RIVERDALE, Utah — The race to keep credit and debit cards safe from thieves — yet still offer convenience — is never ending, but America First Credit Union says it has taken a big leap forward with its new "Card Guard" security tool.
According to Brice Mindrum, mobile services manager for the $6.7 billion CU, Card Guard gives users the ability to "control" their credit or debit cards. Not only can cards be turned on and off, as with some cards, Card Guard includes a number of different ways in which cardholders can define the way their cards are used:
- Alerts — members can be alerted on every transaction and attempted transaction.
- Location-based features — the user's smartphone is "pinged" to determine its location, and only transactions taking place in those locations will be cleared.
- Map-based features — the consumer defines a map area and only transactions in that area will clear.
- Categories — user can define which merchant categories are automatically okay, such as transactions at gas stations or grocery stores.
- Transaction amount — can be set to allow only transactions below a certain dollar amount to clear.
"It is cool to control your card; it is awesome to get an alert on a transaction before the clerk hands back your card. Our members love that," Mindrum told CU Journal.
Card Guard is available for free on both iOS and Android smartphones. It has been live for several weeks, but it has been a "quiet" launch. America First invited a limited number of its members to try out the system before it was officially introduced.
"We tried to target those who would get the most use out of it — heavy mobile banking users," Mindrum explained.
"We are dedicated to providing the upmost security for our members, while simultaneously providing them with advancing technologies to manage their finances," said Rich Syme, executive vice president of electronic services and product management for America First.
Small Window For Innovation
The second phase will include a "very large marketing campaign," Mindrum said. Marketing will include television, billboards, print ads and a "strong" social media push, plus all of AFCU's digital marketing touchpoints, including its website and e-mail.
Digital and social media initiatives will come first, followed approximately one week later by TV and billboards, he said.
"Discover has launched its Freeze' card, and there are rumors Bank of America and others are working on similar products," Mindrum noted. "I believe this will become a table stakes product very quickly — if you have it you are an innovator but if you do not have it you are viewed as behind.
"The window for innovation is very small," he added.
Mobile Banking
Card Guard is linked to America First's mobile banking application. Upon public launch, users of the app will be prompted to activate Card Guard. AFCU has 200,000 active mobile banking users, but Mindrum said, "Once we link to this application we expect usage to really ramp up."
America First has been working with Ondot Systems, based in San Jose, Calif., in developing Card Guard. Mindrum described Ondot as an "extremely innovative company" that approached AFCU with the idea of being able to control when a card transaction takes place.
"The process is incredibly complicated since it involves packets traveling back and forth across multiple servers," he said.
Ondot, which has won multiple awards for innovation, has integrated its work with card processors Fiserv and CO-OP. Mindrum said financial institutions will be able to go to their processors and get similar controls on their own credit cards.
"BECU has not fully launched, but is in the process of integrating with Ondot and CO-OP," he said.
America First CU is the 12th-largest credit union in the United States by assets, and is the seventh-largest by membership with more than 696,000 members. AFCU has 110 branches.
