News

Anna’s brother-in-law was right.

Here are news items from your credit union.

A broad range of banking services is attracting a growing number of electric cooperative employee family members to 1st Cooperative Federal Credit Union. Almost 36% of credit union members are non-employees—either family members or retirees—as of May 2020.

Officials attribute the growth to an expansion of digital banking capabilities.

“Members increasingly use our online banking system or our mobile app to deposit or transfer funds and to pay bills without writing checks,” said Jo Ann Burnside, chief operating officer of the credit union.

Quick turnaround on loan applications may be another reason for membership growth among employees and their families.

“It just blows people away that we can often complete a loan application and approval in one day,” said Burnside. “We don’t guarantee it, but the fact is, that’s often the case.”

“Apparently, word gets around,” she said, in reference to growth in family memberships, which are open to electric cooperative employees, trustees, and their families, including spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings and in-laws.

More information is available at www.1stCooperative.com or by calling 803-796-0234.

The second decade of the 21st century brought another security consideration for users of paper checks and other dated paper documents.

Online (digital) banking is easy and convenient, but many of us still pay with paper drafts—that’s what a check is, one way to draft money from your account. And, security is important either way.

Consider this: If you write a date on a check in this format — 5/1/20 — and a mischievous person obtains the check, you’ve provided an easy path to a scam. The “20” in the date is not only the year but also the current century. That means a scammer could add “19” to the “20” you wrote and have a check ready for cashing. Or they could add “21” to make “2021” and have a check ready to cash next year.

So, 5/1/2020 is the way to go … or better yet May 1, 2020.

Her Story

When Anna needed a new car, her brother-in-law Kenny, a co-op employee, recommended 1st Cooperative, where family members of co-op employees can join, too. She opened her account and bought a new vehicle the same day. Then, for the double-win: While applying for the car loan, she also got a debt consolidation loan and is paying lower overall interest.

That’s great news, Anna, like the information you’ll find on this page.

These instructions apply only for your first time logging on to our new Online Banking system after September 2.

If you are an existing Online Banking user, here’s how to log on to our new Online Banking system:

  • Your temporary Logon ID (username) is the member number for the Primary Member on the account.
    • You must enter leading zeroes to make it 6 digits.
    • Examples: If your current member number is 1234, you would enter 001234. For the member number 12, you would enter 000012.
  • Your temporary Security Code (password) is the last 4 digits of the Primary Account holder’s Social Security number.
    • Example: 9876

You will be prompted to change your Logon ID and Security Code. Once these are changed, you will use your NEW Logon ID and Security Code the next time you log on to Online Banking.

Click here to proceed to Online Banking logon »

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