Introducing: IRA Service Center

Wouldn’t it be great if someone took the mystery out of Individual Retirement Accounts?

American 1 has done just that by launching IRA Service Center, a go-to online resource for all your IRA questions and documents.

Through our IRA Service Center, you can learn more about the difference between a Traditional and Roth IRA, download forms to get your retirement savings started, or modify your existing IRA.

Visit our Investment page to learn more about American 1 investment and retirement options.

How the Credit CARD Act affects American 1

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 took affect on Thursday last week, implementing major changes to how credit unions and banks relate to credit-holding members.

If you hold a Visa, line of credit, home equity line of credit, or SimpleLoan plan with American 1, your terms may change – but not much.

Unlike many of the big bank credit cards we’ve highlighted in the past, the new Credit CARD Act changes don’t apply to American 1 policies because we didn’t adhere to many of the abusive practices the law seeks to fight. For instance, we don’t raise your credit card interest rate if you make a late payment, and we don’t change the terms of your credit agreement very often.

But still, the law does affect several of our policies. The most noteworthy is that all open-ended loans, like credit cards and lines of credit, now have a due date on the 25th of each month. Before, we let you pick your own due date. The Credit CARD Act, however, requires us to give 21 days notice before your payment is due, which means we’re moving everyone to one due date to comply with the law. Your account statement, mailed at the beginning of each month, will now serve as your due date notification.

We put together a Frequently Asked Questions section to highlight how the changes will affect you. It’s not comprehensive, but we do want to answer any questions you have, and help you manage the new due date rules.

As always, don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions you have.

New presidential dollar coins coming

If you’re a coin collector, take note that Thursday, Aug. 20, the new presidential dollar coin will be released. This one will feature James K. Polk, America’s eleventh president. After Polk comes Zachary Taylor on November 19.

For the full presidential dollar coin release schedule, visit the U.S. Mint’s page.

We usually have the new presidential coins in a few days after their release. Stop in or ask an American 1 branch to find out if we have any.

Teen Idol locations changes due to rain

Head’s up: we’re changing the location of our Teen Idol event due to threat of rain.

Join us Friday, July 10 at 6 p.m. at the Middle School at Parkside auditorium, located at 2400 Fourth St. in Jackson. Same date, same place, just a different location.

The weather forecast isn’t looking good for Friday. Threats of rain and thunderstorms are moving our singing competition indoors.

See you Friday night!

American 1 is on Twitter

American 1 joined the Twitter revolution – a movement that is growing by leaps and bounds.

You can catch event updates, breaking news, auto-buying tips, and random banking quips from the same author that writes this blog.

Be sure to follow us, and we’ll follow right back.

Protecting your online purchases

In the ongoing effort to prevent ID theft and online fraud, American 1 is now requiring that members who make purchases from online vendors using Verified by Visa (for credit card transactions) and MasterCard SecureCode (for debit transactions) sign up for each program.

These two programs require that you enter a seperate, secure passcode when you make online purchases at participating vendors. When an online merchant prompts you to enter your SecureCode or Verified by Visa code, you have to be signed up with the respective credit or debit program to make your purchase.

Not all online merchants (Amazon.com, PayPal, etc.) currently require you to use Verified by Visa or SecureCode when making a purchase. For the ones that do, however, you’ll be required to sign up for the program. Use Visa’s online form to activate Verified by Visa, and MasterCard’s unique American 1 page to get the process started.

You can choose to “decline” the transaction, but if you do, your transaction will be declined.

In other words, this service is now mandatory for online transactions where the merchant offers it. But again: not all online merchants currently utilize these programs.

We’re doing this to combat online fraud. There have been more and more members that have been affected by identity theft, especially using Visa and MasterCard cards, so we’re using these security programs to fight back.

Yes, this means you’ll have one more passcode to remember. But, in the long run, it will help protect you in case someone steals your credit or debit card number.

If you have any questions about Verified by Visa or SecureCode, contact our Card Services Department at (888) 213-2848.

New no-surcharge ATM at Allegiance Health

Good news – we just put a new no-surcharge ATM in at Allegiance Health’s Foote Hospital.

You can find the American 1 ATM on the second floor, near the cafeteria. Now if you need cash for food or the gift shop, you can take advantage of our no-surcharge ATM. For a complete list of American 1 ATMs, visit our ATM Locations page.

State of the credit union

On Thursday, we held a “State of the Credit Union” presentation for local treasurers, business leaders, and organizational leaders where we outlined how we did in 2008, and what we’re working on for 2009.

Above all? Despite the economy, we did pretty well for ourselves.

American 1 had a good feeling as far back as April, and even during the summer before the big economic crisis hit, that we were doing okay. Others were saying that credit unions were among the safest places to put your money.

And now, as we look back on the crazy year that was 2008, we can say we did the right things to keep our ship upright and sailing steady.

We have the wisdom of our board of directors and the support of our members and the community to thank for our success. With all the doom and gloom around us these days, it’s nice to be seen as a secure place to save for the future.

Project: Zero Waste deadline extended

Attention Waste Haters: we’re extending the deadline of our Project: Zero Waste. You can now register to participate until Friday, April 10.

Project: Zero Waste aims to take care of your materials, like e-waste, paper and plastic, tires, scrap metal, yard waste, personal documents, and more. We’ve teamed up with a bunch of local waste haulers and recyclers to make sure your junk gets disposed of in an environmentally-responsible way.

You can drop off most of your materials for free. We’re only charging for a few items, like tires and LP tanks, because these items cost so much to handle properly.

Project: Zero Waste takes place on Saturday, April 18 at the Jackson County Fairgrounds from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can sign up for a time that works best for you.

Drop by projectzerowaste.com to download a registration form, and get it to us by April 10.

Debit card denied? Here’s why

Has your debit card been denied sometime in the past week?

There’s a reason, and – if you can believe it – it’s because of a single little number.