Archive for year: 2020

Dear Valued Members,

In our Fall 2019 Newsletter, we communicated that your credit union had plans to temporarily close the Vernon Main Branch starting on March 2, 2020, to address Heating and Cooling (HVAC) upgrades to our building. Since that announcement, we received a consulting report indicating that the tiles on the exterior of our building were nearing the end of life and required replacement.

As a result of this report, we have decided to put our main branch HVAC upgrade on hold in order to address the exterior needs of the building first. This was not our plan going into 2020; however, we must be diligent in following the expert’s reports and address the highest priority items ahead of taking on other projects, including the HVAC upgrade. Similar to what any homeowner knows – addressing the highest priority projects first is of utmost importance in order to minimize challenges.

We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. And although it is unfortunate that we have had to make significant changes to our capital update plans, we feel this change will ultimately help to minimize the impact to our members, as we can now address these projects one at a time.

In summary, our main branch HVAC upgrade is on hold as we work on addressing the tiles on the exterior of our building first. Our members are very important to us and we will work hard to minimize any potential impact on you during the completion of any work we do.

Thank you for your continued support of VantageOne Credit Union.

Sincerely,

Glenn Benischek

Your security and cyber safety is always important to us. That is why we are further enhancing our online banking and mobile app security with increased PAC (Personal Access Code) requirements this coming March 2020.

In addition to safety, STRONG PAC is also a security requirement for the introduction of future services including Online Account Opening, Mobile Pay and Apple Pay!

When will this change occur?

• We will announce the exact date beginning of March. The date of implementation is targeted to be March 18th, 2020.

What will happen on the implementation date?

• On that date, a pop-up screen will appear asking you to update your password and to follow the specific requirements. Those requirements will be given to you at that time.

Where will I be asked to change my PAC?

• On the online banking page via desktop or mobile app

Tips for Creating a Strong PAC:

• To help protect your account, avoid using names, dates or numbers tied to your identity (such as birthday, family name, pets, street).
• Use a PAC that differs from your other banking, email, and social media accounts.
• Creating a complex but memorable sequence of words and numbers will make it harder for others to guess your PAC.

Security Tip:

• Please make sure you are not saving your password in your web browser. Anyone that has access to your PC would have access to your online banking and you are not covered with insurance.

 Important Information: – Mobile App with Quickview enabled and Past Saved Passwords

What is Quickview? Quickview allows you to view your account balances when you open the mobile app, without needing to login first.

• Mobile App:
  • If you have Quickview* enabled on your VantageOne CU Mobile App, you will need to remove all registered devices from the full MemberDirect online banking site (note: this cannot be completed in MemberDirect Mobile Web Banking). This is required, as the App stores the last password (PAC) you had entered in MemberDirect online banking.
    • How to correct this:
      • Log in to MemberDirect online banking (if on mobile, you will need to scroll to the bottom of the page and select the ‘Full site’ link)
      • Navigate to Account Services > Mobile Banking App
      • Remove all registered devices
    • Desktop – Past Saved Passwords:
      • Ensure you clear your saved password. This is generally done by managing your saved passwords or by clearing your cache/cookies in your browser setting prior to launching online banking.

MemberDirect Small Business Users

• With the launch of Strong PAC, Signers that have a Delegate will have to log in themselves to update their PAC before their Delegate can access online banking. Delegates do not need to have a strong PAC, if they are existing. However, if a NEW delegate is created or an Existing delegate requires a new PAC, then they will be required to update their PAC to a STRONG PAC.
• Consolidated Accounts Feature – signers who have consolidated accounts within MDSB on their business account and personal account will need to update the PAC on their consolidated personal account via Online banking before the can access their consolidated accounts.

Our members may be impacted by an issue causing their debit cards to be declined at some Point of Sale (POS) terminals and Automated Fuel Dispensers (Gas Pumps).  This is not a credit union debit card issue.

This problem is impacting financial institutions that have issued new debit cards supporting the Interac Mandated changes of Combined Data Authentication (CDA).  Member transactions with these CDA cards will be declined when the member is required to use the PIN (Contactless impacted when spend limit exceeded or cumulative spend exceeded) at some POS terminals.  However, the member will be able to process transactions using Contactless (no PIN and insert) and the CDA debit cards continue to work at all ATMs.

For VantageOne members this means any MemberCards that we ordered through the banking system or were auto-renewed in 2019. MemberCards issued in branch are not affected.

This issue was first brought forward (December 17th) by one credit union and, at the time, it appeared to be an isolated situation. CCUA staff escalated the problem to Interac to investigate.

Everlink provided to Interac a sample of test cards to assist with the investigation.
Interac concluded that this was not card related as all CDA cards issued by credit unions had been certified using Interac’s third-party agent.

On December 31st CCUA staff identified that several more credit unions have been impacted by this issue and the problem has continued to spread.

Interac has now confirmed that this is a hardware terminal issue at some merchant locations.   The vendor, Verifone, has been able to replicate the error and identify the bug causing the declines.  We are anticipating further updates from Interac on the resolution to this issue and will update credit unions when received.

This is not only impacting credit unions, as several banks have identified the same issue, and it also appears to impact credit cards at the same terminals.

If you experience an issue with your debit card you could Split your transaction in two to allow for Contactless transactions.

We recommend to have cash on hand as a back up until this issue is resolved.

Interac has now issued a customer alert on its newsroom. https://newsroom.interac.ca/intermittent-interac-debit-chip-and-pin-card-purchase-declines/