As you may have seen by now, someone has sent out text messages that appear to be from Idadiv (and several other credit unions in the area as well.)

THESE ARE NOT LEGITIMATE MESSAGES!

Members and non-members alike are receiving these messages. We are working hard to try and get to the bottom of this to find out where the messages are coming from.

Remember that we will never ask for information from you such as account numbers, card numbers, expiration dates, or PINs. If someone is asking you for these things, ask them to provide you the information to verify, not the other way around.

There are so many ways these days that fraudsters are trying to use to get your information…smishing, phishing, vishing and the list goes on. Don’t reply to these items, nor should you give them any information about your account. Simply delete them, ignore them, or hang up on them.

Thank you!

Who are we talking about? Not Sponge Bob, but our own BOB BRADY, who has a big birthday coming up, so we did a little decorating for him. Enjoy!

Yes, despite the snow and freezing temps, several of our staff members braved the elements to help our community. Enjoy some pictures from this great event:

Here are some new pictures from last week and this morning. Meridain is really starting to look like a branch! How exciting!

I don’t know about you, but I will tell you that I love, love, love having a debit card!  I remember when I didn’t have one and had to either be smart enough to get cash out of my account when I was at the credit union or find a place to write a check and get cash back.  Looking back I think, “wow…what a pain!”  Debit cards make it so much easier to make everyday purchases, get cash back, and even pay bills.

That could change, however, and we need your help!  Credit unions nationwide are conducting a grass roots effort to let our legislators know our viewpoint on the Interchange Legislation that is before them. 

 I’m sure you know each time you use your debit or credit card, the merchant is paid immediately for the items you purchased.  What you may not know, however, is the credit union that issues your card receives a small fee from the merchant which is referred to as interchange.  This interchange reflects a merchant’s fair share of the costs of this convenient system. 

The income the credit union receives from the interchange supports everything from re-issuing cards compromised by merchant data breaches (which can cost the credit union a large amount of both time and money when the breaches are as large as the most recent ones) to providing a call center to contact if your card is lost or stolen or to fund the fraud prevention measures we currently have in place. 

There are currently a number of proposals in Congress to reduce that interchange, thus leaving more funds in the wallets of the merchants and jeopardizing the existence of debit card programs as we know them today.

 If this income source were reduced, Idadiv may no longer be able to support our card programs and may be forced to pass fees along to you, our members, or even worse be unable to offer cards at all. 

 What can you do to help? 

 Please send a message to your federal legislators TODAY urging them to oppose any legislation which would reduce interchange.  A prewritten letter is available for your use at the credit union Grassroots Action Center, http://capwiz.com/cuna/home/ where you can personalize and send an email or print and fax a letter.  (This message will be directed to the appropriate legislators based on the address you enter.) 

 Each Idadiv branch also has postcards available if you’d rather go that route.  The addresses for sending the postcards (or other correspondence) are below as well:

Sen. Mike Crapo  239 Dirksen Senate Offices Bldg, Washington DC  20510

Sen. James E. Risch  483 Russell Senate Office Bldg, Washington DC  20510

I personally just submitted my message by clicking above (you know, I have to test it and make sure it’s as easy as it sounds!) and it took me all of about 2 minutes.  I have already received email confirmations that my appropriate legislators received my feedback.

Please, we urge you to take a few minutes to click on the above link and to pass this information on to others.  It is not just credit union members who will be affected should this legislation pass. 

 I know I’d rather not lose the option of having a debit card on my Idadiv account!

It’s so exciting to watch the progress on the new Meridian branch.

We were out there yesterday and it’s starting to take shape for sure! The foundation is in place, the vault has been poured and you can see where the drive thru will be.

Enjoy the pictures:

Stay tuned for the next update!

People in the Treasure Valley are receiving phone calls that state: “Your credit union credit card has been overused and deactivated, press one to reactivate.”   

This is a fraudulent phone call that is attempting to obtain your card number.  Do not enter any information! 

Idadiv will never ask you for your full credit or debit card number.

Yesterday I was driving around Meridian, and boy have things changed there!  I don’t normally spend much time in Meridian and I haven’t been there at all since they changed Main Street and Meridian Road to be one way road (great change, by the way!)  Anyway, as I was headed south on Meridian Road near Corporate Drive, I saw this great sign:

 Yep, that’s right!  Idadiv is building a new branch in Meridian! 

We’ve broke ground and started building and we couldn’t be more excited. 

We’re anticipating opening the branch in early 2010, but keep watching the blog, the website, and your newsletters for updates!

Here are some pictures of the progress on site yesterday:

You may have seen the ad in the Press Tribune about the Paint ‘Em Up Cowboys contest.  Your creative Credit Union staff at the Nampa branch decided we could do it…and here’s the end result:

I must say…not bad for amateurs!  We had a lot of fun planning, painting, and seeing it all come together.  Winners should be announced soon, so keep your eyes open!