SAFE Federal Credit Union Achieves Anti-Fraud and Compliance Success

• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization

• Finance & Insurance

• Business Operation
• Quality Assurance

• Fraud Detection
• Regulatory Compliance Monitoring

• System Integration
• Training

SAFE FCU historically verified identities by checking Social Security numbers (SSNs) and comparing information supplied by loan applicants with information about members that employees had previously captured and entered into SAFE FCUs databases. This process provided the credit union with limited data on which to verify identities, and sometimes resulted in minor human error—transposed numbers in a SSN, for instance. Nevertheless, SAFE FCU’s anti-fraud approach had proved to be successful. Throughout 2008, however, SAFE FCU was confronted with a rise in fraud attempts. In order to meet this challenge and ensure effective compliance with new and existing government regulations, SAFE FCU decided to enhance their identity verification and fraud prevention approach.

Founded in 1955 by 15 civilian employees at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, SAFE Federal Credit Union (SAFE FCU) today consists of more than 15 branches serving 199,000 members, and manages assets in excess of $500 million. As a financial cooperative serving members worldwide, it is the mission of SAFE FCU to operate in a sound manner while providing quality service and products designed to manage the financial well-being of its members. To help fulfill this mission SAFE FCU turned to LexisNexis® Risk Management Solutions® featuring InstantID®.

Committed to protecting their members, SAFE FCU researched and evaluated the range of solutions available. After an exhaustive search, the credit union selected LexisNexis Risk Management Solutions featuring InstantID. LexisNexis Risk Management Solutions include the most comprehensive and robust online risk management research tools in the industry, enabling financial institutions to monitor, identify, authenticate, and investigate clients and prospects quickly and easily. InstantID delivers real-time identity verification and risk scoring, providing institutions with the ability to make informed decisions. Using LexisNexis Risk Management Solutions, SAFE FCU significantly enhanced its anti-fraud practices. Today, the identity of individuals attempting to open an account or qualify for a loan are verified by comparing the information they provide against the information available through InstantID. If an employee mistypes information, the solution auto-corrects the entry, helping employees do their jobs faster and more accurately. The scoring features also enable SAFE FCU to more easily identify and route suspicious activity to the institution’s anti-fraud professionals for further scrutiny. In addition, SAFE FCU can open accounts for individuals who may previously have been turned down—individuals, for instance, whose bills may be exclusively in their spouses’ name. SAFE FCU has also been able to locate members who may have forgotten about their accounts or the heirs of members who may have passed away. Finally, the solution supports the credit union’s collections efforts, enabling the collections team to better serve SAFE FCU’s members by collecting debts owed to the institution.

• SAFE FCU estimates that LexisNexis has helped the credit union avoid making approximately 20-30 loans to fraudsters and identity thieves in the first eight months since putting the system into production.
• The solution paid for itself within eight months.
• The solution helped comply with financial regulations.

• Avoided 20-30 fraudulent loans in the first eight months.