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CO-OP Financial Services readying mobile card controls technology for credit union members

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA (November 14, 2013) — Once used primarily for balance inquiries, mobile banking and payments now encompass an ever-growing variety of financial transactions. Consumers today have the ability to make direct person-to-person payments and conveniently access all their accounts via a smartphone.

The ever-expanding use and feature set of mobile devices presents financial institutions with challenges to keep up with consumer demands, particularly for greater individual control of services.

One solution to be launched early next year is mobile credit and debit card control and alert technology. Delivered via a downloaded mobile device application, these technologies afford consumers greater individualized control, protection and management of their card usage and data.

CO-OP Financial Services (www.co-opfs.org), a credit union service organization based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., plans to introduce mobile card controls and alerts capabilities that allow members to set card controls based on their preferences, such as transaction type, merchant, location and payment thresholds. Members of credit unions will also be able to perform specific self-service functions, including balance inquiries and fund transfers.

Card control and alert technology protects the cardholder as well as the credit union when a card is used in a way that’s inconsistent with the user-identified parameters. Controls can be set by the cardholder so that specific types of transactions are immediately denied and the cardholder is alerted about any potentially fraudulent use.

Controls can be set in any number of ways:

Location. The cardholder specifies a geographic region where the card can be used, with transactions denied when used outside the parameters.

Transaction. The cardholder specifies allowed transaction types, such as in-store, online, recurring or ATM cash withdrawals.

Merchant. Merchant categories can be limited to gas, hotel, travel – whatever the cardholder mandates.

Dependent. Businesses, for instance, can set controls per employee based on their location and corporate rank.

On/Off. The cardholder simply turns the card on or off.

Introducing emerging technologies can be complex, but in this case, consumers already use their mobile devices to manage a variety of financial management tasks. Soon, credit unions will be able to offer their members new ways to more fully manage card use and security.


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