly. Now is a good time of year to review the Bereavement paperwork which is on the local 591 website.

1. Will my Long term disability roll over to 2019?

All of your TWU voluntary benefits will roll over in 2019, including but not limited to LTD, STD, Term life, Whole Life, Critical illness and Accident insurance. NOTE new hire LTD enrollers will not see any deductions in paycheck until April 1st when policy become active, New hires are auto enrolled and will be offered a window to opt out in Spring, Please see an EAP/Benefits rep regarding LTD and new hires.

2. I have been paying for LTD for years and now that I’m 65 and still paying I don’t collect the benefit

Please refer to the Hartford LTD policy page 17. Age 65 receives 24 months of benefits.

3. Where do I find all the policies and forms associated with my benefits?

All information for benefits are located in the local 591 website, go to Member Assistance Program/ EAP/ Benefits Insurance, click on the link and scroll down all forms and policies will be there. The TWU voluntary website should be this available this month and look for improvements to our page this month, until then please call 888-602-6628, LTD/STD questions please refer to Shawnya Canfield 817-481-5533

4. How do I know what my benefits will cover and what is the associated costs?

Please check the American Airlines Health Benefits Summary Plan Description

5. I have the Company and the Union STD will they both pay?

No you cannot collect on both policies, the major difference in policies is union STD includes up to 10 hours a week in the computation of pay.

 EAP november 2018 News Letter Securing financial accounts_1.pdf