since 1935 | #justbeyourself

Volume 6 | Issue 12 | December 2023
Our Mission: Providing financial solutions for every stage of life.

Dear Valued Member,

I hope your holiday season is off to an enjoyable start as you look forward to spending time with family and friends. It’s also a season for spending money, of course, as we travel, decorate, prepare festive meals and show our appreciation for others through gift giving.

This month, I’d like to remind everyone to take a few moments amid the holiday rush to protect yourself from scams and fraud. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that criminals take advantage of our tendency to let down our guard when our spirits are high.

Also, I’d like to devote a portion of my December message to encouraging you to consider giving a gift to yourself in the New Year. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, Community First has an excellent, accessible mortgage product that could bring new meaning to “home for the holidays” when December rolls around again next year.

Preventing fraud

It’s a shame we have to think about this every year, but it would be even more of a shame if we were the victim of identity theft and fraud at a time when we’re celebrating the holidays. Fraud is a year-round threat, but criminals increase their activity during the holidays when credit cards are in heavy use, both in stores and online. Of the 559,000 cases of identity theft reported nationwide in the first half of 2023, nearly 220,000 involved credit card fraud.

Here are some ways you can protect yourself from fraud when you’re doing your holiday shopping:

• Practice good online shopping habits. Keep your browser and operating system up to date, create strong passwords for each account, and never make purchases over public wi-fi networks.
• Look out for fake online ads. They often tout great deals that link to sites designed to get you to provide personal information that will be used for fraud.
• Watch out for fake shipment notifications. If you’ve been doing a lot of online shopping, it’s easy to be fooled by a fake message about a problem with one of your orders. Double check that the message is tied to an actual order you placed, and even if it could be legit, go to the company’s website to resolve the issue rather than clicking on a link within the email.
• Be alert for “skimmers” on ATMs or point-of-purchase credit card scanners at gas stations and self-service checkouts. If there’s a bulky or loosely fitting part over the slot where you insert your card, or a suspicious-looking keypad, don’t use the terminal. It may have been fitted with a device that “skims” the information from your card for criminal purposes.
• Keep an eye on your card during a transaction and make sure you get it back. Also make sure you don’t sign a receipt without an amount in the space for the sale total. It could be filled in later with an amount higher that your actual purchase.
• Sign up for alerts. At Community First, we think this is so important that we automatically activate debit card fraud text alerts. When suspicious activity is detected, our automated system will contact you by text, phone or email. You can also set your own customized alerts in online banking for transactions and balance alerts, so you know when someone else is in your account.

These are just a few of the ways you can protect yourself from potential fraud this holiday season. Our Community First fraud team has put together some additional ideas at this link. I also recommend that you visit our Fraud and Financial Crime webpage for information about how you can protect yourself year round.

A gift for yourself

When the holiday season is over and you’re finished buying for others, you might want to consider a gift for yourself — a new home. We’re proud to have many young people among our members at Community First, and we know how hard it can be for first-time homebuyers to afford a place of their own.

One way to make your first-time home more affordable is with a mortgage created especially for borrowers who haven’t owned a home within the past two years. Our first-time homebuyer mortgage allows you to borrow up to $400,000 with no down payment, and it has no requirement for private mortgage insurance. We also don’t have income restrictions, and you can qualify with a credit score of 650 or higher.

If you compare our product to other first-time homebuyer loan programs, such as FHA, I think you’ll find that our features compare very favorably. We’re able to offer such an attractive product in part because we keep our first-time homebuyer loans in house, so we don’t have to meet the more-burdensome requirements of the secondary mortgage market.

You can learn more about our first-time homebuyer loan and all our mortgage products on our Mortgage Loan webpage.

As 2023 draws to a close, I am again filled with gratitude for having had the opportunity to serve you during the past year, and for the privilege of leading a great team of dedicated and caring employees here at Community First.

Enjoy your holidays, and let us know how we can serve you in 2024! ■