RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — With consumers wanting more control over their financial lives and products, CO-OP Financial Services plans to launch a new app it terms the "remote control for plastic."
Called "CO-OP Card Controls and Alerts," the downloadable app allows members to set card controls based on their preferences, such as transaction type, merchant, location and payment thresholds. CU members will also be able to perform specific self-service functions, including balance inquiries and fund transfers. CO-OP expects the app will be available early next year
Caroline Willard, EVP, markets and strategy, told Credit Union Journal that 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 several 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, and travel, for example.
- Dependent. Businesses, for instance, can set controls per employee based on their location and corporate rank.
"It is like a remote control for your credit and debit cards," said Willard. "You can use this service many ways. You can better protect your card from being used fraudulently, or control your own spending or your children's spending."
As fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated, CO-OP is hearing from more credit unions that members want to be better protected from thieves. "Card controls can be set in such a way that card usage is narrowed, and therefore the opportunity for fraud is narrowed," he said.
Willard gave the example of applying a low-dollar purchase ceiling on a credit card, and then with a tap on a smartphone temporarily disabling the limit when the cardholder is standing in line at Best Buy to purchase a TV.
