How to Keep Your Bank Accounts Safe from Fraud with Aaron Caid

Hey everyone, Rob West here. You've heard me talk about faith and finances for years and a common question I get is, how can I align my faith values with my banking decisions? Well, we recommend our friends at Christian Community Credit Union who've been serving Christians for over 67 years. Visit JoinChristianCommunity.com to learn more.

That's JoinChristianCommunity.com. Nearly 30% of all bank customers experienced some form of fraudulent activity on their accounts in 2024. How can you prevent it from happening to you? Hi, I'm Rob West.

That's a startling statistic that should motivate all of us to take precautions. Aaron joins us today with six steps you can take to prevent fraud with your accounts. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. We're delighted to have Aaron Cade with us today.

He's chief marketing officer at Christian Community Credit Union and underwriter of this program. Aaron, welcome back. Thank you, Rob.

It's great to be with you and your listeners. Aaron, that statistic comes from JD Power in a 12 month study ending last November. And this is staggering. It showed that 29% of bank account holders were affected by fraud in some way. Let's dive into some of these steps we can take to keep our accounts safe. Rob, as you've said many times, it starts with a strong, unique password.

And this is going to be a mix of letters, upper lowercase numbers, special characters, something that is very difficult to guess. You can also use a password manager to generate a complex password and store it so you don't even have to remember it. That's right. And then you also want to use two factor authentication for any of your financial apps. This gives you extra security. It requires that you provide a one time passcode when you're trying to access the account or execute a high risk transaction. And therefore, if somebody gets a hold of your password and login credentials, they can't access your account without that passcode. And it's also important to turn text message preview off on your phone because the bad guys, if they steal your phone and they can see the passcode if it's in preview mode. I hadn't thought of that. That's a great idea. All right. The next one has to do with monitoring.

Share that with us. Yeah, you need to be vigilant in monitoring your accounts and your credit reports very regularly. It's important to be able to detect anomalous activity before much damage has been done.

You can get this information for free through the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and annual credit report dot com. And then you also have to be vigilant for phishing scams. And that's phishing with a ph. The bad guys have gotten very clever about luring people into giving them personal information. They'll often use a ruse with a high sense of urgency to trick you into revealing that information. They'll pose as a legitimate company or a government agency and use information you inadvertently give them to access your account and take your money. So never give anyone your username, password, one time passcode or account information over the phone via email or chat and text. CCC you will never ask you for this information, even if the message appears to be coming from us, because the fraudsters can spoof a phone number or Web address. I believe this is true for many other financial institutions as well.

And when in doubt, your best bet is to call your credit union or bank directly to verify. Well, this is great information. So important. I know the next one has to do with your location when you're accessing your information via Wi-Fi.

Share that with us. It's important to use a secure Wi-Fi network. And I know many of us like to sit in coffee shops and conduct work there using a public Wi-Fi. Don't do it when you're accessing your bank account. Hackers can see that information in the clear and use it to access your data. So only use a secure password protected network.

You can also use a VPN, which is a virtual private network for encryption. And finally, protect your personal documents, any documents with personal information you need to shred. And you can get shredders for as little as $35. It's worth every penny because the bad guys will go through your garbage to look for information they can use. Aaron, that is great advice. Now, before we let you go, I know a lot of our listeners have been excited about what you call the harvest bundle for both checking and savings.

Share that with us. Yeah, we've seen a lot of Christians across the country opening up a harvest checking account, which is unique. It pays 4% on the first $5,000 in balances. And then they'll combine that with the harvest savings account, which pays 5% on the first $5,000 in balances. And it's a great way to kickstart your savings and put money away for the future. And then combine that with our cash rewards Visa card, which not only allows you to earn one and a half percent cash back, but also gives to missions across the globe. Missions that spread the gospel, protect vulnerable children and combat human trafficking.

It's incredible. Folks, if you want your values aligned with your banking partner, think about joining Christian Community Credit Union. The website, joinchristiancommunity.com. That's joinchristiancommunity.com. Aaron, great to have you with us.

It was great being with you, Rob. That's Aaron Cade with Christian Community Credit Union back with your calls after this. Stick around. If you enjoy this radio program, you're going to love all of the many different resources waiting for you at faithfi.com and the Faithfi app. You'll find powerful wisdom, free podcasts, articles, videos, and more from leading voices such as Randy Alcorn, Howard Dayton, Ron Blue, and our own Rob West. Grow in wisdom and knowledge by connecting with a community of thousands of Christians striving to be good and faithful stewards at faithfi.com or by downloading the Faithfi app.

Have you ever wondered where your money goes when you deposit it in a bank? Christian Community Credit Union believes in helping advance God's kingdom through everyday financial transactions. For over 67 years, they have provided values-aligned banking solutions to thousands of Christians and ministries. Consider Christian Community Credit Union as your banking institution by visiting joinchristiancommunity.com. Membership eligibility required. Each account is insured up to $250,000.

This institution is not federally insured. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. In just a moment, we'll begin taking your calls and questions today on anything financial. You can call right now 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. We've got calls coming in, but still a few lines remain. Sandy Dickinson, ready to take your call today. We'd love to hear from you. Again, that number 800-525-7000. All right, let's head to the phones today. We're going to begin in Tennessee. Hi, Linda.

How can I help you? I was calling for a list of the faith-based investments that you can invest in. I'm trying to do some different investing with my 401. Okay. Yes, ma'am.

Let me give you a website where you would be able to download a PDF. It's no cost to it, and it will give you a list of the 11 mutual fund families that we follow, and they're all in the faith-based investing space. Are you ready for that website, Linda?

Yes. Okay, it's faithandinvesting.com slash faithfi. Let me say that again, faithandinvesting.com slash faithfi. You'll just put in your email address, you'll download that PDF, and that will give you the complete list of those fund families. Now, if you're looking to invest in your 401k, hopefully you will find at least one of those fund families there.

You may not. And although this space of values aligned or faith aligned investments is growing rapidly, both in terms of the number of investment companies, as well as the dollars that are flowing into these investments, we're seeing that the 401ks are kind of the slowest to adopt these fund families. And so if you don't see any of the fund families in your 401k, I think you have two options there. Option one would be to look for something called a brokerage window, which is where the 401k allows you to invest beyond the menu of investment options available inside the plan. The second option is to call the plan administrator and say, Listen, I would like my values reflected in my investments and I don't see any of the faith based or values based investment options and you can give them the names.

And as they get more and more calls from believers who want these options available, you know, they're regularly reviewing the list of investments and you may find that it's added in the in the not too far off future. But I think that'll give you the right direction here, Linda. And if we can help you with anything else in the future, don't hesitate to call back. God bless you. Let's go to Michigan. Hi, Sandy, how can I help?

Thank you, Rob. I have an old work comp claim that I haven't used in years. And for some reason, the last visit to my primary care doctor got billed as a disability visit, which it wasn't. So the work comp company came up as first payer, so Medicare denied payment. So now I'm on the hook for those payments.

So I have it's kind of a two part question. One is, what the heck happened? How can I prevent that in the future? And the second part is, if I did have to submit a claim to the work comp company to pay like for a surgery or something, and they only pay like 10% or 15%, then I'm on the hook for the balance of the cost, correct? Yeah, well, it sounds like it was just done in error, because I would imagine they should not have been in first position. So I think you need to take steps to have a redetermination by Medicare. And they have what are called Medicare contractors, where through the redetermination, there's a review of the claim by a Medicare administrative contractor personnel not involved in the initial claim determination. And you can fill out some paperwork for that, and be able to explain in writing the problem that you're having, you have to do that within 60 days of the denial. And it's possible, you know, they can reverse this and get you moving in the right direction.

If that doesn't go your way, though, there's four other levels of appeal. And you can start that process at cms.gov. That's the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and it's a government website. But you could learn about how you go through that process of appeal. And I would probably talk to them about what went awry here, just so you know that for the future. But I think the key right now is for you to initiate that process of having Medicare do that review and see if you can get this overturned. Oh, brother, it's past the 60 days from the date of the visit.

Oh, gee, yeah. Well, from the date of the denial, and so if you're not, if you're outside of that window, then perhaps you could just take one of the other steps. But all of that is explained at cms.gov. And I know this is frustrating, and you want to get on top of it and get it paid.

And I realized that's challenging. Good news is it's not going to affect, you know, your credit report, just because especially in light of recent legislation, they're removing, you know, medical related obligations from credit reports, which is good thing. But I think your next step is just to get this situated so that the bill gets covered.

And you don't have to think about it anymore. Sandy, keep us posted on that. Thanks for calling Davenport, Florida. Ed, go ahead.

Thank you for taking my call. So my question is, I own a home in Davenport, which is free and clear, there is no mortgage anymore. And I would like to transfer ownership 50% to a family member. Now my question is, if there are any taxes that I will have to pay, or my family member will have to pay because of this transfer free and clear of 50%.

No, it would be a gift. And for any amount of the gift over 18,000, you would have to let the IRS know that you did it. But that amount beyond 18,000 of the gift would just go against your lifetime gift exemption of over $13 million. So it would not be taxable to you, it would not be taxable to the recipient, you would just have to include a gift tax form in your return. But again, you're just chipping away at your lifetime exemption that stands today at more than $13 million. But I will ask the question, why are you doing this? Because there are some disadvantages to this, when it comes to whoever is receiving this, inheriting it versus receiving it as a gift from you.

So what are you trying to accomplish? I want to give this 50% to my daughter. I know, yeah, they also have a son, but my son, he is doing very well financially. And when I pass, I want my son only to get 25% on my daughter to get 75%, so forth. Okay, well, here's the thing, though, and if she receives it as a gift, then she's going to keep your cost basis, which is what determines how much capital gains she will pay. Versus if she receives it as an inheritance at your death, she'll get what's called a stepped up basis. So the cost basis that you paid goes away. And her new cost basis, which determines whether she pays any capital gains will be stepped up to the market value of the property as of the date of your death, which is a significant advantage. So what would be better, in my view, is you put it into a trust, or even through your will, you can designate that you want 75% to go to your daughter and 25% to your son, that's not a problem.

But if she receives it as a gift, she's going to probably end up paying a lot more in the way of taxes when she sells it, then if she were to receive it, her 75% at your death. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's something I didn't take in consideration. Okay.

Yeah. So what I would do is perhaps connect with an estate planning attorney, and see about putting a trust together, put the house in the name of the trust. And then you can designate what portion you want to go to your your daughter, and what portion you want to go to your son. And then she'll get the tax benefit of that stepped up cost basis. If you don't have an estate planning attorney, connect with a CKA at our website, faithfi.com.

And they can give you a referral back with much more right after this. Every day we hear life changing stories from listeners just like you who see money and possessions as tools to invite more people into God's kingdom. Instead of chasing wealth, you've chosen to embrace God as your source of love and provision.

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Mutual funds distributed by Timothy Partners, LTD, and ETFs distributed by Foresight Fund Services, LLC. We're so glad you've joined us today on Faith and Finance. This is where we help you see God as your ultimate treasure and money, a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Let's go right back to the phone.

St. Louis, Missouri. Bob, how can I serve you? Thanks a lot for taking my phone call, Brother Robin. God bless you. Thank you very much.

The question I have is that, I'll give it to you on a real quick note here. I've been retired for a year now from the federal government at the VA. My wife passed away a few years ago, and so I ended up giving the house to our son. And it was, this is the bad stuff, I ended up giving a lot of money, a lot of money to me was $50,000 and more to some other family members. So my question is this, I have, I make $70,000 through disability annuity and my SSDI.

I was no longer able to work at the VA due to my service being blown up. So I have $50,000 at a TST, and I'm a renter right now. So I'm not living in a home. And my rent is with utilities and the rent is around $1,500. Now with that, I'll conclude just by saying that I also made the mistake and got $9,000 in debt, which I'm paying off through a company called National Debt Relief. And that should, you know, that should, I want to pay that off. I'm just, my question is, should I use, I haven't used my VA loan, or would that be a good investment?

Or should I just stay retired, renting? Yeah, well, thank you for your service. And I appreciate that description of your situation here.

You know, the challenge is just, you know, they appreciate how generous you've been with family members. But it sounds like you don't have other than a great income, and you're living modestly, and that's going to last the rest of your life. You really don't have much to put toward a down payment, although with the VA, you know, you could get 100% financing, but I'm understanding correctly that you don't have anything to put toward the home.

Is that right? Well, I have 10,000 in savings, but that's just it. And then I have 50,000 in my TSP account, which I've refused to touch that. So yeah, and then as far as like the life insurance policies and the other stocks in our portfolio when she passed away, you know, I just was in a bad spot for quite a while. Still am. Not really.

So I'm needing some help on your side of the fence as far as, you know, if there's some good investments with the simple Roth IRA and anything you can help. And I'd like to give back to your organization, too, as well. I'm a faithful listener. Well, thanks, Bob. I appreciate that. You know, here's the thing.

I mean, I think you're doing a great job. I'd be happy to help by providing you with a certified Christian financial counselor who could help get all the pieces in place, help you set up your budget, you could use the FaithFi app to do that, help you get into a good rhythm on a monthly basis of tracking your expenses and your income and just staying on plan. I think the challenge with trying to buy a house is, you know, if you're trying to get 1500 a month all in, including utilities, you're probably talking about $175,000 home with zero percent down because I don't want you to chew up all that, you know, reserve that you have because I want you to hang on that for your emergency fund. But it's going to be difficult to find a home for 175,000 in today's housing market.

And so I don't want you to stretch. Now, you may say, Well, I could do more than that. I mean, I'd be comfortable with you going up to, you know, maybe 30% at the most of your take home pay. I mean, that would be 1750 for principal interest taxes and insurance, but you got to make the budget balance. Now, if you could get up that high, I mean, maybe we're talking about a, you know, a home that's maybe 225,000, you know, with zero percent down, because you have the VA, all of a sudden now we're at 1700 a month, probably with property taxes and insurance. And then you'd have, you know, your utilities on top of that.

So I think that's the key is, you know, you could start looking around and seeing if you could find something. But apart from that, I don't want you to eat up all that, you know, liquid reserve, and I don't want you to get too stretched too thin on your, you know, monthly budget. I want you to be you know, have plenty to live within your means and, and avoid taking on any debt. And if that means you continue to rent, I think so be it. Does that make sense? It does. And I appreciate that insight as far as having the faith and finance advisor.

Yeah. So let's do this as far as getting that Roth in place and having some ideas on what investments to put that in. I would head and check out our friends at soundmindinvesting.org.

The sound mind investing newsletter, which is available online as well, will give you through their upgrading strategy, you know, all the funds that you could put the money in and, you know, change them out periodically. And it's it was founded by Austin Pryor was a good friend of Larry Burkett back in the day. It's a great organization. And for do it yourselfers who are just starting out, it kind of takes all the guesswork out because they give you the mutual funds that you'd buy in your 401k. So that's soundmindinvesting.org.

And then you stay on the line. We'll get you connected with one of our certified Christian financial counselors. That'll be no cost to you. We'll cover that. And that person will help you get it set up on the faith via app, get your budget set up. And I think that'll get you pointed in the right direction. Hey, thanks for your kind remarks about the program, sir. And Lord bless you. To Chicago, John, thanks for your patience.

How can I help? Okay, I have a Roth IRA that I formed from a 403b annuity a couple years ago. I'm 73 years old and will be 74 in a couple months. At what point does the RMD apply to my Roth?

Never. Yeah, a Roth IRA as long as it is a Roth. If it was a Roth TSP and you did a rollover to an IRA or something like that, the Roth is not subject to the required minimum. So I'm never required to make a distribution?

That's correct. You could leave that money right there and pass it down if you wanted to. Okay. And how I'm retired, I have Social Security and a retirement pension. I do have occasionally profits from a book that I publish and on occasion I do workshops. Am I able to make contributions to my Roth from those profits?

Yes. You just have to have earned income in order to be able to contribute to a Roth. There is no age limit. And so earned income is taxable income from wages you get for working from someone else or for yourself or from a business as opposed to unearned income, which is not as a result of wages or salaries or tips or something like that.

So yes, if you have earned income, you can keep putting money into that Roth IRA and never have to pull it out. Thanks for calling, John. Well, folks, that's what we do here on this program is just trying to encourage you. Thank you for inviting us into your story each day. And our hope and prayer is that through God's Word and the Council of Scripture, and as we apply these biblical principles we see in God's Word, that we can journey in this role of financial steward in a way that's wise and faithful and God honoring.

And ultimately, what we know is that draws us into a more intimate relationship with Him. Hey, don't miss our 21-day devotion called Look at the Sparrows that will help you move from fear to faith in your financial life. If there's something that's been weighing on you, perhaps refocusing on God's Word, renewing your mind with Scripture is just what you're looking for, go to faithbuy.com slash sparrows to learn more. And we'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.