Looking for information to help you be a better
consumer? Click on the following topics:
Your Banker:
Your Financial Partner
How to protect yourself
from Identity Theft
Phishing & Pharming:
What you need to know; what you need to do
Email Security
Credit Reports
FDIC Link
Notice of
Privacy Policy
Your Prosperan Bank representative can help you
with many common banking topics, including:
- How to choose the right home loan
- The best way to finance a car
- Choosing the right deposit products
- Annuities and certificates of deposit, advantages
and disadvantages
- How to select a commercial lender
- Helpful hints when starting your own business
- How to read your credit report
Click here to
have a banker contact you.
Back to Top
Prosperan Bank understands the risk of
identity theft and we want to ensure you have the
tools to protect yourself from this crime.
Some steps you can take to minimize your risk of
identity theft include:
- Avoid using easily available information for
your passwords – try to refrain from using
your mother’s maiden name, your birth
date, your phone number, etc.
- Secure personal information that is kept in
your home.
- Do not give out personal information over
the phone or the internet unless you have initiated
contact. Please see information regarding
Phishing on our site.
- Guard your mail and trash from theft –
shred any personal documents you do not need
to file away for future reference.
- Keep your Social Security Number and card
in a safe place. Avoid carrying your Social
Security card with you unless necessary for
a specific task that day.
A full guide to identity theft, how to protect
yourself and what to do in the event your identity
has been stolen may be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data/idt.shtm.
Back to Top
Phishing is a new type of identity
theft we all need to be aware of. Phishing
occurs when criminals create fake e-mail accounts
and send e-mails to people requesting personal
information such as account and social security
numbers. These e-mails and the websites
they may direct you to look as though they are
from trusted companies. It is important
that you understand how to recognize fraudulent
phishing e-mails and avoid giving any personal
information when requested in this manner.
Please be aware that Prosperan Bank will never
request personal information from you via e-mail.
If you receive an e-mail message from someone
claiming they are from Prosperan Bank and requesting
personal information, please disregard it and
contact us.
Similar in nature to e-mail phishing, pharming
seeks to obtain personal or private (usually financial
related) information through impersonating websites
(domain spoofing). Pharming leads you to believe
you are at your desired website when you have
in fact been redirected to a counterfeit site.
These sites, which appear legitimate, present
false information into the domain name server,
resulting in a user's request being redirected
elsewhere. Your browser, however will show you
are at the correct website, which makes pharming
a bit more serious and more difficult to detect.
Phishing attempts to scam people one at a time
with an e-mail while pharming allows the scammers
to target large groups of people at one time through
domain spoofing. Any information entered on these
sites goes directly to those impersonating the
site.
Only use pharming-conscious or (PhC)
web sites. A PhC web site uses a secure connection
to prevent other web sites from impersonating
it. PhC web sites typically use the HTTPS web
protocol on their login page to allow the user
to verify the web site's identity. If an attacker
attempts to impersonate a PhC web site, the user
will receive a message from the browser indicating
that the web site's "certificate" does
not match the address being visited. Users should
NEVER click “Yes”
in response to such a window, otherwise they might
get duped by a pharming attack.
Sending E-mails over the Internet is not secure.
It may be possible for others to view information
in your email message.
Prosperan Bank works diligently to protect your
information. We use industry security standards
to protect your customer and account information
from unauthorized access or theft. However,
due to the nature of Internet communications,
we cannot guarantee that information you send
to us via email will be private and secure, nor
can we guarantee that we will receive your email.
Therefore, we ask that you do not include personal
information such as your account number, social
security number, passwords, PINS or other private
information in your emails to us. If you
need to contact us about any issue that would
necessitate you provide your personal and private
information, please use one of the following alternatives:
- Contact us by calling 651-702-3976 (Oakdale)
or 651-777-7822 (Maplewood) or 952-465-0200
(Minnetonka);
- Send you request or question to us via U.S.
postal mail; or
- Visit us in person at one of our office locations
You can get your credit report once a year for FREE!!
You are allowed to order one per year from each
of the three credit reporting agencies:
Experian – www.experian.com
TransUnion – www.transunion.com
Equifax – www.equifax.com
Checking your credit report regularly will help
you defend yourself against identity theft, correct
inaccuracies, and aid in cleaning up your credit
to raise your score. There are 3 ways for you to
obtain your free report:
- Online at www.annualcreditreport.com
- Mail in a request form to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
PO Box 105281
Atlanta , GA 30348-5281
- Call 1-877-322-8228.
These credit reports will not include your credit
score, you will have to purchase that separately.
You can request all 3 of the reports at one time,
or one report at a time throughout the year. Some
experts say that getting all of them at one time
would be beneficial to you. The reporting agencies
are separate entities and they won’t have
all of the same information on them. Getting all
3 at the same time will allow you to compare the
information and be sure that you won’t miss
anything.
You may also get your reports and/or your credit
score the old fashioned way, purchase them. All
you have to do is log on to the credit reporting
agencies websites listed above and order the information
you need.
Your credit report will be broken down into four
parts, identifying information, credit history,
public records, and inquiries.
Identifying Information
This section will have just that, information
that will identify you. Review this section closely
to be sure of the accuracy. It is not uncommon
to have mistakes in the spelling of your name
or more than one social security number. This
is from companies/debtors reporting your information
that way. Don’t be concerned about the variations
of your information, it is the content of your
credit history that matters.
Credit History
This section will list the names of your creditors
and account numbers, which may be scrambled for
security purposes.
- When you opened the account
- Type of credit – installment (car loans,
mortgages) revolving (department store credit)
- If the account is in your name alone or has
a co borrower
- The amount of the loan; highest balance
- Balance owed
- Payment amount
- Status (open, inactive, closed, paid, etc.)
- How well you’ve paid on the account
Some reporting agencies will have a code regarding
your payment history. The scale goes from 1 to
9; R1 or I1 is a good history.
Public Records
You don’t want to have any information in
this part. If you have something in this section,
you’ve had a problem with creditors.
Inquiries
When someone checks your credit, this
is where you will see that.
Inaccuracies
If you have an inaccuracy on your report, contact
each of the agencies that reported the mistake.
Experian –1-888-397-3742 or www.experian.com
TransUnion –1-800-916-8800 or www.transunion.com
Equifax –1-800-685-1111 or www.equifax.com
Tips to raise your score
Close the accounts that you have that are long,
unused and active on your report. Any account
that is unused is a good target for identity theft.
If you decide to close a credit account, be sure
to have them list it on your report as “closed
at the request of the consumer”.
Negative information like bounced checks, late
or unsent payments and over-limit charges stay
on your credit report for 7 years. However personal
bankruptcy can stay on your report for 10 years.
Deal only with credit card companies that report
credit limits on your accounts. Some reporting
companies will substitute the credit limit with
the highest balance, which can lower your score
because it will appear that you are using all
of your available credit.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
preserves and promotes and promotes public confidence
in the U.S. financial system by insuring deposits
in banks and thrift institutions for up to $100,000.
A vast amount of consumer information is available
online, at http://www.fdic.gov/index.html
Back to Top |
Equal Housing Lender